For Brock Hirsche, it has been a season to forget with the Prince George Cougars.
Not only is the Western Hockey League club stuck in the cellar of the league, but their chances of capturing a playoff spot are slowly fading away. Unfortunately all Hirsche can do is voice encouragement to his teammates as he recuperates from shoulder surgery, which has kept him out of the Cougars' lineup for all but eight games.
The 19 year old had season-ending surgery on his right shoulder Dec. 6 and after spending a few weeks recuperating with his family in Lethbridge, Hirsche joined the Cougars in a new role Jan. 21 in Red Deer.
"Hirsche is a huge part of our team," said Cougars' head coach Dean Clark about the three-year WHL veteran standing alongside him behind the bench. "We wanted to keep him involved. I think having his presence around the guys is a positive thing. I wanted to keep him more involved then if he was just in a player's role."
After the Cougars' 4-2 loss to the Victoria Royals on Feb. 17 Hirsche officially had more games as an assistant coach for the team this season at nine then he had as a player.
"It's a lot different than playing but it's fun," said Hirsche. "You get to see the game from a different perspective.
"If I see something that could be better I just communicate with the players," he added. "Nothing negative, just constructive criticism and then just talk with the coaching staff about what we can do better."
Hirsche picked up his first win as an assistant coach when the Cougars defeated the high-flying Edmonton Oil Kings 5-4 in overtime on Friday, Feb. 10 at CN Centre.
"It felt good to get that win," said Hirsche. "They kind of had that belief back that we're a good team when we want to be. I would say we had a little bit of cockiness to our game and that helped us."
In his first two seasons with the Cougars the six-foot, 190-pound centre played in 135 games, collecting 21 goals and 52 points.
Hirsche picked up his second win last week in Victoria before the Cats' dropped a pair to the red-hot Portland Winterhawks (42-15-2-1) - who have eight wins in a row. He'll go for his third and fourth victories as assistant coach this weekend in two crucial games with the visiting Royals.
The Royals (18-35-2-4) made a pit stop in Kamloops on Wednesday to play the Blazers (41-14-1-3), but were two points ahead of the Cougars (19-38-0-2) prior to the game.
The offensively challenged Cougars - the lowest scoring team in the WHL with 124 goals before Saturday's game in Victoria - have missed Hirsche's ability to generate offence. And as much as Hirsche has enjoyed viewing the game from a different perspective he longs to return to his former position.
"I'd like to play another year," said the 20 year old.
If his surgically repaired shoulder holds up Hirsche's it would seem the Cougars' coaching staff would like to keep him in the fold as one of the three 20-year-old players each team is allowed. As for Hirsche, he isn't quite ready to hang up the skates for a full-time coaching position yet.
"It's something that maybe interests me in the future, you never know," he said.
