OLDS – Friends of the Grizzlys president Josh Erdman says former head coach Scott Atkinson tried really hard to turn the franchise around, but just couldn’t; hence the hiring of new head coach Peter Schaefer.
Schaefer’s appointment was announced by the Grizzlys on May 31, one day after it was announced that Atkinson was stepping down as head coach.
During an interview with the Albertan, Erdman said over the decades, Atkinson had a great record, turning around team records in Salmon Arm B.C., Mount Royal College and the University of Calgary.
It was believed he could do the same thing in Olds, so he was hired in January, 2020.
But for whatever reason, that didn’t happen.
Erdman isn’t sure why that turnaround didn’t occur, but it was felt some kind of change was necessary and he said Atkinson stepped aside to make it happen and serve as a consultant.
Erdman wonders if a generation gap was part of the problem. He’s hoping Schafer, 46, will be able to relate better to today’s young hockey players.
Schaefer, who logged more than 500 NHL games and was a member of a World Junior Hockey championship squad, also served as GM, head coach and assistant coach of the BCHL’s the Surrey Eagles, who won the league championship in the 2012-13 season.
“He's a very, very, personable guy,” said Erdman, who played for the Grizzlys in the early 90s when they won three straight Alberta Junior Hockey League championships.
“He's played the game at high level, he's played for hard coaches and he played for soft coaches.
“He seems to really speak the language of these younger guys, which I don't speak.
“You know, we played a tough, rugged game back in the day and slower, and clutching and grabbing. These guys are race cars and they do things differently.”
Erdman said players on the teams he played for hung out together before and after games; partied and sometimes got into trouble.
Today’s players seem to be different, he said.
“They don't hang out at the team much. They seem to be more quiet,” he said.
“And I'm not saying it's wrong because there's teams that are successful (doing things that way).
“It's just different and I don't understand it.”
He said the hope is to make the Grizzlys at least a .500-plus team, hopefully a league champion.
