It’s going to be a rebuilding year for the Oceanside Generals. The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League team may not have all their veterans back this season and that’s going to make new head coach Jesse Hammill’s job a bit more challenging.
“It’s going to be a young team,” said Hammill, who took over the coaching reins from Gerry Bickerton, who is now the president of the club. “We might have five to six returning players or we could just have two returning players depending on how they fare when they try out for Junior A teams.”
The prospect of starting a team from scratch is going to be tough, but Hammill said he’s ready to take on the challenge.
“I am a very competitive person,” said Hammill.
“As a coach and former player, I hate losing. But I want grassroots and really want to work on the technical and development side of the game. You have to believe in that. If you don’t and if you only half-heartedly believe in what you’re saying, when the losses starts coming or when things are not going well, you’re going to change. We really want to build something this year.”
Last season the Generals finished in eighth place with a 12-33-1-2 record. Hammill said winning the championship is not going to be the goal this year.
“That may sound bad for a hockey organization but we’re going a different way,” said Hammill. “We want to build a program that has kids coming here wanting to personally develop. It’s all about them. It’s about building a team atmosphere. It’s about each individual and how they can progress themselves and how they can get to where they are going. And we’ll help them do that.”
The Generals want to help players to advance to the Junior A and also eventually land opportunities at the university level.
“We don’t want kids to be here very long,” said Hammill. “I know that sounds silly but we want to build our program as a development program. By doing that, as we push more players to Junior A, college or whatever, we’re going to get the kids with high talent level, the hardworking and the character that we’re looking for.”
The Generals have started practising with their new recruits and also prospective players. Hammill has been gauging the level of fitness and skills of each player, making them go through a variety of exercises. He is keeping a close eye out for hidden gems.
“Everyone wants the Ryan Kessler, the Patrick Kanes. We don’t have that luxury here,” said Hammill. “We have to go find these kids that are diamonds in the rough that people almost passed over and bring them in.”
During the VIJHL season, Hammill wants to have 14 forwards and seven to eight defencemen.
Correction
In last Thursday’s PQB News, it was mistakenly reported that the Generals will be playing their first exhibition game at home.
The Generals will take on Campbell River Storm on Aug. 26 at the Rob Brind’ Amour Arena in Campbell River at 7:30 p.m. and on Aug. 28, they will take on the Comox Valley Glacier Kings at the Comox Valley Sports Centre at 7:45 p.m.