His team won 21 of 30 regular-season games, claimed top spot at the prestigious Mac's Midget Tournament and skated to a playoff championship title. These accomplishments, and the general advancement of his players, helped Mario Desjardins to coach-of-the-year honours.
Desjardins, the 48-year-old bench boss of the Northern Capitals, was named top coach in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget AAA League on Wednesday.
"I got the phone call on Tuesday night from B.C. Hockey and was certainly very humbled by the award," Desjardins said. "There are a lot of good coaches in our league and to have been selected is definitely an honour."
Desjardins was in his third season with the Northern Capitals, a regional rep team based in Prince George.
The year before Desjardins became head coach, the club - known then as the Cougars - finished fifth and last in the league with a 6-17-5 record. In his first season at the helm, the Cougars improved to 16-6-8, good for second place out of six teams. Last season, the Cats topped the regular-season standings with a mark of 25-3-2 and went on to defeat the Fraser Valley Phantom in the playoff final. Then came this season, in which the newly-named Northern Capitals went 21-6-3 for a second-place finish in the regular schedule, downed the Rocky Mountain Raiders of Alberta 5-1 in the Mac's final and beat the favoured Greater Vancouver Comets in the B.C. playoff final.
"In three years coaching, and trying to make a difference in the program, our record (speaks for itself)," said Desjardins, who relocated to Prince George from Terrace. "At the end of the day, you can't do it without the players and support staff that you have, so I definitely have to give accolades to them as well for receiving this award."
Desjardins gave thanks to former NHLer Stewart Malgunas, who was head coach in 2012-13 and became an assistant for the next two seasons.
"We had the same philosophy," said Desjardins, who played in the Western Hockey League (Seattle, Lethbridge, Kamloops and New Westminster) and in Division 2 in Germany. "He went pretty far in his hockey career, and myself as well, and we wanted to give the girls an opportunity to do the same thing - to use hockey as a vehicle to take them places. So Stew played a huge role in the first two years of my head-coaching career here with the major midget team."
Desjardins also gave credit to Brandon Nichol, this year's assistant coach, and goaltending coach Jennifer Fuller.
Another factor in Desjardins being recognized as coach of the year was his role in helping players land spots on Canadian Interuniversity Sport hockey teams. Players from the Northern Capitals who will skate in university programs next year are his daughter, Sage Desjardins (University of Calgary), Kelsey Roberts (University of Calgary), Victoria Byer (Mount Royal University) and Hunter Mosher (Nipissing University). In total, coach Desjardins has now seen 10 of his players move past midget hockey.
For Desjardins, the only mild disappointment the past two seasons was the inability of the Cougars/Capitals to win the Pacific regional playoffs. Last year, they lost out to the Edmonton Thunder and, this year, they fell to the same Raiders they beat for the Mac's crown. The Raiders are currently at the Esso Cup national championship tournament in Weyburn, Sask., and, with a 3-1 record, were in first place in the standings as of Thursday afternoon.
"Losing to (the Raiders) is a little disheartening but at the same time it's rewarding as far as knowing where they stand in that Esso Cup," Desjardins said.
Trevor Sprague, head coach of the Cariboo Cougars, was also recognized as a coach of the year on Wednesday. The Prince George-based Cougars play in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League.
