DIDSBURY - The new head coach of the Mountainview Colts has high hopes for the team in the upcoming 2024-25 Heritage Junior B Hockey League season.
Originally from Hanna and now an Olds resident, Ron Doig takes over from former head coach Dan Visser, who has been involved with the team since 2015.
“What we’ve discussed with our returning players is that we are looking to be in the north division final this season,” Doig said in an Albertan interview.
“Hopefully we can win that and get into the league final. Our first goal is to win a playoff round and get to the final of the north side and then maybe move on from that.”
Doig explained that he has quite a bit of hockey experience, both as a player in his younger years and as a coach at several levels, including for teams in Olds.
“I’ve been coaching for a lot of years,” he said. “I’ve coached the AA bantams and the AA midgets in the Olds minor Hockey program for years. I spent a couple of years in Red Deer with the bantam AAA program. I’ve also coached senior AA.”
The upcoming 2024-25 season will be his first time coaching in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League.
Doig moved to Olds about 10 years ago. Today he works for Blue Wave Energy in Olds.
As for is own playing days, he has played junior A, junior B and senior hockey in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. He has also scouted for years at the junior A level for Canmore and Sherwood Park teams.
He noted that his work coaching local midget and bantam teams has brought him into contact with many of the Colts’ current players.
“We are starting off with a good core,” he said.
Asked what he sees as the Colts’ style in the upcoming season, he said, “I think my base is being defensively sound. I’m real big on teaching and coaching good habits, so that’s kind of what we will be looking at.
“We had a meeting with players last month and I told them I don’t like winning 8-6, that I’d rather win 4-1 or 4-2. That’s pretty much how we plan to play it.”
As well as Doig, the Colts will also have three new assistant coaches in 2024-25: Mike Hein and Doig’s sons Ryan and Regan.
The Colts conditioning camp runs Aug. 13-19, followed by training/try-out camp Aug. 23-25.
“Hopefully we get a lot of numbers in for our conditioning camp and that turns into a lot of numbers for our training camp so we have lots of guys to sort through,” he said.
The Colts’ first exhibition game of the 2024-25 season is against the High River Flyers at the Didsbury Memorial Complex on Sept. 6, followed by another pre-season game against the Airdrie Techmation Thunder on Sept. 14, also at the DMC.
The regular season starts Sept. 20 against the Wheatland Kings at the DMC, followed by an away game against the Rams in Rocky Mountain House on Sept. 21.
