With the hockey season less than a couple of months away, Salmon Arm Minor Hockey has all the head coaches for the rep teams appointed.
Recent newcomer Trevor Feist and local minor hockey product Gerry Rasmuson will oversee the Atom Development A and B teams respectively.
The A team will be playing in Koteles Conference (larger cities) while the B team will compete in the Michie Conference with the likes of Merritt, Chase, Summerland and other smaller centres.
In the Pee Wee Division, J.C. Archambault returns for his second year as head coach of the Pee Wee tier 2 team. Last year, Archambault guided the Pee Wee tier 3 team.
Troy Haskell will be at the helm of the Pee Wee tier 3 team. Haskell had a solid year with the Atom Development team and capably assisted the Midget Female team as well.
In Bantam rep, Tony Guerra returns as head coach of the Bantam tier 2 squad. Last year, he served as manager and assistant coach of the Bantam tier 2 team. He will re-unite with a number of players, who played under him two years ago with the Pee Wee team, and went on to the provincials in Aldergrove. Darby Boyd takes over the Bantam tier 3 team following a year of being an assistant with the Pee Wee tier 2 squad.
In the midget division, former junior hockey coach Rob Fitzpatrick returns as bench boss for the Midget tier 2 team. Fitzpatrick had a successful regular season with the Midget Silvertips before bowing out to Vernon in the first round. Fitzpatrick has had junior coaching stints with Grand Forks, Brooks and Prince George.
Shawn Lund is expecting most of the midget females from his provincial team of last year to return. Veteran goaltender Jasmine El Gazzar is off to college this fall and the netminding duties are expected to be in the hands of returnee Kylie Assi and newcomer Jamie Sedore. Lisa Campeau and Sarah Botter will be counted on heavily to provide the offensive punch.
Tryouts for all rep teams will begin during the first week of school. All rep teams will be sporting new jerseys this year. Fans will notice the big change in uniforms in the Atom Development teams as they will be sporting identical home and away jerseys of the Salmon Arm SilverBacks.
Coaches for the recreation teams will be announced in September.
Finally SAMHA encourages all players who have not signed up to register as soon as possible.
Players may be put on a waiting list depending on the number of registrations in each division.