Jason Stephens of Red Deer has agreed to become the Golden Rockets next Head Coach and GM. The highly regarded coach has coaching experience at the WHL, Junior A, Junior B Senior AAA, Senior AA and AA and AAA minor hockey levels. Stephens also won a World Championship in 2012 as Head Coach with Team Canada at the IIHF Mens World Championships for inline hockey where as the Head Coach of Team Canada for the past 4 years Jason has medaled at all 4 IIHF events collecting 2 Bronze, 1 Silver and 1 Gold medal. He will lead Team Canada again this year in Finland in early July. On top of his varied coaching experience comes a great scouting resume as well with experience at the NHL, WHL and Junior A levels throughout the years.
"This is a terrific day for the Golden rockets," said Curt Thorne, Rockets President. "In Jason Stephens we have hired a very successful and widely respected coach. Jason has won championships at multiple levels and has always produced great teams. He has a deep understanding of the vision we as an organization are striving for and he has a plan that we feel fits the Rockets program perfectly as we move forward. We have aspirations of winning championships, and I am confident we have found the right coach to turn our vision into reality."
Coach Stephens won League titles at the Senior AA, Junior B and Midget AA levels as well as Provincial Titles at the Senior AA and Junior B levels while claiming a Bronze Medal at the Keystone Cup in 2004. Jason also coached at the AB Cup 4 times winning it one time and coming in second twice. Jason has worked with Hockey Canada and Hockey Alberta extensively as a Specialty Clinic Facilitator and Coach Mentor.
The Rockets new Head Coach and GM, Jason Stephens had this to say;
“I am very excited to take on the roll of Head Coach and GM, I look forward to the challenge of building a strong program and team with the Rockets. I can see already the Board of Directors has the right attitude towards building a program the players, organization, sponsors and supporters will be proud of. I am looking forward to getting to work for the Rockets and start to build a strong foundation for our athletes to succeed both on the ice and off the ice. I want this to be a program that players want to come to and we set them up to be successful and have a great experience while playing and staying in a beautiful community like Golden.”