After a transitional off-season, the Calgary Canucks are looking to get out of the South Division’s basement and back into a playoff position in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL).
The Canucks finished with a porous 18-37-0-5 record in 2010-11, the second worst in the AJHL. It’s a new era in Calgary as Don Phelps leaves his position with the team. Ryan Barrett takes over the coaching and GM duties from Phelps – the AJHL’s all-time leader in coaching wins.
Despite last season’s performance, Barrett said he expects his team to finish with more wins than losses.
“My goal is nothing less than .500 hockey,” Barrett said. “It’s certainly attainable for us.”
Calgary was 12th in the AJHL in scoring in 2010-11 and will no longer benefit from the services of college-bound Jared Wynia, its top point producer from last season. Matt Heseltine, a 26-goal scorer in 2010-11, will be key to Calgary’s attack, as the forward is the only returning Canuck to have finished in the top 100 in scoring last season.
“I really expect it to be done by committee,” said Barrett of the Canucks’ offence. “I expect a lot from Matt Heseltine who’s in his third season now. Also we’ve got Willy Sakal and Derek Thorogood, who’s one of the better young guys coming through. I think those three will lead us on offence.”
The most pressing need for the Canucks is to improve their effectiveness in preventing goals. The team finished dead last in the AJHL in goals against in 2010-11. Barrett said the team addressed their deficiencies in net during the off-season.
“We went and got Micheal Matyas from Okotoks and we were also able to pick up a strong 17-year-old goalie in Andrew Guglielmin.”
Matyas posted solid numbers between the pipes for the Okotoks Oilers last season boasting a 23-6 record with a respectable 2.61 goals against average, before being usurped as the starting goalie by Micheal Tadjdeh.
Barrett said he’s looking for development from his defence corps, something he expects to occur as the season progresses.
“There’s some growing pains back there. We’ve got a lot of 17-year-olds and we’re seeing some second year issues with confidence, but I think it’s definitely an improvement on last season.”
Key additions: Michael Matyas, Mitch McAllister and Derek Thorogood.
Key losses: Jared Wynia, Spencer Copp and Josh Primeau.
