While the season just ended for the Kootenay Ice, Matt Cockell is already thinking about next year.
“We’ve got a lot of work we want to do over the offseason,” said Cockell, Kootenay’s president and GM, “a lot of lofty goals off the ice that are really important as well as some important work to do in the draft, but to be honest, I wish it was September tomorrow and we can get back at it.”
Holding a year-end media availability as the ice surface was being removed inside Western Financial Place, Cockell and head coach James Patrick spoke about the progression of their players and the disappointment of being on the outside looking in on the WHL post-season.
“The playoffs were the goal,” said Cockell. “We’re all disappointed that wasn’t a threshold we were able to cross, yet at the same time we’re not willing to move off our plan to achieve that in the short term.
“We thought we were a team that had a chance to get in and yet I’m very proud of our group and excited about what lies ahead.”
It was a horse race right to the end of the WHL campaign, as Kootenay slipped out of a wildcard spot in the midst of an 11-game losing streak. At the same time, the Red Deer Rebels caught fire and leapfrogged over the Ice by winning 10 out of 13 games in February.
Kootenay finished the year with a record of 27-38-5-2, a stark improvement after earning only 26 wins over the previous two seasons.
Even being in a playoff hunt should be considered impressive for a franchise that underwent ownership and coaching changes and a roster shakeup that saw 18 transactions from last offseason leading up to this past WHL trade deadline.
The coaching shuffle brought in new bench boss James Patrick, who had spent the previous 11 years as an assistant coach in the NHL in addition to his resume of 1,000 games played in the league, while Cranbrook product Jon Klemm, another former NHLer, also joined the coaching ranks.
Patrick isn’t a stranger to the Western Hockey League as his nephew, Nolan Patrick, was the second overall pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2017 NHL Draft.
But after years of coaching in the professional ranks, the WHL was a different experience, he said.
“For me it was a learning experience, it was a fun experience, it was rewarding, frustrating, agonizing at times…all the emotions you go through as a coach,” Patrick said. “When you see a player have success, you really feel proud, when you win a game, you’re elated and when you lose a game, you’re down.
“You know in this business you can’t get too high or too low, but I really enjoyed it, really enjoyed the teaching aspect, really enjoyed the respect and the work ethic that the players showed, and the teachability that’s even better at this level than it is in the NHL.”
The stretch drive during the 11 game losing streak included five games that were dropped by only one goal, some of which were scored late in the game.
While the losses were frustrating for everyone, Patrick said the team was playing its best hockey by the end.
“A young team learning how to win, learning how to play under pressure, so there were so much of those games that I liked and I thought a lot of the players played good,” Patrick said. “They played really solid two-way games and we didn’t get results but there’s no doubt in my mind we were playing our system better than two months before and we were better as individual players and so was the competition.”
Looking ahead to next year, the Ice will graduate 20-year-old veterans in Colton Veloso and Alec Baer, and Colton Kroeker, who formed the team’s leadership corps.
Baer and Kroeker co-led the team with 61 points, while Veloso mostly rode shotgun on rookie Peyton Krebs’ wing, piling up 25 goals and 47 points.
However, Patrick added that he is excited to see players step up to take on bigger roles next year, singling out Brett Davis, Martin Bodak and Peyton Krebs.
“I know Brett is as dedicated as anyone in hockey,” Patrick said. “I know Martin Bodak wants to play at the highest level and I’ve never seen a 16-year-old like Peyton’s work ethic. His fitness is incredible and everyday, he’s our hardest worker in practice and that’s not going to change.”
“Those guys are going to drive the team next year.”
Bodak captained the Slovakian squad at the World Junior Championship and put up 31 points as Kootenay’s second highest scoring defenceman behind Jonathan Smart at 34. Brett Davis, a sixth round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2017, had a big year with 25 goals and 58 points to finish third in team scoring. Krebs led the team and the league in rookie scoring, posting 17 goals and 37 assists for 54 points.
Patrick also touted the play of Cameron Hausinger, who was named the team’s Most Improved Player, as well as Keenan and Kaeden Taphorn and Michael King.
While it took a while to emerge, the goaltending tandem of Matt Berlin and Duncan MdGovern was set right before the trade deadline. McGovern was brought in earlier in the season in October, while Bailey Brkin and Kurtis Chapman handled crease duties.
McGovern, 17, was listed in the midseason NHL Central Scouting rankings as the 22nd North American goaltender, finishing his season in Kootenay with 13 wins and 13 losses, earning a 0.893 save percentage and a 3.10 GAA.
Even though the season is over, Patrick wants his players to take a brief break from the game, recharge with family and friends, before hitting their summer training routines.
And while the Ice are not in playoffs, there is value in keeping up with the WHL and NHL post-season races, he said.
“Watch the NHL playoffs, watch the WHL playoffs if you can because that’s how you learn, from watching hockey, and if you’re passionate about it, it’s fun to see,” said Patrick.
“You can regret that we’re not involved but you can still learn to see what’s going on. What are good plays? Who are good players out there? What it takes to win?
“I just think you can learn a lot from watching NHL playoffs — the battle, the will to win. It’s so evident, that’s why it’s the greatest trophy to win in sports.”
Off the Ice
While there were challenges in hockey operations to build a competitive roster with the goal of making playoffs, the franchise was also undergoing the trials and tribulations of new ownership, as Cockell and Greg Fettes took over the team last May.
Cockell, a former WHL goaltender, who took on coaching roles with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Hockey Canada, is hoping to use the off-season to establish deeper roots in the community as the club looks to build relationships with fans and corporate sponsors.
Part of that effort includes the Drive to 25 — a campaign to sell 2,500 unique season tickets packages.
“It’s such an important milestone for our team,” said Cockell. “What we can do in-venue, in terms of game experience, changes when we can get to that level, how our players feel about it. Anyone who attended a game this year — when the attendance was over 2,500 versus not, the feeling is completely different.”
Attendance jumped by almost 700 as the Ice averaged 2,442 this season, an improvement over last year’s average of 1,754 (for a league-wide look at attendance numbers, click here).
Cockell said that the club has received survey feedback from 45 per cent of season ticket holders who wrote paragraphs and paragraphs of suggestions and comments that were all noted by staff
Taking over a franchise late last spring felt like a whirlwind as he and Fettes built a front office and navigated the challenges of on- and off-ice priorities, he added.
“We did what we could but then we ran out of time because we want to more,” he said. “We want to do a lot more at our games, we want to do a lot more in the community, we want to do things in a little bit more in a methodical way moving forward, but we did as much as we possibly could this year and look forward to building on that.”
ICE CHIPS: Peyton Krebs was the WHL rookie scoring leader, however, he was beat out by Lethbridge Hurricanes freshman Dylan Cozens as the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Year. Cozens had a stellar campaign with 22 goals and 31 assists for 53 points….Cranbrook product Bowen Byram, a 16-year-old defenceman for the Vancouver Giants, won the Western Conference Rookie of the year….Kootenay got some luck in the WHL Draft Lottery, jumping up two spots to lay claim to the second overall pick….Alec Baer signed a pro contract after his WHL career ended with the Rapid City Rush of the ECHL, scoring his first pro goal in his debut.
