The AHJL hockey season has concluded for the Olds Grizzlys and the Albertan spoke to head coach Joe Murphy to reflect on the season.
The team compiled six wins, 51 losses and three overtime losses.
He said part of that was due to a decision to make some big changes to the roster.
“In October, when we made the decision to move out players that have been here before, and start fresh, we wanted to get character.
“I think we achieved that. The character translates to the locker room, the community and everything about what we're trying to accomplish.
“The guys did a great job of staying on board despite, you know, the record. There were some long nights where we just weren’t junior A quality as a club,” Murphy said.
Murphy talked about the weaknesses that the teamed faced. One of the biggest was speed.
“We still have to learn how to do things faster and generate quality play," Murphy said.
“It's a very good league and puck carriers are not rewarded in this league; the puck movers are.
“The faster the puck movement is, the better chance you have to create offence, the better chance you have to penetrate deep in the opponent zone, and it just stacks your success,” he added.
“I would say the big weakness was we just weren't quite at junior A speed. That includes a lot of things like skating, passing, shooting and puck control,” said Murphy. “With those fundamental things we weren't quite there.”
While the team struggled, they never gave up, according to Murphy and they always worked hard to improve.
“Pure resilience, they lined up every night, they kept trying to do things, they kept trying to improve. There was improvement.”
Murphy is confident that the team will improve next season now that they are familiar and have a baseline with each other.
“It is not uncommon for players in this league to double their point production from their first year to their second year.
“We're looking forward to a bigger, stronger, faster set of core players which will have more offensive input,” said Murphy.
Murphy suggested that there will be new faces. He said that this is a recruiter’s league and that they will always try to find the players that fit into the game.
Murphy said the team's record was short of expectations.
“Certainly with wins and losses, obviously that was not part of the game plan. We went into the season with our roster having eight returning guys.
“We thought that our returning guys would carry us through the first part of the season. It didn’t happen that way for a number of reasons.
“Then a bit of a rebuild was thrust upon us in a manner in which we didn’t plan but we kept going and got through it,” Murphy said.
Murphy expressed disappointment with the season results but felt they had done a good job of developing the players throughout the duration of the year.
This year the team had 16 players that played midget hockey last season and were transitioning to the faster, intense play style of the AJHL.
“Most teams in the league would have six, so it’s a huge jump speed-wise with how fast players are moving.
“We weren’t quite moving fast enough, which was completely predictable and right on the development curve.
“It’s a 19- and 20-year-old league and we only had four of those,” Murphy said.
The club carried two goaltenders — Duncan Hughes who was the MVP for the club this year, and Jay Thompson. Murphy said each played about 30 games.
“We were really happy and excited for the goaltending position within the group,” said Murphy. “For two young guys where it’s their first year, I don’t look back and say our goaltending was the reason that we lost.”
He’s sure that there are goals or games they’d like to take back, but emphasized that he felt their goaltending was one of the highlights of the year.
Looking to next season, Murphy said fans could see anywhere from six to 10 new faces on the roster and more wins.
When asked if he feels the team has a good foundation going to next season he had this to say: “I do, I do, any time you don’t have to question your team’s effort night in and night out that’s a wild card you can eliminate.”
