Staying the course
Keith Osborne returning for seventh season as Welland Jr. Canadians head coach
The Welland Jr.Canadians won’t be changing the chief contractor now that they have completed the first floor of a rebuild.
Keith Osborne, returning for a seventh season as head coach of the junior B hockey team, is once again being tabbed by team owner Lou Savona as the man to get the job done.
Maintaining “team stability” was a key factor in the decision, as Savona’s respect for the one-time NHLer’s emphasis on defensive-zone coverage.
“He’s very, very good defensively, his defensive systems are very good.”
The team owner conceded the organization needs to do more to help Osborne bring a Golden Horseshoe Conference championship to Welland.
“It’s not just him, it’s myself and (assistant general manager) Al (McNiven), we have to get him some offensive players.”
Welland finished the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season sixth in the nine-team conference, and was swept by the St. Catharines Falcons in the opening round of the playoffs.
The earliest of exits was the team’s second in as many seasons and this was the fourth year in a row in which Welland fell prey to the Falcons in post-season play, but Savona doesn’t blame Osborne for the team’s 22-26-0-2 record in league play or one-and-out showing in the playoffs.
“No, not at all, we had 17 rookies and you’ve got to have some kids who can put the puck into the net,” he said. “Not that there was anything wrong with the kids we had, but you need someone who can put the puck in the net.
“You can see that by how many games we lost by one goal. When we needed a goal, we just didn’t have that go-to guy.”
Despite enduring a season that
I enjoy giving back to a game that treated me well growing up and earning some money playing along the way.” Welland Jr. Canadians head coach Keith Osborne
seemed long at times, there was no hesitation on Osborne’s part when Savona invited him back as the B’s bench boss.
“It was long,” he said. “We had a lot of kids, but once everyone started rolling and we started to bring players in, they all got better.
“We were left in sixth spot and, hopefully, it was a good learning experience for our young kids.
“Hopefully, if we can get 10, 12 of those kids back, it will be a lot easier for this upcoming season.”
Welland will only lose two 20-year-olds to graduation and will also be without regular season scoring leader Ryan Miotto who accepted a four-year scholarship from Canisius College in Buffalo.
Osborne expects every potential returnee to be on the ice when training camp opens in late August.
“You would hope, but the way junior B works is that nowadays all the kids think the grass is greener elsewhere,” he said.
“They want to go to tier 2, and go to the BCHL (British Columbia Hockey League) and they want to go to the OHL. Obviously, if you’re good enough to make the OHL, all the power to you.”
Backup goaltender Blair Coffin hopes to catch on with the Sarnia Sting.
“If he makes it, great; if not, then he might return, but I know there’s a few kids who will try to go to tier 2.”
Osborne said the Junior Canadians will be “that much further ahead in the game” if they can return at least 12 players from last season.
He juggles the games and practices that go hand-in-hand with coaching along with maintaining a family and a full-time job, but he wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I just enjoy doing it,” Osborne said. “I know that’s hard to believe after the year that we had last year. I enjoy giving back to a game that treated me well growing up and earning some money playing along the way. I just like giving back, and I enjoy the coaching aspect.”
Osborne said he wouldn’t know what do during the hockey season if he wasn’t behind the bench.
“I think it would be a long winter, I really do,” he said. “I think being home, just sitting at home, going to work, I think I might go crazy.”
The 47-year-old Toronto native was selected 12th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. Osborne spent 2½ seasons with the North Bay Centennials before wrapping up his junior career with the then Niagara Thunder and embarking on a 10-year pro career that included stints in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Osborne spent parts of two seasons in the American Hockey League, six in the International Hockey League, three in the United Hockey League in 1997-98 saw action in the German elite league with the Ansburg Panthers.
He retired as an active player after playing 16 games with the Macon Whopee in the Central Hockey League in 2000-01.
Osborne’s record in six seasons behind the Junior Canadians bench is 161-118-4-14. His teams went 45-62-0-12 in 2½ seasons with the then Port Colborne Pirates. Three of his Welland teams and one in Port Colborne made it past the first round of the playoffs. In 2012-13, the Junior Canadians lost to St. Catharines in Game 7 of the conference final under Osborne.