He is on his way, from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, passing by Olds, Alta., a familiar coaching stop in his career, and now is set to make his first appearance in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
Kevin Hasselberg is on his way to the Battlefords, as he was hired as the head coach and general manager of the North Stars.
"The opportunity to coach in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is something that I have been interested in and have looked forward too," said Hasselberg. "I think this is a very good match from the program's perspective and most importantly from my perspective."
Hasselberg was one of two coaches on the North Stars' board of directors' short list. One thing that attracted the hiring committee to Hasselberg was he appears willing to stay here for a while and build a program in the Battlefords and have his family live here and potentially have his son who isn't yet in high school graduate here.
"The most important thing was he had head coaching experience," said Stew Demmans, the chair of the hiring committee in charge of finding Ken Pearson's replacement.
Demmans added he has the potential to scout western Canada. He is a good hockey guy and appears to be good on the administrative side of the job as well. He has a different circle of scouts and contacts, which will help to continue to improve the North Stars' protective list of prospects. He also appears to be on the same page as the organization and staff including assistant coach Blair Atcheynum.
Hasselberg played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and later was an assistant and head coach with the Olds Grizzlies, before being an assistant coach with Alberni Valley for one season. He has a reputation to help players move on from their junior hockey careers, as nearly five per season, when he was the head coach, moved on to NCAA hockey. He also expects to have a hard working, honest team and an exciting product on the ice each night.
"He is recognized by Hockey Canada," said Demmans and was given a strong reference from the AJHL's president and has worked with the Junior Prep Hockey Camp last season.
He appears to have all the credentials and now it should be just a matter of getting things in place in three weeks before training camp.
"First and foremost we have to make sure the recruited players are indeed coming back," said Hasselberg. "After coaching change, and shake ups and with a guy coming into the SJHL for the first time there are certainly going to be questions. I have to come in and prove myself that I am capable of developing young hockey players and capable of working in a team environment. As far as the players are concerned they are the fuel that turns this engine and we will have to lean on them to lead the way."
Hasselberg expects to be competitive and says with Humboldt hosting the national championship this season they won't have to look far to see where they need to be to be a competitive junior hockey team.
Hasselberg expects to be in the Battlefords by the weekend and possibly in a months time have his wife and son join him while his daughter is finishes her Grade 12 year in Alberta.
