The Sicamous Eagles will begin their 2017/18 season under the wing of a new head coach.
Rob Fitzpatrick will be replacing Matt Stang as the 迟别补尘鈥檚 bench boss.
A Tuesday, Feb. 28 news release from the Sicamous Eagles Junior Hockey Club says Fitzpatrick, of Sicamous, is a former coach of the 碍滨闯贬尝鈥檚 Grand Forks Border Bruins, Revelstoke Grizzlies and North Okanagan Knights, and most recently coached the Salmon Arm Midget T1.
鈥淲别鈥檙别 excited to have him on the ice with our junior 迟别补尘,鈥� said Eagles general manager Wayne March.
The change-up follows a rocky regular-season that saw Stang replace former head coach Ty Davidson two months and zero wins in. Under Stang, the Eagles slogged through the rest of the season to earn 10 wins and 21 points, but were unable to claw their way into the playoffs.
March says the first two months set the tone for the rest of the season.
鈥淭丑别 first quarter of season, it killed 耻蝉,鈥� said March. 鈥淲丑别苍 you lose your first 14 games in a row, 颈迟鈥檚 pretty near impossible to climb your way back up into a playoff 辫辞蝉颈迟颈辞苍.鈥�
March acknowledges the team improved under Stang, but were still encumbered by the number of roster changes that occurred.
鈥淲别 made, basically, 23 changes on our team when he got 丑别谤别,鈥� said March. 鈥淭丑补迟 late in the season, you start making player changes, other than a couple, about three or four, it 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 make any 诲颈蹿蹿别谤别苍肠别鈥� And 迟丑补迟鈥檚 what I was disappointed 颈苍.鈥�
March adds he places no blame on the players who stuck it out to the end.
鈥淭丑别y played their hearts out the best they could and 滨鈥檝别 got all the respect in the world for 迟丑别尘,鈥� said March. 鈥沦辞尘别 kids could have folded their tent and said 迟丑补迟鈥檚 enough for me and left. But they 诲颈诲苍鈥檛, they stuck it out right to the bitter end and gave it their 产别蝉迟.鈥�
March said he will be assessing what worked and what 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 over the past eight months, while moving forward with Fitzpatrick to build a new team for the upcoming season.
鈥渊辞耻鈥檝别 got to look at what 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 work, what did work and try to work with both ends of it so 测辞耻鈥檝别 got a common denominator in the 尘颈诲诲濒别,鈥� said March. 鈥泪 think 测辞耻鈥檒濒 see a lot better and different team here next year. 滨鈥檓 positive you will. This gives us a whole summer to work on recruiting and looking for players. I hope some of our better ones come 产补肠办.鈥�
