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.
While the La Ronge Ice Wolves were busy in the ANAVET Cup, the Yorkton Terriers were putting the finishing touches on naming Trent Cassan their full-time coach and assistant GM for the next two years. The club has also penned Don Chesney as their GM and Director of Marketing. Cassan took over the Terriers on an interim basis from Ed Zawatsky, who was fired in early February, and guided the team to a 3-and-5 finish before the team caught fire beating Melville in the Survivor Series 3-games-to-1 and then stunning the Weyburn Red Wings 4-games-to-1 before getting by the Kindersley Klippers 4-games-to-3. The cinderella run ended with a six game series loss to the Ice Wolves in the Credit Union Cup finals. The 26-year-old Cassan becomes the youngest bench boss in the SJHL and he'll be partnered with a man, Chesney, who was his coach as a 19 and 20 year-old back when the latter was coach and GM of Yorkton in 2002 and 2003. "It will be a good situation for me to learn from a guy like Don. He's been involved in all levels of hockey for a long time. He's experienced and approachable and very easy to work with. I'm very familiar with him and his style because he coached me for two years, so we don't need that break-in period," said Cassan. Cassan's playoff success likely played a major role in getting the full-time job; however he's quick to downplay his own involvement in the Terriers' improbable run. "I think a lot of the guys realized they had to be accountable after the Executive made the coaching change. It's tough when changes are made and players were underachieving. I think the guys came to realize that they had more to give than what they were doing," added Cassan. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame Hounds are on the hunt for a new head coach and General Manager in the wake of Darren Evjen's resignation. Evjen opted out of his SJHL job last month in order to return to the teaching profession in Saskatoon and spend more time with his family. However, a Western Hockey League opportunity presented itself this week in Swift Current and Evjen decided it was too much to pass up a chance to return to his hometown. Director of Hockey at Notre Dame, Del Pedrick, says the process to find Evjen's replacement is ongoing. "We have advertised for Darren's position already and should be in a situation where we are doing interviews in the next week to ten days with an eye toward filling the job by the end of the month." Evjen coached the Hounds for one season and was a finalist for the SJHL Coach Of The Year award.
