Byron Louie has a plan to sharpen the Lac la Hache Tomahawks, to turn the local senior men’s hockey club, which finished 3-13 last season, into a winning Central Interior Hockey League product.
But, competitive edge in mind, the team’s new coach is keeping that plan under wraps for now.
With the 2015-16 season approaching, Louie, a Williams Lake resident, is replacing Al Navrot as the Tomahawks head coach. While Louie has been involved with hockey all his life, this will be his first stint as head coach after serving as assistant coach under Navrot last season.
“It’s exciting, for sure,” Louie says. “Having that opportunity and having someone with so much experience and knowledge as the previous coach working with me for a year, and getting him to see what I can do, and him having enough faith in me to step in this year.”
The Lac la Hache Tomahawks are having open tryouts in Williams Lake Sept. 22 (9 p.m.), Sept. 23 (9:15 p.m.) and Sept. 30 (9:15 p.m.).
The regular season starts on the road for Lac la Hache when they meet the defending East Division champions, the Williams Lake Stampeders, on Oct. 17. The Tomahawks’ home opener is Oct. 18 against the Smithers Steelheads in Lac la Hache.
The Tomahawks play their home games at the Rolf Zeis Memorial Arena. The organization, in the wake of another losing season, struggled financially with poor attendance numbers in 2014-15.
Speaking in a somber tone back in February after the end of the season, then coach Navrot said some important changes had to be made in the near future to ensure the club’s viability .
“We want to keep the team alive,” he said. “There are a lot of good quality hockey players around. We’re just trying to keep what we have alive.”
In response to a question about fundraising and getting fans in the seats this year, Louie responds, “getting the team to be successful and putting a winning product on the ice will go a long way to increasing our attendance.”
Louie talks about implementing a new system the team will use in all three aspects of the game – on offense, defence and speciality teams.
“So that all our players know exactly what it is we’re expecting each game.”
Asked what the new system is called, Louie responds with a chuckle: “I don’t have a name for it.”
The main core of the team is expected to return along with a few new skaters, says the coach.
“Our tryouts are open. Historically, it’s been a pretty strong First Nations content on the team, but we’re always looking for any players willing to come out and give us their best effort. We hope to see a lot of players come out and skate for us.”
The playoff format for 2015-16 was changed in May to allow all seven teams to enter the playoffs. Last season, the bottom two West Division teams and the bottom East Division team (Lac la Hache) didn’t make the post-season.
This year, the top team in the East, which includes Williams Lake, Quesnel and Lac La Hache, will receive a bye through the first-round and face the winner of the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the second round. So no matter how the regular season goes, Lac la Hache is guaranteed a playoff spot.
The West Division includes Terrace, Smithers, Kitimat and Prince Rupert.
The Terrace River Kings beat the Williams Lake Stampeders in the 2014-15 finals, two games to one, to capture the CIHL championship banner in February.
