When 25-year-old Evan McFeeters took the helm of the Cochrane Generals hockey team, he inherited a team on the brink of transition. With the unexpected early exit of final-year forwards Kris Keller (head-neck injury) and Taylor House (early retirement) in the first month of the season, that transition started in earnest.
The former Bow Valley Timberwolves midget AA coach was looking at a dressing room brimming with junior-hockey rookies who just happened to be the kids he’d coached two years prior in midget.
“At the beginning of the season, when I first got the job, I saw the possible depth chart,” said McFeeters, who finished his rookie junior B head-coaching campaign with a 15-18-3 record. “As the season went on, some names started getting crossed off the list for other commitments and injuries. That just opened up opportunities for these younger players to step up from the midget ranks to try and make an impression here so we can build for the future.”
In training camp, the team looked balanced. Losing just two players to graduation the previous season – Jason Labelle and Nick Borody – the Gens had a decent core of returning players and added senior sniper Andrew Bergmann, who arrived from Strathmore when the Wheatland Kings failed to ice a team this season.
But injuries set in early, and often, forcing the team’s hand and teeing-up an early rebuild. Now, with captain Tyson Soloski, Bergmann, Danny Bunnah and Keller all aging out this spring, the Generals are fully committed to the youth movement.
“A lot of young players and new coaching staff. We’re building for the future here,” observed McFeeters during the team’s April 5 awards banquet. “Guys like (rookies) Talus Hume and Corey Goeson who have been through the rigors of a season already – now they’re going to be relied upon even more.”
