Richmond Sockeyes head coach Brett Reusch has finalized his staff for the 2018-19 season as he gets set to oversee this week’s prospects camp at the Richmond Ice Centre.
It will be the 31-year-old’s first full season behind the bench after taking over the team midway through the 2017-18 campaign. Richmond went on to win the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial junior “B” championship on home ice.
Ruesch has named Matt Langlois and Ron Popoff as his assistant coaches.
Langlois gives Ruesch some familiarity behind the bench, having been his former teammate, then working alongside him for a number of years at the Midget AAA rep level. “We work well together,” said Reusch. “He is the good cop and I am the bad cop.”
Popoff is no stranger to hockey in Richmond. He enjoyed plenty of success at the minor hockey level including guiding the Richmond Minor Blues to the Bantam A1 provincial final. That team included Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher, along with his sons Tyson and Carter Popoff.
Carter went on to play a season for the Sockeyes before enjoying a productive career in the Western Hockey League with the Vancouver Giants.
“He reached out to us and was hungry to be involved in coaching again,” said Reusch.
The Sockeyes will enter next season in full rebuilding mode after losing 13 players to graduation while a couple of more have opted to retire to focus on their university studies. It sets up an interesting prospects camp with plenty of jobs available.
The week will conclude with an all-star game on Friday (7:45 p.m.) at the RIC Forum Rink.
“Ideally, you don’t want to have a team with that many graduating players but last year was a very unique situation (as Cyclone Taylor Cup hosts),” added Reusch. “You are going to see a much younger group next season.It will be similar to what Langley did with a lot of hungry 17-year-olds with a relentless pursuit of the puck. They were very impressive as an expansion team.”
The team will have some veteran experience on the blueline to lean on with Matthew Brown, Jake Keremidschieff and Marcus Sihota set to return. Callum McDonald, 17, has also committed if he doesn’t go to a higher tier of junior hockey. Brown has been named the team’s captain for next season.
