Cougars looking for more depth
Mar. 4, 2010 - Regina Leader-Post
By Ian Hamilton
University of Regina Cougars head coach Blaine Sautner summarized his team's 2009-10 Canada West men's hockey season in one word.
"Frustration," Sautner said.
The Cougars' season ended Saturday in Winnipeg, where the Manitoba Bisons handed Regina its seventh straight loss to conclude the regular season.
The Cougars finished with a 9-17-2 record and didn't qualify for the playoffs.
"We're frustrated with the same issues we've had over the last few seasons," said Sautner, who just completed his fifth season behind the Cougars' bench. "We lacked goal-scoring and we were inconsistent.
"Sometimes we were pretty solid and other times we had four- or five-game losing streaks. In a 28-game (regular) season, that puts you behind the eight-ball -- especially when only four teams make (the playoffs)."
Before this season, six teams reached the Canada West post-season, and the Cougars made the playoffs in each of Sautner's previous four campaigns. With only four teams reaching the playoffs in '09-10, the U of R picked a bad time to have a poor first half.
The Cougars went 4-10-0 before Christmas, scoring just 26 goals and going 4-for-76 on the power play. After adding some offence in the form of Jared Jagow and Devon LeBlanc, Regina posted a 5-1-1 record in its first seven games following the break.
Then came the season-ending skid which cost the Cougars a shot at the playoffs.
"We're happy with the progress we made and with the guys we've got," Sautner said. "But we're in a situation where if we lose a couple of guys to injury -- especially our offensive guys -- we have to shuffle things around and we have a dropoff."
To address that, Sautner will beat the bushes in the hopes of finding more depth.
"We're getting guys now who are 20-goal guys out of the (WHL)," he said.
"They're good players, no doubt about it. But when you look at other teams' rosters, they're getting guys who score 30 or 40 goals in the Western league. As much as we think we have good players, we need more depth in that area ...
"It's an ongoing battle. We talk to all of those (40-goal) scorers, too. It's just that university hockey is the first time in a player's career that he gets to choose where he plays in Canada. It's a very competitive situation."
The Cougars may get some help in that battle from the Co-operators Centre. Regina is to move into the brand-new rink for the 2010-11 season and Sautner believes the facility will help attract recruits to the U of R.
The squad loses only three players from this season's team -- forwards Caine Pearpoint, Tanner Shultz and Blair Stengler -- to graduation.
Sautner liked what he saw this season from the likes of Jagow, Craig Cuthbert and Ryan Bender and he expects them, along with other potential returnees, to improve with a year's experience.
Having said that, Sautner also expects some turnover on the roster.
"When you don't make the playoffs or when you finish sixth, there have got to be changes and I think there will be," he said.
"We have to find depth and we have to find the best players we can who fit into the academics we have."