Youth movement rekindles Augusta fire

AUGUSTA, GA – Getting ready to start a season takes a lot of work. Lots of skating, weights, running, learning about your teammates. Coaches are no exception, especially when you are the coach of an expansion team.
Work, work and more work is what Brad Ralph has been doing over the past months as he prepares for his new job as head coach of the Augusta RiverHawks. All of that effort ramped up last week when training camp began at the James Brown Arena ahead of his squad’s inaugural game this Thursday in Fayetteville. The RiverHawks then return to Augusta for an “Opening Weekend” extravaganza with contests against Huntsville on Friday and Knoxville on Saturday at the JBA.
“It’s been a lot of work. We’ve had a lot of kids come in and out. I guess it has gone about how you’d expect an expansion team to go,” he said in a recent interview. “We’re constantly trying to make improvements here with the fact that we didn’t have a returning group of guys. We’re juggling a lot of players here and we’re trying to find not only the right chemistry but the right talent. It’s not an easy job.”
The last time Augusta saw pro hockey was 2008 when the Augusta Lynx were in the ECHL. After a decade of play, the franchise abruptly closed its doors that December due to financial difficulties. It was a severe blow to the players and especially the fans and sponsors who lost money in the deal.
Fast forward to this past February when former Pee Dee and Twin City Cyclones owner Bob Kerzner and his wife were introduced as the owners of the newest SPHL franchise. It was a perfect fit for the league and the culmination of a letter and email campaign by the die-hard hockey fans of the CSRA to SPHL commissioner (now President) Jim Combs trying to get the single-A circuit to rescue them.
Gilles Richard, formerly the general manager of the Jacksonville (FL) Barracudas, was brought in to run the team on a day-to-day basis. Kerzner, Richard and consultant Bill Coffey then chose former Lynx standout Ralph to be the head coach, noting Ralph’s enthusiasm, knowledge of the game and preparedness to tackle the job.
Although training camp was getting close to wrapping up, Ralph was playing his cards close to the vest, not wanting to divulge any of the names of players that he was sure would be on the opening night roster Thursday in Fayetteville. With players still coming out of camps in higher leagues and rosters not needing to be into the league office

until late Wednesday, there may still be changes taking place. That was quite evident when Augusta picked up center Chris Ferazzoli from Mississippi late Monday afternoon.
Making the decisions on who stays and who leaves can be a tough one, especially on a rookie head coach like Ralph is. It can be even harder when all of the players are working hard trying to earn one of those coveted spots. Ralph said that he was very impressed with the effort of every player who took the ice.
“All the players are really motivated to play. They all want to be here which is kind of refreshing,” he said.
Ralph said that he was looking to build a roster that was top heavy with younger players and just enough experienced guys to teach their youthful teammates how to play the game.
“I think a lot of the guys are unproven talent at the professional level. We want to go with a young team but I think we are trying to inject some experience into the lineup,” he said.
One of those experienced players who many think will be on the roster is Matt Auffrey. Auffrey, a sixth round draft pick of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2004, has over 200 pro games under his belt including 90 regular season and five playoff games in an Augusta Lynx sweater.
Even though the roster will be top heavy with young players, Ralph isn’t willing to change his philosophy and consider the 2010-11 season as a building year. He fully expects to win now and if he needs to make changes during the season he will.
“I’m not willing to lose games this year just to develop players. Am I willing to go younger? Yes, I am willing to go younger if we’re competitive, if we’re getting better every game,” he said. “My goal is to have a young team that can get better and (if) come halfway through the season we’re just starting to hit our stride and we start taking over, that’s my goal. I need to build a competitive team and if that means bringing in players with some more experience to help our younger players out, then by all means I will do that.”
The RiverHawks played a pair of exhibition games against the Fayetteville FireAntz last weekend,a daunting task for the best the SPHL has to offer let alone a team still learning its own identity. Despite the lack of success on the scoreboard, Ralph did take some knowledge away from the two games.
“There’s no doubt that there are certain teams in our league that have exceptionally good players. Fayetteville probably has some of the most talented forwards in the league,” he said. “We’ll have to play solid systems. We’ll have to adjust to defend some of these teams. We’ll have to outwork them. We’re going to have to outsmart them and we’re going to have to have strong goaltending.”
The two net minders still on the roster as of Tuesday night were rookies Jonathan Olthuis and Jordan McLaughlin. They will need plenty of assistance from the defense. Bryan Nathe, who played with Auffrey in Port Huron, should play a key role on the blue line.
When the team comes back from Fayetteville, they will face the defending champion Havoc and the always tough Ice Bears in the first two games at the James Brown Arena. It promises to be an electric atmosphere, making Ralph’s job keeping his players in emotional control that much tougher. It will also be a test of just how much the players have learned in a short period of time.
“There’s no doubt it’s a big weekend for us. Because we don’t have any returning players and have had so many players come in and out, we may not be as sound with out systems and comfortable with each other as I would have liked,” Ralph said. “Fayetteville has a lot of returning players and so does Huntsville. It’ll be a tough weekend for us. Obviously I wish we weren’t playing three games in a row this weekend. I’m just hoping that we can hang in there, get two out of three this weekend and next week will be a different story.”
A story that Ralph and the entire RiverHawks organization hopes will have a very happy ending come April.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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