Consistency is paramount within the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders organization, and it’s none more pronounced that within the AAA program’s coaching ranks.

All of last season’s head coaches will return for 2015-16, save for a change within the club’s 16U National team.

Sergey Krivokrasov, who coached the RoughRiders’ 14U team last season, will now serve as head coach of the program’s 16U National team.

Doug Smail will return as the club’s 18U head coach (Nick Larson will serve as the assistant); Jamie O’Leary is the 16U American team’s bench boss; Nils Satterstrom is back as the 14U squad’s head coach; Matt Huckins will coach the 13U team; and Neil Runbeck has the reins of the 12U squad.

“We’re fortunate to be able to retain our coaching staff year after year,” said RoughRiders director of hockey operations Derek Robinson. “These guys are here for the right reasons and have the best interests of our players at the forefront.

“Many of our coaches played at a very high level, including in the NHL and in college, so they know what it takes to succeed.”

Timm Lorenz will return as the RoughRiders’ goalie coach, and Jason Oswald is back in his strength-and-conditioning coaching role.

“One of the main reasons we’ve been able to retain our players and grow like we have over the years is because these coaches choose to stay,” added Robinson. “They want to be here; they want to be in the RoughRiders organization.

“The hard part of being a coach is passing on that knowledge – teaching these kids how to keep improving their games so they can keep advancing – but our coaching staff continues to do a great job each year.”

– Matt Mackinder