New coach Oystrick hires additional staff
HUMBOLDT It feels like hockey again at Elgar Petersen Arena.
Training camp’s on tap, the ice is in, and a new scoreboard sat at centre ice on Friday, waiting to be raised into its new spot.
“Once this (scoreboard) is up and I get the A-OK, I’ll be taking a couple of slapshots out there,” said Broncos head coach Nathan Oystrick, who has been itching to dig his skates into the ice, which is currently covered with a protective surface as they work on the scoreboard.
Oystrick, a former NHL player, is the Broncos’ new head coach and general manager. He replaces Darcy Haugan, who died in the April 6 crash that killed 16 people on the Broncos’ bus.
Oystrick made an early mark this week with the hiring of two assistant coaches and a combination athletic therapist and equipment manager.
Thirty-nine-year-old Scott Barney, who played 27 NHL games and 19 seasons of professional hockey, joins the team as its new assistant coach. His position was previously occupied by Mark Cross, who died in the crash.
Tyrol Deeg, whose previous stop was the Vernon Vipers, is the team’s athletic therapist. His predecessor, Dayna Brons, died shortly after the crash.
Rhett Blackmur, a former Broncos player and Humboldt resident, has been added as a volunteer assistant coach.
“I wanted to make sure I was getting the best people, so the process took a little bit longer,” said Oystrick, whose team commences training camp Aug. 24.
“It’ll be nice when everyone’s in town, and we can all sort of (say) ‘OK, what are we going to do? Let’s get to work; camp’s in five days.’ The past few weeks have been a little hectic, myself trying to take care of everything, so it will be good to have some people around who can help in some of those areas.”
Oystrick played with Barney for a few weeks in 2005-06 with the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves. They weren’t teammates for long, and didn’t get to know each other well. But when it came time to find an assistant coach, Barney rose to the top.
“A super, down-to-earth, good human being,” Oystrick said of Barney. “He kind of reminded me of myself, and I think that’s probably why I hired him. When I was trying to get into coaching I was making phone calls and reaching out to everyone I could, and he was kind of doing the same thing.
“Everyone I talked to about him spoke very, very highly, and those were people at Hockey Canada, and agents, and people I know and trust personally in the hockey world. He’s a guy that’s hungry, and he wants to come to Humboldt to learn a little bit from me, and help the players and the community any way he can.”
The Broncos hit the ice Friday at 5 p.m. for their first trainingcamp session, and four squads will scrimmage Saturday and Sunday. The team’s top-40 Green and Gold game goes from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.