By Craig Stein
CASSAN JOINS LIST OF SJHL COACHES TO WHL
There will be four new Head Coaches in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League this season, and three of them will be in the Viterra Division. Wes Rudy (Weyburn) and Devin Windle (Melville) are set to debut as Junior ‘A’ bench bosses, and Casey O’Brien will do the same in Yorkton, after Trent Cassan accepted an Assistant Coaching post with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen. Nate Bedford (Battlefords) rounds out this season’s new crop of coaches.
O’Brien was Cassan’s Assistant Coach in Yorkton for five full seasons, helping the Terriers to a pair of Canalta Cup Championships, a Western Canada Cup, and an RBC Cup National Championship in 2013-2014.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, trying to get my feet wet and get the guys organized and ready to go, but it’s exicting,” mentioned O’Brien on Friday. If it wasn’t for Trent I wouldn’t feel as comfortable as I do taking this position. He gave me leeway and helped me grow as a coach.”
“It was an amazing five years with Trent and as an organization we had a lot of success. I’m excited for him and that’s what our league is all about. We saw Dean Brockman (Humboldt) go to the Saskatoon Blades a few years ago and get promoted to Head Coach this season, and he hired Bryce Thoma (Weyburn) as one of his Assistants, and now with Trent going to Calgary it shows the quality of coaches we have in this league.”
(Catch the rest of the story in the upcoming season preview edition of the Overtime Magazine)
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