PJHL Media
Riding a 10-game win streak, the Chilliwack Jets and head coach Chris Price have soared to the top of the conference and league standings. While the Jets may not have any league leaders in any one category at the moment, they do boast talent from the top of the lineup onward. The PJHL caught up with Price this week for the story behind his club’s success,
PJHL: Ridge Meadows grabbed a lot of the headlines to start this season, but your club has won 10 straight and recently overtook them. What’s been working well to start the year?
Chris Price: The Flames are a heck of a team. They have a lot of returning players with high-end skill for our league. If you make a mistake against them, it usually ends up in the back of your net before you can blink. I think our group bought in to our vision and systems early on in camp. We have good depth at every position and the guys are hungry and motivated to perform. It’s a young group and they compete hard daily in practice, and we’ve been seeing it transfer into games. When we’re on our game, we are hard to play against and come in waves. Lastly, our special teams have been solid and timely. I think we’re in the top three for both right now and of course there will be some dips throughout a season but that has been another reason for the early success.
PJHL: It seems like a committee approach for your group when it comes to scoring. No Jets skater is in the top-20 in the league yet you’re tied atop the PJHL standings. Is the team’s depth the reason?
CP: Our depth is a big reason why and, on most nights, we’re rolling out all four lines and three pairs. We’ve been scoring by committee and at the same time we have some players that haven’t been getting the points but are still making big contributions off of the score sheet. We currently have a top line of Erich Rommel, Kaelen Huibers and Jesse Brideau who have been doing a great job of limiting the other team’s top lines and still producing offensively.
PJHL: On the goaltending side, your tandem of Luke Roberts and Muc have been very solid. How do you expect the share of the crease to breakdown this season?
CP: We were able to add Muc early in the season because of an injury to another goaltender and he has come in with a great attitude and work ethic. He’s been good in practice and the games he has started for us, he has impressed. As far as share of the crease goes, I expect to continue giving Roberts the net most nights and he’s deserved it. He has come in new to the team and has made an immediate impact both on and off the ice. He’s extremely focused and is a competitor. He’s brought in some leadership too and is a vocal leader off the ice.
PJHL: You’re into your second season now with the Jets; which player has come the farthest with you and plays a key role for you now?
CP: There are a lot of players that have worked their way up the lineup and into key roles. A good example might be a player like Erich Rommel. Last year he was mainly our fourth-line center but a key penalty killer. This year he finds himself centering our top line, playing on the powerplay, while still being a key penalty killer. I think a lot of players want it all right away and depending on situations that are often out of their control, that can’t always be the case. He’s an example of putting the team first, continuing to work on his game and develop, and then getting an opportunity and making the most of it. We really do have a bunch of guys like that up and down our roster.
PJHL: The Jets have a lot of people contributing off the ice including scouts, skills coaches, trainers and various coordinators. How is everyone made to feel they are making a difference?
CP: We have a lot of people behind the scenes that do a great job setting the guys up for success. We’ve added to our staff this year with another assistant coach (Jacob Mangone), skills coach (Josh Aspelind), and a video coach (Kevin Parra-Vaughn). Our training staff (Todd Morrison, Krista-Lee Walchuk, Sean Hannah and Kason Newport) is top notch, and they do so much for these guys that often goes unnoticed. Our GM Clayton Robinson and assistant GM Cam Miller spend a ton of time on the phones, watching video, and in the rinks recruiting and it has been paying off.
PJHL: What has been your pitch to potential future players for the Jets? How do you sell your program to prospects?
CP: I think our pitch to potential future players is development in a Junior A environment. We have been trying to get younger while still being competitive. We want to have prospects playing for us and to help develop and move them on. We’re really fortunate to be on the ice a lot so there is a lot of time for teaching and reps. We practice most weekdays unless we have an away game on the same day, we have a weekly ice time dedicated just to skills, we do team workouts, and the players have their own memberships at the gym to go on their own.
