The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins are pleased to announce the team has promoted Drew Kocur to interim head coach and general manager for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
Kocur, who first joined the team as assistant coach and director of sales back in the spring of 2023, said he’s looking forward to the opportunity ahead, as the team looks to finish the season strong.
“I’m excited to get things going with the Bruins the last stretch here, I’ve learned a ton over my last couple of years here in Estevan, and we’re looking forward to the final stretch,” Kocur said.
“We have three [games] in four [nights] at home coming up here, as we’re back on the ice Wednesday for a big matchup with Flin Flon and then a back-to-back with Kindersley. We’ve got a couple of good days of practice to prepare so we’re looking forward to seeing the guys back playing and what we can put together here down the stretch.”
Bruins’ Club President, Riley Tetreault said Kocur’s hard work and dedication to the team over his time in Estevan have shown he has all the qualities to make a strong head coach in this league.
“Through Drew’s time with the organization, his passion and care for the Bruins’ franchise, its players, and the community has always been evident,” Tetreault said. “Drew’s vision for the program is ambitious, but we feel it is a great foundation to begin on as we move into this next chapter. On behalf of the Executive, we look forward to working with Drew on bringing this vision to reality.”
Team Governor, Aaron Ludwig added, “Drew’s passion for the game and for the players is evident to everyone around him. We are confident Drew will put everything he has into the players and the community and we’re looking forward to the next steps for the Estevan Bruins.”
Prior to joining the Bruins, Kocur led the Pilot Butte Storm of the Prairie Junior Hockey League (PJHL) to a Junior B Provincial Championship in the 2022-23 season, while also taking home Coach of the Year honours that season.
Kocur takes over a Bruins’ team currently sitting fourth in the SJHL’s Viterra Division and 10th overall in the league standings with a 12-18-4 record through 34 games, to sit nine points back of Humboldt for the eighth and final playoff spot (though holding three games in-hand).
Despite an uphill climb to get back in playoff contention, Kocur is optimistic and pointed out the importance of facing each challenge head-on, one step at a time.
“We’ve got 22 games left, and for the group, we’re excited for what’s ahead,” Kocur said. “We’re going to work every day on and off the ice and look to play some really solid hockey here the rest of the way to finish the year off strong.”
In addition to a busy slate of games this week, the Bruins also have a milestone weekend upcoming. January 24-25 will serve as the team’s annual Parent and Billet Weekend, when many families of the players will be coming to watch their kids in action.
Kocur said it’s always a special weekend marked on the schedule.
“It should be a good weekend,” he said with a smile. “We do a pretty big production down here for it; [billet coordinator] Mandee [Park] and our front office team do a great job of organizing things and the players get to spend some time with their parents and with the billets together. It’ll be a good opportunity to get to meet a lot of the parents coming down to watch their kids play too, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Wednesday’s game against Flin Flon will be a standard 7 p.m. start at Affinity Place. The Room By Room Furniture Pregame Show will begin at 6:45 p.m. on FloHockey and for free on the Bruins’ Official YouTube Livestream.
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Marty Martinson/Estevan Bruins PxP & Marketing Director
On X: @MartyMartyPxP1