Rest and bodily restoration were alien concepts to old-school coaches. Just suck it up and go out and play. But modern sport is a whole other thing.
“Things change. Rest and recovery are such important considerations now. That’s one of the biggest changes I’ve seen in coaching since I got into it,” said veteran Victoria Grizzlies GM and head coach Rylan Ferster.
He made those comments while on the team bus headed to tonight’s game in Vernon against the Vipers, to be followed by the marathon odyssey up Highway 97 for weekend games against the Spruce Kings in Prince George.
“We take so much better care of the athletes now,” said Ferster.
Which, common sense dictates, leads to better performance on the ice rinks, gym floors and fields of play.
The Grizzlies go into the longest road trip of their B.C. Hockey League season at 6-4-2. The Vipers, a usual factor in the BCHL, find themselves struggling to an extent this season at 4-7-2. The Spruce Kings are 4-8-2, so this appears on the surface at least, a winnable road trip for the Grizzlies. The Island squad got off to hot start with five consecutive victories but have come back to the pack of late.
“Nobody thought we were going 54-0. Things have swung back, as they do in sports. But we don’t want this slide to go on much farther,” said Ferster.
“The recent stretch we have gone through is all part of growing as a group. It’s built character. We feel battle-tested now.”
The return from injury of starting goalkeeper Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, committed to NCAA Div. 1 Colgate University, has been a key recent development for the Grizzlies. Back-up Tyler Hodges, however, proved quite capable when thrust into action when needed by the club.
“The crease is the most important position in hockey and we feel we have two guys who can play. We don’t look on [Hodge] as a back-up. He is 19 years old and doing exactly what we expect of him.”
Although tonight’s opponents in Vernon have a losing record, the Vipers could be lurking with two players ranked by Central Scouting for the 2025 NHL draft. Defenceman Cooper Cleaves, committed to NCAA Div. 1 in the Ivy League at Dartmouth, and German forward Shea Busch, headed to the NCAA Big Ten Penn State Nittany Lions, are both projected for the sixth or seventh rounds. As is Grizzlies blue-liner Drew Hockely.
Ferster has spent a lot of time coaching in both the Interior and Coastal Conferences of the BCHL and was asked about the difference between the two as his Grizzlies delve into the former this week: “The Interior used to be more run-and-gun, and the Coastal more tight in terms of play, but there’s no difference in style anymore with both conferences pretty much the same and trying to keep games as low scoring as possible.”
That’s exactly the defensive, grinding style Ferster favours and hopes leads his Grizzlies to big things this season.
Meanwhile, the Nanaimo Clippers (4-7-1) are in Coquitlam on Friday night to face the Coastal Conference-leading Express (9-3-1) and the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (7-4-1) are in Duncan on Friday evening to play the Cowichan Valley Capitals (7-6).
