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The local choice was the best one

Ever since the Estevan Minor Hockey Association (EMHA) was awarded a midget AAA expansion team last fall, one of the recurring questions was regarding who would be the team’s first coach.

Ever since the Estevan Minor Hockey Association (EMHA) was awarded a midget AAA expansion team last fall, one of the recurring questions was regarding who would be the team’s first coach.

We now have the answer, and it appears they made the right choice.

The EMHA announced earlier this week that Jeff Smith would be guiding the team into its first season. Smith is no stranger to local fans, as he was born the city and still has roots here. He has also been an associate coach with the Estevan Bruins for two years.

He’s well-known in the broader hockey community, too, with titles at the junior and professional levels, and a pro career that took him to more than half a dozen countries.

For a new program like the Bears, it’s those local connections that mean more than the accomplishments Smith enjoyed at the junior and pro levels. It’s fantastic that he’s a proven winner and has accomplished things that most players could only dream of, but it’s better that he’s connected locally.

It makes it easier to sell the program locally when the Bears have a well-known face in the community. He’s somebody that fans and businesses in the city know and respect. Even though he’s only been back for a couple of years, he has gained a reputation as an affable and likeable guy who has the trust of the players.

You get the feeling that if the Bears didn’t give him an opportunity to be their head coach, then someone else would have given him that opportunity eventually.

The Bears received applications from across the country and into the U.S. from people looking to guide this team, but when you have someone in your own backyard who knows the game and wants to lead the team, that’s much better than someone from Alberta or Quebec.

Now the hard part begins for Smith. He has eight months to assemble a team. We’ve seen the southeast produce some great young hockey players in the past few years, but many of those players are already part of other organizations.

It’s not as simple as the Bears waltzing in and saying they want a soon-to-be 17-year-old player to join their team for his final year of midget.

The Bears aren’t just Estevan’s team, either. They’ll have players from throughout the vast southeast Saskatchewan catchment area. We’ve seen some great talent come out of Weyburn, and from all of the small towns and villages that the Bears will get to draw from.

Their first spring camp April 24-26 will be a very intriguing event.

As we’ve stated before, a lot of people have been clamouring for midget AAA hockey in Estevan, and the southeast in general, for a very, very long time. For some, they can’t resist the calibre of hockey that will be on display. This is a league that has won eight of 20 national midget AAA championships in the 21st century. Some great NHL players have been produced by this league; now local fans get to talk about watching those players at 15, 16 or 17.

And there isn’t a better arena in the province for midget AAA hockey than Affinity Place.

There’ll be a big economic spinoff from having another high level of hockey in the area.

Finally, we won’t have to watch talented young players go to other areas of the province to pursue their hockey aspirations.

That’s what we’ll get with midget AAA. And Smith is the right guy to lead this new team into a very competitive environment.