Coach feverishly builds Freeze

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This article was published 08/10/2020 (1854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been one of the quickest startups in junior hockey history.

Since 50 Below Sports + Entertainment was granted an MJHL expansion franchise in early September, general manager/head coach Josh Green has been feverishly assembling his team and preparing for Friday’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League regular-season opener against the Steinbach Pistons.

It’s been a rush job but Green insists he’s enjoyed the whirlwind pace.

“It was a helluva lot of work getting it off the ground,” says the 42-year-old Green, who had a 20-year pro playing career before serving as an assistant coach with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice in 2019-20. “I feel like I probably did about six months of work in about two weeks. So, it’s been busy but I’ve enjoyed getting back to work.”

Building a competitive roster from scratch to play in the four-team Southeast Division, with the Winnipeg Blues, Pistons and Selkirk Steelers, has been a daunting task.

Most of the players on the opening-night roster were free-agent pickups, while a handful of others came with junior experience, acquired in trades made possible by additional bantam draft picks granted to the Freeze.

“We looked at kids that otherwise would be playing (U-18 AAA) hockey this year and we tried to find some top-end kids that, if they weren’t playing for us, they would have been elite (U-18 AAA) players,” says Green. “So it’s a younger roster, we’ve got two 16-year-olds and we’ve got a handful of 17-year-olds, so we’re pretty inexperienced.”

Overage defencemen Evan Kaufman and Nick Trudel, 18-year-old goaltender Will Gurski and forwards Kurtis Luke, 20, and Nate Driver, 19, have a combined 233 games of junior A experience.

Kaufman admits it was a leap of faith when Green asked him to serve as the franchise’s inaugural captain. The 20-year-old Winnipegger is the most veteran player on the squad with 91 games played in the MJHL and AJHL.  

“I didn’t know if we were going to be a bunch of older guys or all new players or what was going to go down,” says Kaufman, acquired in a trade with the Pistons. “I mean, I expected somewhat of a younger team and that’s what we got. And really, we’re starting from ground zero and trying to build our way up…

“Coach came after me because of my experience around the league, so I’ll hopefully help those guys make their first steps a lot easier and, hopefully, less mistakes are made. But we’ll see how it goes.”

Green says Kaufman is integral to kick-starting the process.

“He’s gonna have to be a leader on and off the ice for us, lead by example,” says Green. “He’s a very mature kid. It was important for me to have him in place to have the young guys follow his lead.” 

Having a coachable group could mean a lot if there are a few blowout losses early in the seson. In three pre-season games, all losses to the Winnipeg Blues, the Freeze was outscored 14-3.

“Some of the things that I’m trying to implement system-wise, structure-wise, it’s gonna take some time to learn,” says Green. “I think they understand now that if we’re going to compete with some of the best teams in the league that we need to be sound in our structure and the systems that we’re trying to play. We have to commit to team defence.”

Kaufman saw the value of team play in Steinbach, a perennial powerhouse under the direction of GM/head coach Paul Dyck. 

“I think it’d be a big success to act like a professional on and off the ice,” says Kaufman. “On the ice, I’m not going to set a (goal of) total of wins or whatever, because I just don’t have a number in mind.

“But I don’t think that would measure the success of an expansion team. I would say if we learn to play a system and we’re competitive and we can come to the rink and improve every day, I think that will be a good building point.”

Whatever happens, the Freeze and the MJHL’s other 11 teams will all qualify for the post-season following a regular season shortened to 40 games by the pandemic.

League commissioner Kevin Saurette is expected to announce details of the playoff format Friday.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14