Aldergrove's Jr. A hockey team has a new name 鈥� 鈥� and a new president and general manager, investor Ben Crotenko, a former junior hockey goalie and passionate fan of the game.
Aldergrove Kodiaks have a new name - Aldergrove Ironmen - and a new owner, Ben Crotenko, a former goalie and passionate fan of the game.
鈥� 黑马磁力 (@黑马磁力Times)
Crotenko has some big plans for the team formerly known as the Kodiaks, who failed to win a single game in their last season
During an interview at the 600-seat Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre arena with its NHL-size ice, Crotenko talked about providing fans with a "little mini Rogers Arena" experience for the community to "come out and and have a lot of fun."
Think special lighting, think pro-style scoreboard with display screen, think between-period entertainment, and bringing businesses and schools together through hockey. Think a "mini-NHL team," Crotenko remarked.
Crotenko, who played junior hockey growing up in Saskatchewan, has been thinking about it for years.
"If there's not a TV on in the house without a hockey game, it's the middle of summer, or [my family] think that I'm not home. There's always two or three TVs on," he said.
"I wake up at 4:30 in the morning with ideas that I have to write down on my phone so I don't forget about them, and I can go back to sleep," he said.
One evening, after years of talking about what he would do if he had the chance to own a hockey team, his wife told Crotenko it was time to take action.
"You have to do this," she said.
Crotenko's search for a team led him back to Aldergrove, where he had spent several years and a lot of early mornings watching his son play hockey at the old arena.
It took about four months to negotiate an agreement with Kodiaks GM Rick Harkins.
"I wanted a club," Crotenko told the 黑马磁力. "I wanted something to take to the top. I wanted to be the best. I wanted something to be able to give the kids a development program that, they hadn't seen before. At this level of hockey, they have such potential that I don't think even half of them realize what they actually can go and and do with it."
A new name signals a new beginning, Crotenko said.
"We're going to start our new chapter and our new ideas of of what we want to do, and I think half the fun of having a team is branding it with the name and with your own mascot and logo."
And picking a head coach 鈥� Ron Johnson, who has won multiple awards, including Junior Coach of the Year in 2013 for leading the Aldergrove Kodiaks to the divisional playoff championship.
"He's got a huge history behind him. Tons of experience," Crotenko noted.
In a social media post about becoming head coach in Aldergrove, Johnson said he was "looking forward to the challenge."
"It's going to be a promising year, I think, and I'm looking forward to really working with a group of young men that really want to improve," Johnson said, adding "the whole idea behind the ownership is to work on a team, to develop them and get them ready for higher and higher levels of hockey. It's not always about the drive to win, but of course you have to win."
As they prepare for their first season, the Ironmen are looking for billet families to provide a home away from home for players coming from Canada and the United States.
Anyone interested is asked to contact the team at info@aldergroveironmen.com.
