Joey Payeur
To help get his team back to being the best in the SIJHL, Wayne Strachan is going to have his ears wide open during his two visits to Calgary this summer.
It was announced Thursday that the head coach and general manager of the Fort Frances Lakers has been chosen to work with Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence (POE) National under-17 Team Experience.
“The one thing about hockey is you always need to learn more to make yourself better,” stressed Strachan, whose Lakers had their three-year run as SIJHL champs end this past season with a semi-final loss to the Dryden GM Ice Dogs.
“What better way, then, to be involved with a program that Hockey Canada operates, and especially the POE.
“If you want to help your players the best you can, you can’t stop or rest on what you believe in or how you want your team to play,” added the all-time leader in SIJHL coach-of-the-year awards with five.
“There is always more to learn and you want to steal as much knowledge as you can about the game to bring back to your own players,” he said.
“The only way to do that is to obtain as much information as you can.
“I fully expect to learn a lot, maybe not that will help so much in the GM duties, but definitely as a coach and helping further develop my skills to bring back to the Lakers,” he reasoned.
“We at the SIJHL extend our congratulations to Wayne on earning this honour to work at a national level through this program,” SIJHL Commissioner Bryan Graham said in a statement.
“His success and achievements over the years speak for themselves, and this opportunity will only benefit his already-stellar coaching career, the Fort Frances Lakers, and the SIJHL.”
Strachan said he was contacted by Hockey Northwestern Ontario general manager Trevor Hosanna and technical director Mike Kompon to see if he was interested in applying for a spot with the program.
Upon accepting the invitation, he had to go through an application process before being selected.
“I was honoured and excited to have the chance to work alongside the coaches that will be there and learn the Hockey Canada way,” enthused Strachan.
“I’m most looking forward to taking the entire experience all in.
“To have the chance to learn and be involved with this type of program is a great opportunity to have some fun, meet new contacts, and work with some top-notch personnel, not to mention the best players at the U17 level in Canada,” he added.
The National Team Experience is a two-part development program aimed at coaches who have contributed immensely to their respective branches in coaching and high-performance development.
Strachan headed to Calgary for the first part of the program, the 2017 POE Coaches Seminar, which runs tomorrow through Sunday.
POE coaching staffs will participate in conferences, interactive rotators, and workshops focusing on improving players’ technical, physical, and mental performance.
Strachan will join one of three national U17 coaching staffs and will aid in the team’s planning process during the seminar.
The second part of the program comes in late July at the National under-17 Development Camp.
Strachan doesn’t believe juggling his Hockey Canada commitments with the task of recruiting players to join the Lakers for the upcoming season will be a challenge at all.
“I have a plan in place, recruiting-wise, that I have tried to follow pretty precisely so far this summer,” he noted.
“We will have busy, long days at the seminars [this] week,” he conceded.
“However, before leaving, I will contact as many players as I can and then, as time permits, stay on top of things to manage both my obligations to the U17 program and the Lakers.
“Between the seminar and the actual [training] camp dates, I don’t foresee the U17 program getting in the way of my general duties to the Lakers,” Strachan said.
