The 7th annual Friends of the Grizzlys golf tournament was held on Friday, June 7th at the Olds Golf Club.
In addition to beautiful weather and day of fellowship on the course, the tourney also provided an opportunity for the first public appearance in the Town of Olds for Peter Schaefer as the new Head Coach of the Olds Grizzlys.
The former NHLer was announced as the new bench boss of the local Alberta Junior Hockey League club on Friday, May 31st.
The 46 year old from Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan discusses what the response has been like in the week since the official announcement was made by the Grizzlys about his new job in the AJHL. He says “First of all, excited to be here and help turn things around and have fun season through fun and a lot of hard work. It’s nice being reached out to by, you know, all of your friends. Most of them being in hockey. Some not in hockey, right, but I feel lucky and fortunate to be able to work and give kids the experiences I went through positively and negatively through hard work and, of course, a lot of fun.”
Arriving at the golf tourney also marked Schaefer’s first ever visit to the Town of Olds. He says “I’d say the City of Olds because growing up in a town of 500 from Saskatchewan I wouldn’t call this a town, I’d call this a city but from what I’ve seen it’s a beautiful course. Compared to the three-hole golf course I grew up on that was sand greens, right? So it’s a pleasure to be out here and get to meet a lot of faces and, you know, obviously most importantly the players and community, right?”
Friends of the Grizzlys Society President Josh Erdman was asked what he thinks it will mean to the Grizzlys players for the upcoming season to have a ‘players coach’ who has the experience of over 550 regular season National Hockey League games played on his resume. He says “I think the massive change will be the biggest impact. Peter is very friendly, you know, he tells lots of great stories. I mean, Scott (Atkinson – former Olds Grizzlys Head Coach) is a friendly guy too and has great stories as well but just a new face, you know. It’s been tough because like I’ve said in past interviews, I really like Scott and wished things would have worked out better but that’s the game of hockey and that’s game of life. So changes happen and you’ve got to roll with them. I think we’ve gotten really lucky here, getting a guy like Peter to come in and give us a hand.”
Erdman explains what the response has been from the community and other AJHL organizations to the news that a former NHL player is now the Head Coach in Olds. He says “Been a positive impact so far, he seems like a great guy. We’re just getting to know him. Great attitude, seems friendly. Comes with a breadth of players. He’s I guess thrown 100 plus names out to take a look at guys. Some of the players I chatted with this morning have got to know him a little bit and they’ve said so far it has been a positive interaction. So we’re looking forward to getting things going and seeing how he does out on the ice and on the bench.”
Meanwhile, the Olds Grizzlys Booster Association is currently running a spring fundraiser.
Tickets cost $20 dollars each for a draw to win a Traeger Timberline 1300 Grill, plus a 1/2 Pork cut and wrapped donated by Perkins Farms.The winning ticket will be drawn on June 16th.
Get in on the draw by going online to OldsGrizzlys.ca or visiting the Olds Grizzlys Booster Club Facebook page.
Listen to 96.5 CKFM’s conversation with Josh Erdman.