Perched atop the highest row of seats in the SLS Centre’s Totem One viewing area, Derek Bell, clipboard in hand, sits completely alone.
Pucks bounce over sticks and ricochet off the end boards glass. Thirty-seven skaters and 10 goalies, all wearing either a grey, black, or red Cochrane Generals practice jersey, compete among themselves for a precious roster spot.
Entering his second season as the head coach of the Generals, Bell does not take cautionary stances when it comes to roster construction. “If you can play here, you will play here,” he said, glancing down at his clipboard to view a player bio and to make a mark against a name. In his eyes, all the players on the ice, including those who filled the Generals roster last season, are up for review.
Last season the Generals finished in fourth place in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s (HJHL) Southern Division, with 20 wins, 17 loses, and one loss in extra time. Their season ended prematurely–as all teams with championship aspirations seasons do–in early March instead of late March.
Over the Labour Day long weekend the Generals held their summer try-out camp at the SLS Centre. Over three days of competition, Bell and the rest of his coaching staff observed and judged the groupings of players who sought to make the Generals roster.
On the ice, the play is loose, and in some cases, lackadaisical, with the occasional burst of intensity. Like a great many try-out camps, the Generals ice times lack the proper structure of a real game, but players are obviously competing hard–desperate to impress the coaches.
Bell says a team coached by him is going to “be the hardest working team” in the league. “We’re going to be really fast, hard hitting, just play good Canadian hockey,” he said. “It’s not always about the wins and loses, it’s about building a culture.”
It’s understood that some coaches tend to stay away from selecting 17 year olds for their junior team. The HJHL consists predominantly of players aged 18 to 21, and any 17 year old could be viewed as lacking experience or the physical edge required to last in a league that allows fighting.
Besides, 17 year olds are still eligible to play one last year of U18, and a lot of coaches would rather stash those players on their community U18 AA teams who can hold them until next season.
Bell doesn’t agree with that philosophy. Thinking about the underage players on the ice, Bell shakes his head, “Can they play? Yeah, they can play. There are a great couple of 17 year olds on the ice…show me you can be here and you’ll be here.”
From Saturday to Sunday, Bell and his coaches made some cuts. By the time the Generals pre-season starts on September 5, they’ll whittle down the roster even more. Bell says he plans to keep quite a few players around for the pre-season to give them an opportunity to impress the coaching staff.
However he plans to go about it, Bell will have to have the roster he wants by the time the Generals officially open their 2025-2026 season on September 19 in Okotoks, and certainly before the Generals home opener on September 27 against Strathmore.
