Harnett takes over struggling Wolverines

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This article was published 16/11/2017 (3062 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Waywayseecappo Wolverines have hired Taylor Harnett to replace Arnie Caplan as the team’s head coach and general manager.

Harnett, who coached Edmonton’s vaunted South Side Athletics Club midget AAA team from 2014 to 2016 and its bantam program before that, was hired last week and arrived on Saturday.

Caplan, who was given the job in May, was dismissed earlier this month when the team started out with a 1-16-0-1 record.

Paul MacLean took over on an interim basis and will remain with the team as an assistant coach.

Harnett admitted that the tough start and the loss of their original head coach hasn’t been easy on the dressing room.

“There are confidence issues,” he said. “You could sense that right away just by watching the team play before I got here. It’s really tough. A change is always good when things are going bad but I don’t necessarily think it was the personnel change itself, it was just a different perspective on the game.”

The Sun was unable to reach anyone on the Wolverines executive for comment.

The 42-year-old Harnett takes over a team that was 1-20-0-1 and had been outscored 142-40 before the Wolverines met the Swan Valley Stampeders in a game on Wednesday in Swan River.

“My on-ice, short-term goals are just to get to know the team and for them to become comfortable with the style of play that I like to coach and I like to see played,” he said. “Off the ice, there are some organizational things within the club that I want to re-address. The community has been unbelievable since I’ve gotten here. I’ve got to get to know the organization personally.”

His coaching experience goes back a long way.

He started by serving behind the bench for South Side’s bantam AA team in 1998, and went on to be named Alberta Minor Bantam Hockey League coach of the year three times. He guided his teams to three western Canadian bantam AAA championship tournaments, winning in 2013.

He coached the Leduc Chrysler midget AAA Oil Kings hockey team last season.

“One thing that we’ve talked about as a team is that we’re not going to set any unrealistic goals right now,” Harnett said. “We need to get a feel for each other and then we’ll address that as quick as we think we’re ready.”

He noted that the team does still have a lot of hockey ahead of it and even with the tough start, is only 20 points out of a playoff spot.

Harnett said his first days of practice have been aimed at refocusing the players and changing the team’s style. He likes a tight-knit team but hasn’t been able to assess that yet. He also favours lots of community involvement and structure on the ice.

“The type of coach that I am depends on the type of team that I have,” Harnett said. “I’ve got a recipe that I like to use and sometimes you put too much salt in and you have to take it out and use a little less. That’s how I am. I expect players to play hard but I also respect the fact that it’s up to a coach to guide them with proper practice habits.”

The Edmonton product, who coached former Brandon Wheat Kings Peter and John Quenneville and their brother David, has had previous opportunities to work at the junior level, but this one presented itself at the right time.

He said previous work commitments made that move more difficult

“It’s always been a dream of mine to coach junior and beyond that,” he said. “A lot of family and friends and players I used to coach really encouraged me to make the move and this opportunity came up. It wasn’t an opportunity to step right into a winning organization off the bat. I knew that it was going to be an adjustment as far as the transition goes but that’s one of things that appealed to me when I accepted the position.”

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