The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Bob Beatty, in his sixth season with the La Ronge Ice Wolves, may have done his finest work yet as a head coach and GM in 2009-10. Beatty took an Ice Wolves team from an 11-42-and-3 finish in 2008-09 and turned them into a contender, competing near the top of the Bauer Conference for most the season, eventually settling on a 29-21-and-8 mar, an improvement of 41-points from the previous year. While Beatty's moves as a General Manager were certainly shrewd, his coaching tactics to get maximum production out of his players should be applauded more. Two-thirds of the team's top line is made up of players who were given up on by other clubs. Doug Lindensmith came to La Ronge prior to last season after being released by the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL, and Ben Findlay was a midseason casualty with the Melfort Mustangs last year. Defenseman Dustin Stevenson has been molded over the last few years into a player worthy of the SJHL Player Of The Year Award. Beatty has a tremendous reputation for excellence around the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and this is the third time he's been voted by SJHL Media as the league's best bench boss. He shared the honor in 2003 with Don Chesney and won it outright in 2004, both times as head coach of the Humboldt Broncos. Runners-up: Darren Evjen, Notre Dame; Ken Pearson, Battlefords.
