Since Derek Stuart joined the Kimberley Dynamiters in 2016-17, they have been a contender for a KIJHL championship. The reason behind it is stability, according to the Calgary native.
“We have a lot of board members that have been here since I’ve been here and even earlier than that. There’s quite a few that have been here for five-plus years,” he said. “Everything down to our dressing room attendants, people have been here longer than me. There’s a lot of culture that has been established, and the culture is strong. Those things don’t need work. Anytime there’s changes, you need to start all over again and that’s a lot of work — it takes time.”
Stuart added their on-ice success from the work volunteers do doesn’t get recognized enough.
“It’s a lot of work that they do behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s a big reason why we’ve had success — including the fans. It’s a pretty easy recruiting tool when you can show them pictures of 1,000-plus spectators for a regular season game. The community support has a lot to do with our success as well.”
KIJHL: What type of coach do you consider yourself to be?
Stuart: I like to think I’m pretty fair. I’m sure there’s some people that would disagree with that. We reward guys that are doing what we ask them to, and what’s required here. We’re also trying to do everything we can from a coach and GM point of view — giving our players the best chance they have at success, eliminating all excuses.
KIJHL: How have you evolved as a coach?
Stuart: The biggest thing I would probably say is I have more patience now. Before, if something was wrong or something needed fixing, I felt like I had to do it right away. Now it’s more of a, ‘Let’s see how it plays out,’ or if it needs fixing. Maybe it can wait until tomorrow.
KIJHL: Have you learned just as much from winning as you have from losing? Some say you learn more from losing.
Stuart: I think you can learn from winning as well. You want to kind of emulate those teams down the road and try to build teams that are somewhat similar — teams that did have success. I can tell you, we learned a lot after losing in 2019 to Revelstoke in the finals. It’s easy to learn when you lose, but I think there is an opportunity when you win as well, and try to repeat what gave you success.
KIJHL: In terms of playing style — how do you like your teams to play?
Stuart: The simplest answer is fast and physical. One of the unique things about this league is you need to adjust your game depending on what arena you’re playing in. Sometimes we need to be more physical, and sometimes we need to be faster. I think if you’re able to be fast and physical, you should be in a pretty good spot.
KIJHL: What are the things your staff focuses on in terms of development?
Stuart: It’s very important that players get to play. They’re paying all this money — they need to play. We don’t overplay guys until probably right about now. If you look down our roster over the years, everyone’s played at least 35 games if they’re healthy. They get a chance to contribute and if they’re needed down the road to step into a bigger role in the playoffs, then they’re comfortable doing that.
Developing players in-season is really important, and they’re only going to develop if you give them ice time.
As every other team probably has, we do have a skills day. We have a goalie coach, and that’s important and has become a new trend these days. We really, really hammer home little things like stopping at the net and making sure they’re backchecking to the right spots. You don’t have the puck on your stick very often during a game, so those skill sessions are good — but they’re not necessarily too applicable once a game gets going.
The little intangibles — work ethic and the mental part — are much more important for us.
KIJHL: You’ve hit 300 career regular season wins, and then you have another 81 in the playoffs. What does that mean to you?
Stuart: That means I’m a long way from Jonesy (Terry Jones, the Beaver Valley Nitehawks head coach-general), he laughs. It’s a lot of hard work from a lot of people that go into that. Again, that’s a coaching staff and team reflection. I’m fortunate to have a lot of good players here, and a lot of good people behind the scenes, starting at the top with our president James Leroux, and all the way down.
Stuart now has 301 career wins in 405 games.
Dynamiters captain Callan Valstar
KIJHL: What are the things that you like about Derek as a coach that make him good?
Valstar: I would say he’s a really respectful guy, and he always understands what we’re going through as young athletes. He’s not too hard on us and understands when we need help. He’s strict when he has to be and gets us going. His practices are really, really good and intense.
KIJHL: In terms of developing yourself and your teammates, talk about some of the things that the coaching staff have been good at doing.
Valstar: He does a lot of individual videos with us. It’s not always about the full team. He takes responsibility and understands where you’re at and where you want your development to be, and what he thinks you should work at.
As an example, my first year, I wasn’t really a confident player and worried about making mistakes — the typical things players go through.
KIJHL: Along with building your confidence, what other areas or skills has he really helped you develop?
Valstar: I would say bringing out my offensive game. I’ve always been a defensive defenceman. I’m taking chances and jumping into the play when I need to. He’s really good and is giving me a lot of confidence this year.
Read the latest KIJHL Notebook.
