麻豆社国产resident Tim Knight has devoted a significant portion of his life to coaching and developing minor hockey players and the coaching coordinator for the 麻豆社国产Minor Hockey Association (SMHA) was honoured for his efforts on May 28.
Knight was awarded the Tim Ptucha award at the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association's (PCAHA) AGM. He told The Chief he was happy to be recognized.
"I had a few weird phone calls leading up to it so it wasn't a total surprise," he said. "But it's a real honour to win something like that, for sure."
The Ptucha award recognizes an individual who had made an outstanding contribution to coaching development and programs within the Lower Mainland district. Knight was a key component in the Ridge Meadows minor hockey system for a number of years as the head coach of their Bantam AAA team. He said what made Ridge Meadows successful was all levels working together.
"We created a development triangle and did a lot of mentoring throughout our division," he said. "It grew from Bantam to Pee Wee, with everyone identifying the triangle below them. The communication between all four divisions made for an outstanding Midget program that went deep in the provincials a number of times."
Knight said he wants to put forth a similar system in Squamish.
"I see a lot of similarities from Ridge Meadows here in Squamish," he said, noting he was appointed the coaching coordinator in October 2011. "This season it took me a long time getting to know all the coaches but we had a meeting at the end of the season and I was pleased to find out we have some seriously qualified people here."
He pointed to Midget head coach Tony Mahood, Pee Wee coach Chris Nunn, H2 coaches Sonja and Drae Glover and H4 coach Derek Cranfield as good people already in place.
"There's some key people here that seem to be on the same page and want to see the SMHA move forward," he said. "That meeting really brought everyone together."
SMHA president Ian Sutherland said Knight has been a welcome addition.
"Tim became coaching coordinator in October after some internal shuffling because of the resignation of our president," he said. "In short order, Tim had met with the coaches of all our teams and listened to what would help them. Tim brought a fresh approach and was excellent at finding the middle ground between his own way of doing things and what the coaches were already doing."
Knight said his first priority for next season is to develop an association playbook for all divisions.
"It will be something to identify how we play on the ice, so that from the offensive zone to the defensive zone to the neutral zone, we're all the same," he said. "Whoever the Atom coach is, he's coaching the same system as the Pee Wee coach. Then when these kids go through Atom, they can already have a base knowledge of all three zones and the Pee Wee coach picks up where the Atom coach left off. It should make the transition between divisions seamless."
He added that he thinks the SMHA has huge potential.
"We have a fantastic executive and there's some real quality people on top," he said. "With the growing community we have in 麻豆社国产I think there's a bright future for this association. We're small but there's no reason why we can't run a high-quality, boutique-sized association."
