You’ll be seeing a lot more of the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals this summer leading into their 2014-2015 season, if new head coach Jason Johns has his way.
Johns, who was hired recently as the Gens fifth head coach in a year, will be looking to build a community-orientated team.
In fact, the head coach reached out to two of the Generals leaders from last season, captain Travis Flug and assistant captain Liam Peel, for some input.
“I got to talk to the two of them last week, so that was nice. With the new standard that the Oceanside Generals will be having next season, I wanted to get some input from a couple of guys who were at the core of this team,” Johns said. “We have been checking out a lot of players and seeing who would fit what we’re looking for the best. It’s going to be great once it all comes together.”
Peel, who was the recipient of the Fan Favourite award last season, gracefully returned the trophy to Save-On-Foods manager Bruce Brown.
For Peel, it was an honour to be given the award and he was more than happy to represent the Generals that way.
“It’s a great honour to be voted as the favourite by our fans. It’s always nice when you see some fans or some of the younger hockey players around and stop to say hello,” Peel said.
“I was really happy to represent this team in that aspect and to be able to be one of the faces that people recognize was great. Plus it gives us a chance to give back to the community too which is always great.”
“Having a guy like Liam Peel, who’s the face of this team and same with Flug, to have them on board with wanting to get out into the community more is good to hear,” Johns said. “We’ve got some events in mind through the summer that we’re going to be attending, and having these guys out there for the public to connect with, will go a long way in bridging the team with our community.”
Both Peel and Flug have yet to commit to next season. For Johns, the chance to have both of them back would be a huge boost.
“Of course we’d love to have both of those guys back if we could,” Johns said. “They’ve got some options out there and the goal at the end of the day is to see them both succeed, wherever that might be.”
The Generals Spring Camp takes place May 2–4 at Oceanside Place. Johns said he looks forward to seeing all the faces at the camp and is excited to see what the future holds for this team.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, getting to know as many of these kids as I can and to be able to see what they can all do,” said Johns.
“The building starts at that camp and it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing the end result of it all.”