The Okotoks Bisons have named Brent Trevors as the General Manager of the Heritage Junior Hockey League club.
Trevors becomes the Bisons’ eighth general manager in franchise history.
Full article from the Okotoks Western Wheel:
The search is over.
The Okotoks Junior B Bisons Hockey Club named Brent Trevors as the eighth general manager in franchise history last week following an extended search for the successor of long-time executive and current vice-president Jason McFarlane.
“I haven’t been around this atmosphere where it really matters,” Trevors said. “I just wanted to get back to the bigger picture of things and I wanted a challenge.
“It’s a challenge to get these guys back to where they’ve been. I think I can help them get over that hump.”
Winners of four straight Heritage Junior Hockey League championships from 2010-14, the Bisons have fallen short of their lofty expectations over the past two seasons wherein they failed to advance to the league finals.
Trevors said some tinkering of the culture of the team might be in order.
The GM lists skating, conditioning, physicality and 200-foot play as the overall team attributes he’s looking to build upon.
Gone are the days of the stereotypical pugilist in Jr. B hockey.
“I’m a believer that if you can’t skate, you can’t play these days,” he said. “I’m a team guy, if you don’t have 20 guys pulling on that same string it’s hard to be successful.
“I think a little culture change for the Okotoks Bisons from what I understand might be in order. I don’t know that, all kids have a clean slate with me.”
Trevors played high level hockey in his native New Brunswick, attending Team New Brunswick and Atlantic Region camps. More recently, he’s been heavily involved with the Indus Minor Hockey Association for the past six years in both coaching and fundraising.
Outside of hockey, he runs a power washing business.
“There is a broad spectrum of qualities and attributes that’s going to make for a win-win scenario for my successor, the next GM,” McFarlane said. “Brent who was among a handful of applicants certainly hit on a lot of those. Coming from the hockey world, having run his own company, there is a lot of parallels in hockey and life and he hit on a lot of those.
“It’s a new energy and he’s highly motivated to get in there and do a good job.”
McFarlane, who remains on the board as vice-president, resigned from his post in the spring as the winningest and longest tenured GM in the history of the Bisons having spent 10 seasons in the position.
He advised his successor to surround himself with successful people.
“He has that in place right now with the team staff and the board,” McFarlane said.
“We have and he has put himself in a position to succeed. He’s got lots of support and silent advisory from me and the rest of the organization to make sure it’s an enjoyable experience and a successful one.”
One of the larger tasks for the new GM heading into the 2016-17 campaign is deciding on the right overage players to select. The Bisons have 11 players eligible to return for their 21-year-old season with a maximum of four spots to fill for the 1995 age group.
“I want to bring the fitness thing back into this because at the end of the day when you play 40 games a year and come into playoffs, that’s your trump card and I think it’s a necessity to get the kids to buy into it,” Trevors said. “I hope all 11 come in with the attitude that this is it and give the coaches every reason to keep them.
“Part of that has to be who’s going to start this new trend and culture that we want to have? Being in the gym is important. I understand these kids are students and have lives, but this is part of it.”
Later this month the team hosts the 26th annual Okotoks Bisons Golf Tournament on June 18 at River’s Edge Golf Club.
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