Busy Times in Terrier Land

Well, the Terrier Golf Tournament ended up being a later night than expected, and I have to be up EARLY so I can be at the rink tomorrow before 6:00 to start a 10-hour remote for the Terriers season ticket blitz. I have to come in and print off some sports casts to do live from there as well, so I'm thinking the alarm will be set for about 4:00. But, for you, the reader, here's some info from today's Terrier Press Conference, which largely had to do with the hiring of Trent Cassan as Assistant Coach. (more info about that in previous posts)

TRENT CASSAN

CS: Well Trent, you're now an Assistant Coach in Junior 'A' Hockey, and you're not that far removed from playing for this same team. How's that feel?

TC: I'm definitely excited about it. It's a great opportunity for me to come back to the team I played 3 years for, and having just stepped out of the game as a player, and now coaching, you're just as involved in the game so it's something I'm looking forward to.

CS: Was that difficult, ending your playing days at 25 years old?

TC: Yeah and no. Some aspects of it I'll definitely miss. But you kind of get to that age when you're not sure if the desire's there to play like it was when you were younger. If it wasn't a chance to come to Yorkton, I'd probably still be playing hockey, but with Yorkton, I'm familiar with the Terriers, the community and obviously Eddie. If it wasn't for that I'd probably be playing semi-pro somewhere in the States, chasing the dream for another couple years.

CS: Were there opportunities to go pro?

TC: Yeah, I'd talked to some teams in the Central Hockey League, some of my teammates from college are playing down there and were encouraging me to. I had contacts with a couple teams in the Central League, but there were no guarantees I'd make it, I'd have to go down there and earn a spot. This is a little more secure, I would have felt bad going down there and not making it, knowing I'd passed up a great opportunity like this.

CS: Sounds like off the ice you'll be involved in the marketing a little bit. How do you feel about that, and will your background in school help you in that direction?

TC: Yeah, that's always something I've been interested in doing. When I was in school I was a communications major, media and journalism and whatnot, but I also took some business and marketing classes, because I knew when I was done playing hockey I wanted to be involved with a sports organization in some capacity in marketing and sales. So I'll get a chance to do that kind of thing off the ice here, and it's something I've always wanted to do eventually so it's nice that it's happening now.

CS: And as far as on ice, do you know what your role is? You were a forward, so do you see yourself working with that group, and also, the video part of coaching has really picked up with the Game Breaker program, will you be part of that?

TC: Yeah I'm familiar with the Game Breaker program, it's fairly new, we had it at college. Obviously I'm going to have to learn the ins and outs, I'm familiar with how it works, and it's really neat how you can pick out little clips of the game pretty easily. So obviously the video aspect is a valuable tool. What I'm doing on the ice, it'll depend on what Ed wants me to do. He's mentioned that I might be working with the defense a bit, which is fine with me, I was always a two-way player and understood the defensive side of the game as well. And I'll never mind staying after practice to work with guys on the things they want to work on, or just play games with the guys, because I'm still young enough that I want to get out there and can be like a player sometimes.

HEAD COACH ED ZAWATSKY

CS: Ed, you and Ron (Holloway) handled most of the coaching duties for a good chunk of the year, and obviously it was important to you to have a full time Assistant who can be there all the time.

EZ: Yeah it was huge, it was definitely one of the things I wanted to nail down over the summer, and we're real fortunate to pick up Trent Cassan. We met with him a few times before we made the decision. It's a tough decision to quit playing hockey, we've all been through it as players. I think it's one of those things players look for, is a guy who's been through it, and really that daily contact. There were times were Dustin Nehring, Danny McKay, Gary Carson, those guys have done a great job, but unfortunately with their other jobs they weren't able to make a full time commitment, and Trent will be able to do that.

CS: And it's not like it's a guy you don't know, he played for you, so there must be qualities about him you like.

EZ: Definitely. You called enough of our games last year, and Trent's the type of player we want our players to be, he's high-profile, he's a good pure scorer, he's good on the powerplay, so I'm going to leave that in his hand a lot. Specialty teams are huge now and he's going to bring a lot of ideas from college hockey. It's an area our team has to improve on and I think with Trent Cassan we'll be able to do that.

CS: From your first hand experience, how does it help being a former Terrier to adjust to coaching the Terriers.

EZ: It makes it easier for sure. He's accustomed to the community, and the media and all that. Not too long ago he was sitting in the same stall as some of the kids he's going to be coaching, so I think that really helps as a coach, and is definitely an asset to him being hired here.

CS: And he's young but he's not too young, he's never played with these guys, so should that help out the player-coach relationships.

EZ: Yeah I think so, he's got no preconceived notions about any players. He's going to come with an open mind, and he'll start working with these players at the end of the month. It's an exciting time for Trent to meet these guys and work on the things they need to improve as hockey players.

CS: With Trent, does that take a little off Ronnie's plate, or how will his role change?

EZ: Yeah definitely. Ronnie's such a quality guy, and I had him stretched pretty thin last season. He'll be able to tend to equipment and medical things more, and that's an important aspect. It'll keep him out of a duel role and allow him to do what he's really good at, so I think Ronnie's real excited about that too.

CS: And we talked shortly after you signed Jordan Barry, David Skagen and Garrett Earley, and Jordan and David are here today.

EZ: Yeah that's right, and in the summer, just a couple weeks from camp, it's hard to get commitments but Jordan and David drove out today, I just talked to David and he's really excited about seeing the rink, so it's good to have them out here so when they come here in two weeks time, there's no surprises and they're ready to go.