By Robb Fenton
The search is over for the Lloydminster Universal Heat.
After Brian Hozack stepped down as head coach of the bantam AAA team at the end of last season, the team needed someone to hop behind the bench and they announced last week that Kyle Mulligan will be that guy as he begins his second stint as bench boss of the Heat.
“It’s definitely an honour to be picked to be back as head coach. I really enjoyed my time in the junior ranks and I think I learned a lot in the three years I spent up there and I look forward to bringing back the skills and knowledge I now have back to the bantam AAA program,” Mulligan said. “Hopefully we can produce what I believe is going to be a real successful program over the next couple years.”
For division director of the bantam AAA level, Danny Haygarth, spending the extra time finding the right person was important because of the age group.
“It’s a relief to have finally found someone. It’s an important year for these kids so we wanted to make sure we made the right choice and that’s why we took a little bit of time,” Haygarth explained. “Brian (Hozack) did a great job for us for the last three years, but when he decided we couldn’t come back, we had to go to a different plan.”
One of the big reasons Mulligan is back in charge is because of his background, both with the team and because of his job.
Haygarth feels those things provide Mulligan with the tools to be successful.
“Kyle coached here before. It’s been about four years since he’s moved on from our team. He’s helped out with the Bobcats and I think the growth he has had as a coach is something we’re going to see this year. I like the idea instead of getting out of coaching and not doing anything, he’s tried to improve himself as a coach,” Haygarth said of the reason they picked Mulligan. “And I like him being a golf pro, so he’s also a teacher. That’s what I think these kids need, someone who they can relate to and someone who can teach them the game. At the end day we’re about developing hockey players. I think Kyle is going to do a very good job of developing our players.”
The Heat have also added assistant coach Shawn Coulter to the mix and are looking for another assistant coach before the season starts and have a few people in mind.
Mulligan knows how important this season is for the players of the Heat, especially the 14-year-old players who will be on the Western Hockey League’s radar as they prepare for the WHL Bantam Draft.
Mulligan admitted there is a lot of pressure in being the head coach, but he said he’s looking forward to the challenge that provides.
“For me, I can’t wait to be the head coach, I can’t wait to make the decisions and be the person in charge. I really look forward to being the head coach and putting my systems that I feel will work best into play,” Mulligan said. “I think we’re going to surprise some teams because my systems aren’t going to be very typical. We’ll be very aggressive, I want a team that can fly and will play a very aggressive brand of hockey.”
While it’s too early to tell what the team is going to look like, both Mulligan and Haygarth have high expectations and are looking for big things in 2010-2011
“When I took this job, I want to win a league championship and move on to Westerns. One of these years we’re going to do that and hopefully it’s this year,” Haygarth said.
Heat camp begins Aug. 28 with the season kicking off Sept. 25.