U18 AAA Maulers look to turn program around with new coach

The U18 AAA Yorkton Secon Maulers have named Darrell Mann the team's next head coach. (BradyLang/CTVYorkton)

Yorkton, Sask. — The U18 AAA Yorkton Secon Maulers have a new head coach behind the bench, someone with recognized past success.

Darrell Mann was named to the position Monday following the departure of Ed Zawatsky, who announced his resignation late this season.

“The guys have to learn to hate to lose and I think if we can get that through to these guys, the start of the season is going to be very important to change our culture,” said Mann.

Mann has been the bench boss in for the Junior B Carrot River Outback Thunder in 2021-22. Before that, he was the long time bench boss and GM of the U18 AAA Tisdale Trojans.

He earned a bronze at the 2019 Telus Cup, Canada’s Junior A. Championship, along with the 2002 championship for the club in his first stint in Tisdale.

“He should develop an environment that players will want to come play for and teams won't want to come play against. It's going to be tough to play against us,” team general manager Steven Silvernagle said.

The Maulers program has struggled in recent years, with just 18 wins in the past four seasons. Their last season over .500 was back in 2015-16.

“Our work ethic is going to be as good as anybody asks and (we’ll have) passion for the game. I think some structure into how we're going to play. I can recruit some players here to come and give us an opportunity,” said Mann.

This past season, the team had a record of (8-31-4).

“We need a mix of young guns and we need our veterans to lead the way and I think that'll overhaul the (play) on the ice (and) actions off ice,” Silvernagle answered, before Mann gave his thoughts.

“There is a lot of good young talent in the area here too. So we definitely want to make sure we're addressing that and bringing those players in,” Mann said.