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| Photo: Rob Wallator |
“I am the Captain now!”
That’s not quite how Luke Philp reacted when Brent Sutter told him he was the new captain of the Red Deer Rebels. But the five year WHL veteran was pretty thrilled to get the nod.
“Obviously, it’s very exciting. It’s a huge honour and it’s really humbling because there’s lots of good leaders on this team.”
I had a chance to
spend some time at the rink yesterday to catch up with a few of the
Rebels following their three game Saskatchewan road trip… and to
film another episode of Southside Dodge Rebels This Week (yup,
shameless plug).
In looking back a trip on which they earned
three of a possible six points, the Rebels (as they should) are
taking the “good, but not good enough” approach.
“In
Swift Current, we had a rough game, didn’t do our best,” noted
Captain Turner Elson. “We need our work ethic all the time, every
sixty minute game, and we didn’t do that for the whole
trip.”
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...
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...
