By Adam Donnelly

Kamloops Storm looking for success heading into KIJHL second half

Dec 11, 2018 | 3:58 PM

KAMLOOPS — At times, it’s been a rocky road for the Kamloops Storm under the leadership of their new coaching staff, headed up by rookie Head Coach Jassi Sangha.

The Storm is 25 games into the 2018-2019 season, but when you have a trio of young coaches working with a group of young players, there are bound to be some bumps along the way.

“Especially with a young team you can see improvements really quickly, as opposed to a team of 19- and 20-year-olds,” Sangha told CFJC Today. “I think that’s where our 0-and-7 start came from. It’s a lot of learning, a lot of rough practices, and for the most part, it was trying tog et in shape.”

Sangha was a standout in his days with the Kamloops Storm and continued his playing career in college with the TRU WolfPack, then with the Williams Lake Stampeders in Senior Hockey. He says stepping behind the bench has been a welcome change in his hockey career

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“I’ve never had so much respect for coaches until I started coaching,” Sangha said with a smile. “ You’re up at night until midnight, 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. thinking about how you can improve. Every phone call you make is to a buddy or an old coach saying how can I get better, what kind of advice can you give me that will help me. I’ve definitely learned a lot in that respect.”

Therann Kincross is one of just three returning players from last year on the Storm’s roster. He says he’s enjoyed the opportunity to work with the teams new coaching staff, noting that having a head coach who isn’t too far removed from his playing days has helped many of the Storm’s young players.

“There are little things on the ice he tries and helps me with, and he gives me pointers here or there,” Kincross said. “It’s been helping my game, and I think it;’s been helping the other guys too.”

With just 21 regular season games remaining for the Storm, there’s still some work to be done heading towards their final playoff push. Their 18 points are good enough for fourth in the Doug Birks Division. While they’re 26 points back of the first place Revelstoke Grizzlies, they’re only 4 points back of the 3rd place Sicamous Eagles, a team they want to catch as the season winds on.

Kincross says it’s going to take hard work for the team to improve their place in the standings.

“Continued work ethic in practice and just bearing down, coming into every game ready to play the full 60,” Kincross explained.

For Sangha, he wants his team to win the games against the teams close to the Storm in the standings.

“We’ve got Chase twice, and Sicamous coming up. Those are three big games for us, three divisional games and we’re hoping to go 3-and-0,” Sangha said.