Strong Bench Leaders

If there's one thing that all championship teams have, it seems there's a strong set of coaches who work together fairly seamlessly behind the bench. When we think of championship coaches, names like Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Al Arbour, and Toe Blake likely stand out, but these men also had a strong support staff of assistant coaches who helped them get more out of the teams they coached. It was announced a week ago that the man to the upper-left would take over one of the WHL's storied franchises this season, and the rest of his staff was announced today!

Former NHLer Dave Lowry gets the nod to steer the ship for the Brandon Wheat Kings this season, replacing David Anning after three seasons as the head coach in the western Manitoba city. Lowry has extensive hockey experience as both a player and as a coach, playing with the OHL's London Knights before graduating to the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks in 1985-86. 19 seasons after he started his career, Lowry hung up the skates for a suit as he joined the WHL's Calgary Hitmen as an assistant coach one season after retiring.

Lowry assumed the head coaching job of the Hitmen in 2008-09 where he led the squad to a 59-9-4 record before falling in the WHL Final to Kelowna. His work with the Hitmen saw him promoted to the NHL as he joined the Calgary Flames as an assistant coach for three seasons, but returned to the WHL as the head coach of the Victoria Royals in 2012-13. It was his five seasons in Victoria that really put Lowry on the map as a great tactician with solid understanding of the game as he never posted a losing record in any season and coached the Royals to the playoffs in each season while compiling a 209-124-27 record. After taking an assistant coaching position with Willie Desjardins and the Los Angeles Kings last season, Lowry now returns to the WHL to coach the Wheat Kings.

"I'd like to thank Kelly McCrimmon and Darren Ritchie for the opportunity to coach the Brandon Wheat Kings," Dave Lowry said in a statement. "I look forward to returning to the WHL and working with these athletes, developing them as players and individuals.

"I'm excited to get to Brandon to sit down with the Hockey Operations staff and make preparations for the 2019-2020 season. My wife and I look forward to joining the Brandon community and continuing the winning Wheat Kings tradition."

With their head coach secured for the season, GM Darren Ritchie and Lowry sat down to build the coaching staff, and there are some familiar names that will join Lowry on the bench if you're a Wheat Kings fan.

Don MacGillvray will return as an assistant coach under Lowry, and this is a great re-hiring by the Wheat Kings for continuity and intelligence. MacGillvray spent the past three seasons in Brandon, and has coached at all levels of amateur hockey in Manitoba. MacGillvray spent a lot of time in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with Portage, Neepawa, St. James, and the Winnipeg Blues as well as spending time with the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders and three seasons as head coach of the University of Manitoba Bisons. MacGillvray was named CIS Coach of the Year in 2008 with the Bisons, and won an MJHL championship with the Portage Terriers while being named as the MJHL Coach of the Year in 1995, 2005, 2012 and 2013.

"I'm excited to be back with this club and have the opportunity to work with an experienced coach like Dave," MacGillivray stated. "I am looking forward to the challenge of working with this group again."

Ensuring that pucks stay out of the Brandon net will fall to Tyler Plante, a former Wheat Kings goaltender, who returns as the goaltending coach for Brandon for his fourth season. Plante played in Europe, the ECHL, and the AHL over nine seasons and counts current NCAA women's hockey champion Kristen Campbell of the Wisconsin Badgers as one of his goaltending protegés!

"Tyler has a great relationship with our goalkeepers and that should benefit both of them this coming year," Ritchie stated. Plante will be working with Golden Knights draft pick Jiri Patera who begins his second season with Brandon after going 22-20-2 with a 3.31 GAA and a .906 save percentage, and Ethan Kruger who enters his second season after going 8-7-2 with a 3.60 GAA and an .890 save percentage. It's clear that Tyler has some work to do with these two young goalies, but he'll get to build on his work that he started last season. That continuity is vitally important in the growth of any goaltender.

The last man standing behind the bench this season, but certainly not the least of any of these men, is former Wheat King player Mark Derlago. Derlago scored 162 points in 229 games with the Wheat Kings before suiting up in the AHL, the ECHL, Europe, and Asia for eight seasons. After retiring from the Esbjerg Energy in the Metal Ligaen, Derlago returns to the place he found the most success as the second assistant coach in Lowry's staff.

With Derlago's experience at the WHL level and the pro levels, he'll be a great resource from whom the Wheat Kings players can learn. He's been in their shoes as a player, and likely has seen nearly all situations that a WHL player can face. Having a younger coach who has been through these paces will be better for the players than perhaps hearing it from the elder Lowry and MacGillvray, so adding Derlago seems like a wise move for a younger team.

While the Wheat Kings are still short a Director of Scouting, the coaching staff is ready for training camp in late August, and will likely demand excellence from their players both on and off the ice as they work to build professional hockey players and outstanding individuals. We'll get our first look at Dave Lowry and his staff in action on Friday, September 6th as the Winnipeg Ice visit Westoba Place, but I suspect these four men and their teaching of the game to these players will improve upon the 31-29-8 record from last season!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!