In just two years behind the bench of the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, head coach Tom Keca has seen both ends of the spectrum. A grueling season his first year that saw the team finish 10-40-10 and squeak into the the playoffs with a mere 30 points to a chance at clinching the division this coming weekend holding first place firm with a 43-11-3 record and 89 points.

A 59 point turnaround is certainly noticeable and Keca was recognized for what he has done with the Oil Barons organization by being named the AJHL’s Coach of the Year.

Keca becomes just the third Oil Barons head coach to win the award and first since Bob Murray in the 1991-1992 season.

“To win the coach of the year when 20 odd years ago I was a player and my coach winning it and having it presented by Fran (Gow) means a lot,” said Keca who finished his AJHL career playing under Murray with the Barons.

Keca is not one to take credit for anything. He believes firmly that any award won is from the hard work of everyone working together collectively as a group and he was quick to point out the help he receives on a day to day basis.

“This is no way an individual award. I was told very early in my career that good coaches will always surround themselves with people that will make them look better and also challenge them to be better,” said Keca. “I think that we have an unbelievable coaching staff with Dave Dupas, Mike Brodeur who takes care of our goaltenders and Steven Garcia who came aboard this year and helps out immensely with our video and probably the most important guy is Peter Spiers as a trainer and a right hand guy and the work that he does to alleviate a lot of the stress and a lot of the responsibilities off of us as coaches.”

“This is definitely something that will be shared as a group, I’m so happy for the organization and most importantly for the players in that room. We all understand what we went through last year and it’s a testament to the leadership and the character that we have in that room for the work that they’ve put in this year.”

Keca’s longtime friend and former Oil Barons coach Gord Thibodeau, now with the Whitecourt Wolverines, James Poole of the Calgary Canucks and Andrew Milne of the Canmore Eagles were also nominated for the award.

This Oil Barons team has a chance to do something special this season, one of which is to claim the North Division, something the MOB haven’t done since the 2007-2008 season.

Reflecting back on last season and the struggles the team went through, Keca mentioned three players who he felt made the turnaround possible even though they are not with the team this season.

“I got a lot of texts and the three guys who probably mean the most are Connor McCallum, Tyler Dea and Ben Sharf who all got a hold of me and I told them, make no mistake, the success this year is because of the work that those guys put in last year and they’re not here to enjoy the success that this organization has had but I’ll never forget the contributions that they had.”

“They were part of the turnaround here and while it was difficult and frustrating at times, I think that they understood the process at hand and now the leadership that we have this year and all of our players are better off for it,” said Keca.

With three games left in the regular season and only two points needed to clinch first place in the division, Keca pointed out that it’s hard to think of how quickly the organization was able to turn things around and right the ship.

“I felt strongly that we were on the proper road to getting back to where we were accustomed to as an organization but I never imagined that it would happen so quick. It just goes to show you the players and the buy in that they’ve had whether it’s been dry land training or practices, the compete level, I mean we’re only successful because of the effort of the players,” said Keca.

The MOB finish up the regular season with three straight road games beginning Friday in Spruce Grove.

Listen to the full interview with Tom Keca here.

Filed under: AJHL, MOB, Oil Barons