The Vermilion Jr. B Tigers were on the hunt for a new head coach and Danny Haygarth responded.
Haygarth is no stranger to the hockey community and resides in Lloydminster. He is married with four children, two of which are twin boys, 22, who are currently playing for the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings hockey team, in the ACAC. Haygarth also has a 19-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son who played hockey for the U18 AA Blazers, last season.
Haygarth has been involved with hockey his whole life as he played minor hockey in Lloydminster. He played four years of Jr. A Hockey, two years with the Lloydminster Blazers, and two seasons with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the AJHL.
At the age of 21, Haygarth finished playing hockey and began his coaching career, where he has coached Midgets AA, Junior B Bandits in Lloydminster for three years, and they won the NEAJBHL title all three years, winning provincials twice, and representing Alberta at the Western Canadian Championships, earning a silver medal in the 1997-98 season. He then moved on to coach the Lloydminster Blazers of the AJHL for three years where he was the assistant coach for the first two years and was head coach his last year with the Blazers.
After that, Haygarth took a break from coaching Junior hockey, to help with coaching minor hockey with his young family. Haygarth also served as the director of the Lloydminster Bantam AAA Heat, for eight seasons during this time.
“I knew that I wanted to get back into coaching Junior hockey, and now that my children are grown, I saw that the Tigers were looking for applications for a coach, so now is the time, so I applied,” commented Haygarth.
Upon accepting the position of head coach for the Jr. B Tigers, Haygarth and the team have made a two-year commitment, but said, “I understand that being a coach also means you can be let go at any time, so hopefully I can fulfill those two years,” Haygarth said with a chuckle.
“My teams in the past have always been hardworking and disciplined. I think that for any team to have success, there needs to be a certain level of compete, that all championship teams have. I think with the players we have coming back, with the addition of some new young talent, we will have a strong team and have a successful season,” stated Haygarth.
When asked what his style of coaching entailed he simply said, “I feel I am a players coach, I stress the team always comes first, and with more team success, the individual success will follow. I believe that all players need to have a role on the hockey team, for teams to be successful, all players need to feel like they had a part in the success of our hockey team.”
Haygarth is excited to get the season going, with it all starting September 9, 10, and 11 for the open fall Tryout camp, “I can’t wait for the season to start and to get back to the rink,” commented Haygarth.