After leading the Battlefords North Stars to their first Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title in 17 years, head coach and general manager Nate Bedford is moving on.
It was announced late Friday afternoon that Bedford had been hired as the head coach of the Portage College Voyageurs, who compete out of the Alberta College Athletic Conference and will be playing out of Cold Lake starting this fall after moving from Lac La Biche.
“It’s an honour to work for Portage College and we are excited to have a fresh start with the hockey program in Cold Lake,” Bedford said in a press release Friday.
“The way they’ve treated my family from the early stages of the process to today is a strong indicator of why this is a great decision for us.”
Although the decisionby Bedford to move on might seem like a surprise to many, it was something that North Stars president Troy Slywka knew was a possibility.
“I had talked to Nate a couple of weeks ago and he had informed me that a team had reached out to him,” Slywka said. “We had talked again last week and everything was looking good on our end, as he was preparing for next season and we were talking about a contract extension.
“I got a call from Nate on Friday saying that he had received an offer that he couldn’t refuse from Portage and everything went from there.”
Attempts to reach Bedford for comment on the move were unsuccessful as of press time.
This marks the second time that Bedford has coached in the ACAC, as he was an assistant coach for two seasons with the Keyano College Huskies before becoming their head coach in 2014.
His time with the Fort McMurray based school ended in the spring of 2016 when the program was folded, which led to him being hired by the North Stars in August after Kevin Hasselberg took a job with the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the Southern Professional Hockey League.
Bedford’s one season in North Battleford was an outstanding one, as the North Stars had a 48-9-1-0 regular season record before going 12-0 in the playoffs to win their second Canalta Cup title in franchise history.
The team would finish in fourth place in the Western Canada Cup after losing 4-0 to the tournament host Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League.
“Considering that he brought a league championship to the Battlefords for the first time in 17 years, Nate’s time here won’t be forgotten any time soon,” Slywka said.
“Whenever you bring a team a lot of success after a long time, there’s always going to be a lot of interest in teams to have you come on board and that’s what happened with Nate.”
The Voyageurs finished in the eighth and final spot in the ACAC standings last season with a 4-23-1-1 record and parted ways with head coach Terry Caplan in February.
The program, which was founded in 2008 and last made the playoffs in 2014, announced last month that they will be playing out of Cold Lake.
“It was clear from the start that this was the guy we wanted to lead our men’s hockey team into the next era,” Jim Knight, manager of athletics and recreation at Portage College, said in a press release.
“The things that stood out to us was his team’s commitment to defence, discipline, team chemistry and representing the community in a positive role.
With Bedford’s departure, the North Stars now have four staff vacancies to try and fill before the 2017-18 campaign gets underway.
In addition to the head coach and general manager spots that are now open, an assistant coach job and trainer position are both available after Braeden Johnston and Robbie Tanner left the team after this season.
“Timing wise isn’t the greatest as the head coach helps with the search for the other roles, but it’s certainly doable,” Slywka said. “It’s better that it happens at this time of the off-season than if it had taken place at the start of August.
“Nate is still helping us out and we have (newly promoted assistant general manager) Wylie Riendeau and a number of other staff members taking charge in the interim when it comes to getting things in place for next season.”
Bedford is the first SJHL head coach to leave his team after winning to a title since 2004, when Dave Hunchak left the Kindersley Klippers to become an assistant coach with the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos.
