Cochrane Generals head coach Evan McFeeters is at a crossroads.
In an effort to elevate his game to the next level, the 27-year-old Cochranite has been on the ice all summer, conducting hockey camps for minor-hockey programs in the Calgary/Cochrane/Canmore region.
He’s been drilling elite major-junior, college and minor-pro players as well, preparing them for the rigors of their upcoming seasons. His relentless summer schedule as primary instructor at his Elevate Hockey Consulting business, and his success turning the Cochrane Generals around last season in his second as head coach, has him in high demand.
He’s now staring into the crosshairs of making tough career choices, as the Alberta Junior Hockey League Canmore Eagles have McFeeters in the room.
“I’m in Canmore doing practices every morning and on the bench for their exhibition games, and doing evaluations for their team,” he says of what he calls a part-time, coaching/consulting role with the Eagles. “I’m either working for one junior club or another every night.”
That revelation has the Generals on alert for a new head coach. While supportive of the club’s former goalie and current head coach climbing the ladder, the Heritage Junior B Hockey League team has its own room to consider. Gens president Ken Soloski makes it clear the squad does not want its head coach dividing time and loyalties between two teams, even though the teams are in different leagues.
“We are definitely looking for guys,” Soloski says of Cochrane’s hunt for a head coach to replace McFeeters. “He thinks it’s (Canmore) best for him and that’s fine, we don’t have problem with that.”
Stepping up to Junior A from Junior B hockey represents the next move in a head-coaching career that began with the Bow Valley Midget AA Timberwolves four seasons ago before McFeeters was named Gens head coach prior to the start of the 2013-14 HJHL season.
“Absolutely. It’s been a goal of mine, since I started, to coach in the Alberta Junior League,” he relates. “Now that I’ve had a taste of it, I feel comfortable and I feel I can contribute to Canmore and to those players. It’s been a learning experience for the first two weeks.”
And that’s where the Gens draw the line. They want a head coach fully committed to the Cochrane squad.
“We’re in the business of looking for a new coach right now,” Soloski says. “It’s going to be a board decision. We have to deal with it.”
That said, McFeeters is running Cochrane’s Sept. 12-13 training camp at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre and would like to remain in the Cochrane room in some capacity this season.
“I can commit to 80 per cent of all Generals games, practices and whatnot. We’re just trying to sit down as a board and try to figure out what my role is going to be,” he says. “Am I going to be an assistant coach? Am I going to be an associate head coach? Am I going to be director of hockey operations?
“That’s kind of where we’re at. We have a meeting where we’re going to decide what my role is with the Generals.”
