NPHL Media

By Garrett Fabris

 

Photo Credit: Jon Bergman

 

Help is on the way! That’s the mindset the West Sound Warriors are implementing after starting the season 0-16-1-0.  For some teams who start the season similarly, those franchises might be complacent to roll over and wait until next season to improve, but not the Warriors. The Warriors’ staff and players have a fire in their belly to pick themselves up off the ice, and make the most of this season.

 

To reverse this season’s path, the Warriors are bringing in Sandy Kolbeins, who will immediately assume the role of active general manager. This means that Matt Ferris, who is the head coach and acting general manager, will be able to shift his focus to the coaching and developing of his players.

 

Brent Seidel, the assistant general manager and the Bremerton Ice Skating Center Hockey Director, discuses the Warriors’ decision to add more manpower to the front office. He says, “we [the Warriors] didn’t start the season the way we wanted to. When the season started, we went downhill instead of moving uphill. So, we wanted to make this change before the start of winter break.”

 

“With Sandy coming in, he adds a very business savvy aspect to our team because he owns several restaurants across Washington. Him coming in, and taking care of the business aspects of our team, is going to be a very strong point for this organization. It will also allow Ferris to do what he does best in developing our players,” said Seidel.

 

To make this change before the winter break, it will hopefully allow the Warriors to reverse the team’s path sooner rather than later. If the Warriors can do this, then there is the possibility of the team being able to steal one of the last playoff spots in the Northern Pacific Hockey League. After all, there is a lot of hockey yet to be played.

 

It is clear that the Warriors’ organization is expecting a quick impact once Sandy is the fulltime general manager for the team. Seidel says, “I know Sandy has the right mind set, and a great futuristic outlook on a lot of business type aspects of life. The freshness of him coming in is going to be great for the organization.”

 

To say Kolbeins is enthusiastic about this opportunity with the Warrious would be an understatement. He says, “the reason I am getting involved is because I saw it as a phenomenal business opportunity. And my background in business really allows me to step in, and take over a lot of the business side. This will allow us to right the ship so we as an organization, including our players, can have long term success.”

 

Young men can be a difficult group to work with sometimes, but Kolbeins does have more experience than just owning and operating restaurants. He is a USA Hockey certified level four coach, and he also has experience in the live music industry.

 

He says, “I may not have managerial experience in hockey. All my hockey experience has been in coaching, and the passion I have for the sport. But, I do see this connecting to previous managerial experiences I’ve had.”

 

Kolbeins continues to say, “when I was working with live music venues, it involved a lot of tasks for developing talent. But also helping these musical artists move up in their careers. During this time, I also managed bands and owned my own little record label. These artists, who were involved with my record label, were usually between the ages of 17 and 25 years old. This has helped me learn how to motivate and progress this demographic.”

 

As Kolbeins prepares to take his roll as the new general manager, he wants to make the dream of junior hockey obtainable for kids within the West Sound community. “I think the West Sound Warriors are an extremely important part of our hockey community, from our little kids to the junior hockey men. It gives our kids an obtainable goal to look at. The kids that are playing hockey here can come and see a Warriors’ game, and think, ‘yes that is an obtainable goal.’ We have a great breeding ground for us to grow our hockey community here in Bremerton; and the Warriors are a crucial aspect to the growth of our hockey community.”

 

There are big plans on the horizon for this team, and the only place this team can go is up. With the winter break rapidly approaching, keep an eye on the Warriors. There is a possibility of the team bringing in a few new players to help strengthen the organization. Needless to say, the Warriors are going to be trending upward after this front office shake up.

 

For updates from around the league, visit the NPHL’s website.