Frog Lake T-Birds bring experience to new coaching staff
The Frog Lake Jr. B. T-Birds will have a wealth of experience guiding them from the bench this season with a new coaching staff.
Harvey Smyl of St. Paul will take the reins as head coach this season, bringing nearly two decades of coaching experience and hockey knowledge to the team, while John Quinney will retain his role as assistant coach.
“It'll be an interesting dynamic this year,” said Smyl. “The team will be getting used to a new coach, and I'll be getting used to them, but it's a great chance for the team to really step up and put it all on the line.”
Smyl played hockey at Michigan State University from 1982 to 1985, where he played 120 games over three seasons and racked up 26 goals, 37 assists, and 258 penalty minutes. The largest portion of Smyl's hockey career, however, was as head coach for the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL. Smyl was at the Chiefs’ helm for 17 seasons and coached the team to championship-winning seasons three times in 1995, 2000, and 2002.
Now, Smyl’s expertise will be vital in Frog Lake this season. After going 23-13 in the 2016-17 regular season, the T-Birds were eliminated from the second round of last year's post-season in six games by the St. Paul Canadiens.
“I saw Frog Lake play a lot of games last season,” said Smyl. “So, I already have a pretty good idea of what we’re working with, where we are on track, and the areas that we need some work as well.”
Last season, the T-Birds found success with their high risk, high reward style of gameplay, often opting for long stretch passes that acted as a catalyst for plenty of odd-man rush situations, for better or for worse.
But, Smyl says that won't be part of the game plan this year.
“Getting caught up in unique styles of play, and gambling the game off of ill-advised decisions, those are the kinds of things that you won't see this season. Teams win games and find success by nailing the basics, and excelling in those areas. We need to focus on playing a structured game with a lot of defensive effort, and we need to progress in our situational development.”
Smyl says that the key to the T-Birds' success this season will be their ability to adapt and improve all season long.
“We can't ever assume that we're good enough. We need to constantly be learning and getting better every single week, every single game. If we can do that, we'll have an outstanding year.”
