Dave Struch is looking forward to his first full season as the head coach for the WHL's Red Deer Rebels.
Struch was named head coach after serving as interim head coach through the final month of the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs. Red Deer beat Medicine Hat in the first round of the playoffs before being swept by Saskatoon in Round 2.
The Rebels will open up the 2024-25 regular season at home against Lethbridge on Saturday night.
Struch was pleased with his team's preparation during the preseason.
"The preparation side of things went really well. Right from having the young guys into the older guys leaving to NHL camps. We believe in our leadership group here. The older guys have led the way. As per what we did last year, the first month that I got here at the end of the season, they guys worked hard. We challenged them a lot in practice and the leaders have taken a big step for us and the young guys, the guys coming up in the organization have followed suit. Overall, it's been really good."
He notes the young players responded well to what was a very difficult camp.
"I believe that it could be the first time they've gone through something like this, but fortunately their character and work ethic had an opportunity to grow and take over. When you get a group of guys like that, that we believe we have here, they come in, they need one or two experiences of something like this and they can make mistakes, fail a little bit and learn from it, then they get to grow. The young guys have done a fantastic job."
Struch says that while the Rebels may not have the scoring power of other teams, they're going to make up for it with their hard-nosed style of play.
"Obviously when you have a hard-working team you're difficult to play against. We hope that we are that, with the way we prepare and I think the overall depth of our team. We might not be able to score at will like some of the higher-end offensive teams are going to be able to, but I think if we do things the right way away from the puck, we'll be able to score by committee."
Struch played four seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Saskatoon Blades before embarking on a 14-season professional playing career. He has five years of head coaching experience in the WHL with Saskatoon and Regina, and 12 years as an assistant coach with Saskatoon, Regina, and Everett. Struch is the ninth head coach in Rebels history.
The Rebels play their home opener Saturday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium against the Lethbridge Hurricanes starting at 7 p.m. The Rebels are then off until September 27th, when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers in the first game of a home-and-home series which wraps up the following night in Medicine Hat.