By Kristi Patton /
As the Western Women’s Hockey League gears up for their season, all of the Alberta teams will have coaches’ step into the rink with the same jitters as many of the rookies.
The Calgary Oval X-Treme, Edmonton Chimos and Strathmore Rockies are welcoming new faces, and some familiar ones, to take the reigns behind the bench.
The Oval X-Treme hired Swedish hockey coach Bjorn Kinding for his first head coach job in women’s hockey.
“I have not seen many games in this league so I am scrambling to get videos but from what I have seen is that they play the game tactically similar to Canadian male hockey so I might bring a little more European tactics to the team,” said Kinding.
Make no mistake; Kinding has more than 30 years of experience in international men’s hockey. His history includes head coaching positions with the Swedish Elite League, Swiss National League A, Danish Men’s National Team and the Japanese 1998 Olympic Team are amongst his credits. With a deep background of coaching men, Kinding said he doesn’t view becoming the bench boss of the X-Treme a “switch.”
“I am not switching over from male to female hockey, it is one hockey team to another. If any switch it is Danish hockey to Canadian hockey,” he said. “I am very much anticipating to meet this group of highly motivated athletes who have big goals in their careers and I am more than happy to help them reach those goals.”
The Strathmore Rockies will also have a new coach but the face is very familiar, as Don Wilson steps from the assistant coach position to take over the lead spot.
“Don Wilson has always been involved with the Rockies behind the scenes and this year he will take over as head coach with Wally Kozak assisting him. He got some experience with the team last year and we are all really excited to have him with us this season,” said long time Rockies player, Samantha Holmes.
The Rockies have also undergone some cosmetic changes for this upcoming season and are planning to announce a major sponsor for the team during their home opener on Oct. 4 against the X-Treme.
“We are planning a community project that involves the hockey development of Strathmore and surrounding communities. We are very excited about this because the mission of the Rockies is stay involved in the community and help develop both women’s and men’s hockey,” said Holmes.
Traveling north, the Edmonton Chimos announced over the summer that Arlan Maschmeyer accepted the position of head coach, taking over from Barry Medori who is now working with Hockey Alberta.
Maschmeyer has 14 years of coaching minor hockey under his belt and has seen many graduates of his Female Spring Hockey Program go onto hockey opportunities within the NCAA, CIS and ACAC. The new coach said he is driven to continue to improve the Chimos through development, recruitment and facilitating the desire to succeed both on and off
the ice.
“After many one-on-one meetings with current Chimo players, the clear goal for the Team is to challenge for the WWHL title in 2008/09, which will only be accomplished through hard work, commitment, and a winning attitude. We have the players to win it all. The players have the skills, knowledge, experience and desire for the game. It is up to the coaching and management to create the environment for the players to achieve this goal,” he said in a release.
Maschmeyer is quite familiar with the Chimos having watched his daughter Brittaney Maschmeyer defend the blue line from 2004 to 2006 for the team.
For more information on the WWHL, its teams or to view the season schedule visit www.westernwomenshockeyleague.com |