YORKTON - The Yorkton Terriers have a new general manager and head coach.
The board of directors of the Terriers have announced Emery Olauson to fill the dual role left vacant when Mat Hehr left the team recently.
Olauson joins the Terriers from Invermere, B.C., where he was head coach/general manager of the Columbia Valley Rockies in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
Olauson does have previous experience in the SJHL as his junior playing career included time with the Estevan Bruins and Weyburn Red Wings and his coaching career started in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Flin Flon Bombers.
That connection was why Olauson applied for the Terrier job.
“I’ve always been interested in the SJHL. I played in the SJHL,” he told Yorkton This Week in a telephone interview from B.C.
“The steadiness of the league is really attractive. The direction of the league has been really, really steady.
“It’s always appealed to me.”
Since his time coaching in Flin Flon Olauson has coached in the Southern Professional Hockey League, KIJL, and Maritime Junior Hockey League.
As for the Terriers this season, Olauson said he has liked what he has seen from afar at this point.
“It’s a team I think can put it together and be a really good team on, and off the ice,” he said.
That said Olauson realizes he is arriving late to the party so to speak in terms of building the Terriers for the soon to start 2023-24 season.
“The late season change obviously is a crunch on a lot of things,” he said. “. . . There’s certainly going to be some challenges with me not being fully familiar with the team . . .
“We’ll figure it out as we go.”
The club also announced that assistant coaches Scott Musqua and Zach Rakochy will be returning for the 2023-24 season, and Olauson said that is an asset. He said Musqua, and others from the Board to the billet chair, have done a great job since Hehr announced he was leaving.
The players too have shown they are ready to play, a number reaching out to welcome the new coach.
“Most of them will beat me to camp,” offered Olauson. “. . . It seems like the players are really excited.”
As for talent, Olauson credited Hehr in terms of recruiting.
“I think Mat was doing a good job of bringing good quality players to camp,” he said, then adding there will be decisions to be made still. “I think for sure some spots are still to be earned on the team.”
So what sort of team will Olauson look to build?
“I believe in a possession team,” he said. “. . . I believe if a team possesses the puck in the offensive zone, or neutral zone, you’re playing good defence.”
To achieve possession Olauson wants players to move the puck well.
“I want to possess the puck and play at a really high pace,” said Olauson.
Mix in a dash of toughness because it is the SJHL, and Olauson said he’ll be happy.
“On behalf of our board of directors, I am thrilled to welcome Emery and his wife Lauren and their three boys Porter, Anders and Bodhi to Yorkton,” stated team president Corvyn Neufeld in the same release. “Emery is a leader with a track record of success every where he has been. He is focused on developing players on and off the ice. He understands our commitment to this community and we are confident he will build on the Yorkton Terriers’ long history of success.
“We look forward to working with Emery through the upcoming season.
Olauson will be in Yorkton in time to oversee the Terrier fall camp Sept. 1-3.
