By RYAN MCCRACKEN on May 17, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
When the Medicine Hat K of C Knights last hosted the American Legion North District Class A Tournament in 2012, Lane Aman and Intek Hong were out on the diamond. This time, the pair of players-turned-coaches will be calling the shots from the dugout.
Aman – who returns to the Knights for his third season as head coach alongside assistants Hong and Ryan Fauth – says hosting the playoff tournament was an unforgettable experience, so he and his staff will be urging their players to make the most of it this summer.
“It’s just a ton of fun to have it at home and have your clubhouse to go back to after games. It’ll be a lot of fun for the guys,” said Aman, whose Knights will host the tournament July 18-21. “Maybe we took it a little bit for granted (as players), I guess, because it was our only year with the Knights. We just thought it was more common than it really is, it doesn’t come around all the often. We’ll really be preaching to them how lucky they are to have that home field advantage and to take advantage of it at the right time of the year.”
While the AA Moose Monarchs will be forced to travel to Billings if they can punch their ticket to the district tourney this summer, they’ll spend almost the entire first half of the season right here at home before ending the campaign with a 12-game road trip. Given the fact many of the team’s players are enrolled in high school, head coach Skyler Strosmoe says it’s a scheduling luxury they won’t be taking for granted.
“It actually does play pretty well for us,” said Stromsmoe. “We’re still in school here in June, so it makes it lots easier for the kids getting to classes for exams and whatnot, whereas in Montana they get out of school at the end of May so they can travel early on in June.
“In July we’re on the road quite a bit, but we’ll make do.”
Stromsmoe is also entering his third season as head coach with the Monarchs, and like Aman, he returns with the same coaching staff from last year. Stromsmoe says the immediate familiarity he has with assistant coaches Adam Moser and Austin Schibler, as well as their relationships with returning players, has been an advantage in the early going.
“It’s definitely a plus,” said Stromsmoe. “Getting to know the players more, they get to know us more as well, our expectations and what we expect on and off the field and how we play the game. A lot of the guys, we’ve seen them in indoor workouts now for a couple seasons so we know what they can do and we’ll hopefully put them in the right position so they can succeed.”
Aman added he and assistant coaches Hong and Ryan Fauth – all just a few years removed from the team themselves – seem to feed well off one another while bringing different areas of expertise to the dugout.
“It’s real nice to have the same guys that I’m familiar with to be the coaching staff. We seem to have the same thoughts on a lot of things but we’re also OK with disagreeing with each other to get to the right answer,” said Aman, who has been coaching the McCoy Colts alongside Hong this season, with Hong serving as head coach for the high school squad. “When debate is needed, we’re comfortable enough with each other to debate over things to get to the right decision, but we happen to think alike on a lot of our decisions.”
While both official rosters are still being determined, the Monarchs are in action for a tournament this weekend in Vauxhall, which Stromsmoe says should allow them to finalize a lineup ahead of their regular season opener against the Lethbridge Elks on June 4 at Athletic Park.
“This year we have good numbers, a good amount of kids tried out this year so that’s definitely a plus,” said Stromsmoe. “We’re just kind of working through the last couple roster moves here. We have a tournament this weekend so we’re going to see some guys and probably by the end of next week we’ll have our rosters ironed out.”
The Knights kick off their season on May 26 at Athletic Park against the Fort McLeod Royals.