Staff reporter
While he may not necessarily be the superstitious type, the new head coach of the Rimbey Rock might just be hoping the upcoming Heritage Junior Hockey League season might turn out to be a case of third-time lucky.
Former Rock coach, player and Bentley General Dean Norstrom was recently announced as the new guy behind the bench making him the third coach in three successive years for the team.
“We invited quite a few kids to camp and had our first camp on Tuesday night. We had 36 players out for our first skate and we have more coming tonight (Thursday), said Norstrom who was born and raised in Rimbey and played his minor hockey here. “The talent pool looks quite a bit better than it was last year so that should be good. I think if we sign all the players that we like, we should be pretty competitive this year.”
With just nine veterans returning from last year, Norstron said he’ll be taking a close look at his rookie prospects and said there is definitely some potential in his younger players.
“There’s two or three kids from the Sylvan double “A” midget team from last year and one from the Red Deer double “A” midget team from last year that look really good out there, but I really don’t want to give any names right now,” he said.
While the Rock may have spent most of the last two seasons at or near the bottom of the standings, the team spent just as much at the top of the penalty minutes category, a factor Norstrom said he’ll be addressing this year.
“We’re going to focus a little more on the hockey aspect,” said the new coach who also sits on the Rimbey Minor hockey board. “From what I saw last year, the reason they got into penalty troubles was they didn’t have a deep enough bench or the coach didn’t want to use the bench enough and some of the top players were overplayed and that usually ends up in penalty trouble.”
After two more practices, Norstrom said final cuts would be made prior to the rock’s first exhibition game scheduled for Sept. 20 when they will host the Blackfalds Wranglers.