Jeff Truitt: The New Deputy

When Brent Sutter announced that he was stepping back behind the Rebels bench, he also announced that he was bringing another veteran coach with him.

Jeff Truitt brings to Red Deer a long and impressive hockey resume... [ via whl.ca]... Assistant Coach with the Lethbridge Hurricanes 1993-96... Head Coach of the Camrose Kodiaks of the AJHL 1997-2000... Kelowna Rockets Assistant Coach 2000-03 and Associate Coach in their Memorial Cup winning season of 2003-04... Rockets Head Coach from 2004-2007.  The Rockets won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL Champions in 2003 and 2005.... Assistant Coach with Springfield in the AHL in 2007-08, and then became the team’s Head Coach in 2008-09.  He was an Assistant Coach with San Antonio of the AHL in 2010-11, and held the same role with Texas (AHL) in 2011-12. Additionally, Truitt was the Moose Jaw Warriors Director of Hockey Operations in 2009-10.

Truitt has experience with Hockey Canada; in 2004 he was an Assistant Coach with the Canadian National Junior Team, where they won a silver medal.  Truitt was also an Assistant Coach with the Canadian National Under-18 Team at the 2007 World Under-18 Championship.

I had a chance to speak with Truitt following his first practice with the Rebels on Thursday afternoon...

The Day After - Wallin Stands Tall

"I'm still a Red Deer Rebel, I always will be."

No hard feelings.

It would have been quite easy for Jesse Wallin to ride off quietly and leave us all wondering he was thinking. 

Instead, the now former head coach of the Red Deer Rebels invited the local media out for one last chat as his way of saying "thanks" and to share his thoughts on his dismissal.

Rebels: Sutter Makes His Biggest Move Yet

If you thought the winds of chance had already reached gale force levels with the Red Deer Rebels this season... today's events turned things up a couple more notches.

Gone are Jesse Wallin and Charles Inglis.  In comes Jeff Truitt.

The reaction since the news came down at lunch time today has been both large and varied.  I'm not much of a gambler, but I'd be quite confident in wagering that today's events set a new Twitter record for use of the #Rebelshockey hashtag.

Here the "coles notes" version of how the Rebels coaching situation has played itself out...

A Working Class Hero Is Something [Rebels Players Want] To Be

[ Sorry for the long delay between write ups, folks.  The news end of my particular gig has been fairly hectic over the last couple of weeks. ]

It was back to basics for the Red Deer Rebels on Monday as they hit the ice for practice at the Red Deer Arena. 

The Rebels sauntered home over the weekend after going 2-3 on their five game western road trip which (for the record) covered over 2300 kilometres.  The final 700 of those km's were no doubt the most grueling being that they came after a difficult 8-1 loss to the Kelowna Rockets.

With a full week between games [next us is a Saturday night tilt at the Enmax Centrium versus Swift Current] the Rebels finally get a chance to do some real solid prep work for what will be an important stretch of games leading up to the holiday break.