The head coach of the Okotoks AAA Bantam Oilers is working hard to turn his team around.

He was at the right place to start the about-face during a practice at the Murray Arena last week. After all, he won a lot of hockey games on that ice as a centre for the powerful Foothills Bisons in the late 1990s.

Okotoks Bantam AAA Oilers head coach Derek Puttick, and his dad Rick, discuss hockey strategy with the team during a practice Thursday at the Murray Arena. Puttick is a former Foothills Bison and won two Heritage Junior B League championships with the team in the 1990s. photo by Bruce Campbell

Oilers head coach Derek Puttick played three years with the Bisons including the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons when they won the Heritage Junior B Hockey League championship.

“I am very familiar with that arena,” Puttick said with a laugh. “We had some really good teams when I was in Okotoks. I was on a line with Roland Stewart and Darren Corbin and we were always the top line or close to it in the league.”

Puttick has been coaching in some capacity for the past six years. He’s incorporated some of the things he learned from his Bison coaches into his own teaching style. The Bisons’ head coach in those days was Gary Soroka and the assistant was Mike Hannigan, who is presently the head man behind the bench for the Okotoks Bisons.

“Mike, Gary and my dad (Rick Puttick) are my biggest influences in coaching,” Puttick said. “Gary wasn’t big with the on-ice stuff, but when it came to the dressing room he was really believable with his speeches and getting his point across.”

Soroka is now on the Bisons’ board of directors and his son Peter is a defenceman on the team.

Gary Soroka and Hannigan were a good combination said Puttick.

“Mike was the Xs and Os kind of guy,” he said. “He had a different way of motivating — little more outspoken. Gary would speak out when necessary, but Mike was primarily the guy who would step up and say something.”

If he needs some advice from his main mentor, he doesn’t have to go too far. Derek’s dad Rick is his assistant coach with the Bantam AAA Oilers.

“It’s weird because Dad has 30 years of coaching experience as compared to my six,” Puttick said. “As much as I like to put on the airs of being the boss, I take a lot of advice from him. I still go with my gut instinct a lot, but we share a lot of the responsibilities.”

Puttick’s father coached the UFA Midget AAA Bisons for several years. He was the coach when the Bisons won the Mac’s Midget tournament in 1999. Some of the prominent players Rick has coached from the Okotoks area include Calgary Hitmen goalie Michael Snider and Okotoks Junior A Oilers Quinn Sproule and Brandon Hoogenboom. He also coached former Oilers Corbin Knight and goalie Bradley Eidsness, both of whom are playing for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and are NHL draft picks.

Meanwhile, the Okotoks Bantam AAA Oilers are having trouble hitting their stride under the Putticks.

Puttick was initially hired on as an assistant coach with the Bantam Oilers, but stepped in as the head man after the initial head coach resigned due to health reasons.

Puttick said the coaching change at the start of the season played a factor in the Oilers’ slow start. They were 0-12-1 in the Alberta Major Bantam League as of Friday.

“We will be turning things around,” Puttick said confidently.

After all, he’s got experience with winning in Okotoks.

bcampbell@okotoks.greatwest.ca

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