Derrick Martinsa国际传媒 coaching trajectory keeps 鈥渞ocketing鈥 skywards.
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Martin has been named a new assistant coach with sa国际传媒 Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He comes to the Rockets after spending this past season as head coach and general manager of the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
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Before his period in Camrose, he spent time as head coach of the Okanagan Hockey Academy Edmonton Under-15 Prep program.
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The 39-year-old worked behind the bench as an assistant coach with the Spruce Grove Saints of the AJHL for three seasons prior to becoming a head coach at OHA Edmonton.
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During a phone interview Friday morning, Martin said it wasn鈥檛 an easy decision to leave a beautiful place like Camrose, but he couldn鈥檛 turn down an opportunity to move to a higher level of hockey in the WHL.
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鈥淚 applied right around the time of the posting when it came out in early July,鈥 he said. 鈥淥bviously, they needed time to go through everyonesa国际传媒 resumes and I was fortunate enough to be able to go through the process. I found out I got the job the middle of last week.
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鈥淎 lot of things went into the decision. We built a really nice program in Camrose this year. A program that is now set up for long-term success. We鈥檝e got a really good board of directors there. I really liked my staff. Our dressing room was fantastic and the community was really supportive. I think anybody who is in this (coaching) for the long haul, really wants to be in a place where you鈥檙e held accountable and that was the case in Camrose.
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鈥淲hen you leave an opportunity like I had in Camrose, itsa国际传媒 only because theresa国际传媒 an even better opportunity in a place like sa国际传媒. I honestly think sa国际传媒 in the benchmark in junior hockey in Canada. Having the opportunity to call myself a Rocket is such an honour and a privilege. They鈥檝e done it the right way for a long time and to be a part of that is so exciting. Itsa国际传媒 a beautiful community, a safe place to raise our kids and itsa国际传媒 a first-tier program and it was just too hard to turn it down.鈥
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Head coach Kris Mallette has shown himself to be an innovator and hesa国际传媒 looking forward to working with him, said Martin.
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Mallette made the offer when he was out-of-town as he was selected three weeks ago to guide Canadasa国际传媒 national mensa国际传媒 under-18 team at this yearsa国际传媒 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It will be the third time hesa国际传媒 worked with this program, first time as head coach following two years as an assistant coach.
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鈥淜ris was part of everything up to making the offer to me, but he left for Team Canada, so we鈥檝e had an opportunity to chat a little bit every day on the phone,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e both head coaches. Obviously, his experience in the WHL is really, really strong and I鈥檓 going to have a great chance to learn off of him.
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鈥淎s we both have head coaching experience, theresa国际传媒 going to be an opportunity for us to work off of each other a little bit. As far as my defined role, be that offence or defence, power-play and penalty kill, we鈥檝e had some internal discussions about that. I think once he gets back from Team Canada, we鈥檒l sit down and really define the role of what he needs from me and what I can do to help the team the best.鈥
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Martin hasn鈥檛 spent a lot of time in sa国际传媒, but his wife has family in the city but they love it.
