Rebels season underway as Training Camp begins
By DANNY RODE
Dave Struch feels good about returning as head coach of the Red Deer Rebels this season.
Struch had no time to settle down last season, joining the team March 1, replacing Derrick Walser.
“Last year when I got here it was hockey 24-7, not a lot of change (could be made). It came down to conditioning and how we wanted to play to earn a playoff spot and into the playoffs,” said Struch during a pre-training camp press conference Wednesday.
“This has been a great summer working with the guys, spending some time as a group through zoom calls with the coaching staff. So that’s been nice to get together to work on our leadership … work on growth as a unit.”
Struch was also excited to contact a number of players throughout summer.
“One of the things I didn’t get to do last year was build relationships with the players as individuals and as a group. For me, as coach, that’s really, really important. I was looking forward to that and that was another thing what we did throughout the summer.
“Now it’s a matter of seeing how they respond and how they come back to camp … ready to play.”
Struch added that he stressed the message to the players was they weren’t coming to training camp to get into shape.
“We’re here to condition our minds and bodies to be ready to go right off the hop.”
How the team performs this season will be determined in the preseason.
“It starts with the training camp with medicals, fitness testing, getting everyone on the ice and setting our goals and standards right off the hop,” he continued. “Every coach talks about details and habits and I’m not going to veer from that. They are very, very important.
“How we go into the season will be determined how we work through this first month. Our preparation in the summer will help is so when we get on the ice, we’re ready to go.
“We know what the culture is here now we need to create an identity and get off to a good start.”
The Rebels look to put an entertaining product on the ice, a team that plays with pace and toughness.
“That’s the message to (the players),” added Struch. “Three weeks after the season was over, we had a zoom call with them and that was the message then and it will be the message tomorrow during our welcoming meeting with the players.
“It’s going to be hard camp, expect hard preparation geared towards how we want our team to play this year.”
Struch is looking to build a solid hockey team, but that’s only part of the team’s philosophy.
“We want to develop good people first and foremost,” he stressed. “Hockey, if we do things right, will take care of itself and that’s the individual side of things.
“We want these guys to move on to bigger and better things in the future whether it’s on the ice of off the ice.
“The experience they gain as a Rebel will be a bonus. Those are the goals we have as an organization, and we hope we can guide these players and they have the same goals.”
The Rebels open their main and rookie on-ice sessions Friday.
A number of players will be heading to NHL camps in a few days. Goalie Chase Wutzke (Minnesota Wild), veteran forwards Kalan Lind (Nashville Predators) and Ollie Josephson (Seattle Kraken) and import forward Kasper Pikkarainen (New Jersey Devils) will be gone for sure, along with, in all likelihood, defencemen Hunter Mayo and Jace Weir.
The loss of the six doesn’t bother Struch. In fact, he believes it only helps develop the younger players.
“It gives myself and the staff a chance to see the younger guys,” he said. “Opportunity here is the big word. Opportunity for the young guys to show their conditioning, opportunity to show on special teams, opportunity to compete, opportunity to get better, opportunity to train a little bit more along the way and hopefully to take advantage of it.”
An early look at the roster and the Rebels defence and goaltending looks solid with six veterans on the blueline and Wutzke and Rhett Stoesser back in goal, as of now.
“We hope so,” said Struch. “Still, it takes a unit of five, or six, if you count the goalie, to play the right way, check the right way.
“Don’t sit back and just defend but play hard and check without the puck so you do have the puck more. Play as a unit.”
Meanwhile the forward unit lost three key players in Kai Uchacz, Carson Latimer and Frantisek Formanek, leaving the door open for others to step up.
“We lost some great talent, but we have some talent a young core, some of whom played in the playoffs last year. The skill is there, now add work ethic and now they have to take advantage of that.”
Struch believes both the younger players and the returning veterans need to play within their role and yet be ready to step up and make an impact no matter what they’re asked to do.
ICE CHIPS – Struch will once again be on his own in Red Deer with his family remaining back in Regina for most of this season while his daughter finishes school … Rebels on-ice sessions go Friday through Monday at the Peavey Mart Centrium (click here for times) … The Black and White Game goes Tuesday at 7 p.m. with admission being a donation to the Red Deer Food Bank… Rebels play a pair of preseason games at the Peavey Mart Centrium – Sept. 7 against Lethbridge and Sept. 13 against Medicine Hat, both at 7 p.m. … They’re on the road Sept. 6 in Calgary and Sept. 14 in Edmonton … The Red Deer Advocate Home Opener is Saturday, September 21 versus Lethbridge. … Season Tickets and Single-game Tickets for the 2024-25 season are on sale now.
