Meet the new boss
New coach this season for the Scotians
Brandon Verge sounds like he’s going to run a tight ship.
The new coach of the Pictou County Junior Scotians was hired to replace Al Whidden, who resigned over the summer.
Verge said one of the first things he’s going to address is “commitment” from the players: if a player gets in the habit of skipping practices and road games, the new coach vows to hold them accountable.
”That’s going to be one of my biggest issues right away,” said the 24-year-old.
“If people start missing practices and games, they’ll find themselves out of the lineup.”
Verge feels he has a deep enough pool of talent to take that hard line approach, and feels they’ll be good enough to make a strong defence of their first-ever Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League championship, won last April 14 in a six-game final series against the Liverpool Privateers.
“We’re very deep up front, we’re going to be a four-line team,” he said. “And we’re going to be very competitive.”
In goal, Blake Meech will carry the bulk of the workload for the Scotians.
“I expect him to be one of the top goalies in the league,” Verge said. “I have high expectations for him.”
Verge understands that being a head coach at the junior level at 24 years of age might come with pitfalls, one of them being expectations from the fans.
“If we go on a losing streak, I know some people will be saying ‘he’s too young to coach,’ which is fine, but you’ve got to take the ups with the downs,” he said, adding that his relationship with his players — a few of whom actually played with Verge when he was a Scotian — shouldn’t be an issue.
Verge spent two seasons as an assistant under Whidden, and when Whidden declined to coach a third season with Pictou County, Verge was offered the job.
“It’s something I always wanted to do. I didn’t think it was going to happen this early, but I couldn’t turn it down.”