By Lorne Starko /
It’s the start of a new era for the Red Deer Rebels.
And the man in charge is looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.
Jesse Wallin took over as the new head coach in late March and he’s been anxiously awaiting the start of the 2008/09 Western Hockey League season.
Wallin, a former Rebels defenceman, had been an assistant and associate coach with the team for the past three seasons.
He will have help on the bench with returning assistant coach Dallas Gaume along with Bryce Thoma, another former Rebels blueliner who was hired as an assistant coach in June. Thoma was part of the Rebels 2001 Memorial Cup championship team.
Wallin says it’s an exciting time for him and the club.
He and the fans will be looking for more scoring as the team had struggled offensively last season.
“We’ve got guys with more experience like Landon Ferraro, Cass Mappin and Tomas Polak and we expect those guys to score,” says Wallin. “But we’re going to be a team that scores goals by community. We’re going to be a hard working and hard nosed team that takes pucks to the net. We’ll be a team that battles and scores by taking pucks to the net. We have some guys we think are going to contribute that way. We expect a lot of guys to step up and score the greasy goals that we didn’t get at times last year.”
Wallin also expects more from defencemen Colin Archer, Cullen Morin and Mike Scarborough along with youngsters Alex Petrovic and Justin Weller.
After two years as a backup to James Reimer (who isn’t expected back), Wallin feels it’s time for goalie Morgan Clark to be a starter. He says Clark has a lot of good technical attributes and now it will come down to work ethic and mental makeup. Wallin says the question will be if Clark can physically handle being a starting goalie in the WHL.
The biggest off-season move for the Rebels was the $1 million contribution made by owner Brent Sutter to Westerner Park, the organization that operates the Centrium, the club’s home rink. The money will be used for a new state of the art video score clock and will be similar to what is used in many NHL arenas.
“This is something I’ve been thinking about for some time,” said Sutter. “With the great support of our fans and corporate sponsors, we wanted to enhance the fans’ game-night experience. Moving forward, this is another way to thank our fans and sponsors who have been there for us through the years.”
The score clock will make its debut at the Rebels home opener.
A trade in June saw the Rebels acquire 17-year-old forward Steve Oursov from the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for 18-year-old forward Mike Krgovich and a pick in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft.
In the front office, the Rebels hired Greg McConkey as the new Vice-President of Business Development. He had previously been with the team for five and a half years and worked in sales and marketing. McConkey will be in charge of all advertising sales in the Centrium, including the new score clock, as well as advertising in the game night magazine and all in-game promotions. He will also oversee ticket sales and client services. |