Cats Dash into offseason with new Hockey Ops member

The Creston Valley Thunder Cats are excited to announce the hiring of Bryson Traptow as Director of Personnel and Head Scout. Coming from the Dash Training facility in Calgary, AB, Traptow has multiple years of experience in assessing, analyzing, and developing hockey players. He will continue his work for Dash Training in Calgary while keeping a close eye on the Thunder Cats’ development throughout the season.

A former NCAA athlete for the Rochester Institute of Technology as recently as the 2020-2021 season, Traptow first met current Cats Head Coach and GM Brandon Switzer during his AJHL days where the two played together for the Whitecourt Wolverines. The duo would only last one season as Switzer would get traded to Flin Flon, but Traptow spent three years in the organization putting up 100 points over 126 games.

Dash Training is a hockey-specific training facility that focuses on players as young as 13 years old. As the director of on-ice performance, Traptow programs, runs, and schedules the on-ice sessions for all ages. He also involves himself in the off-ice areas of the program from gym-based workouts, to goal-setting workshops. The all-encompassing training has helped the company grow to 170 athletes, all of whom look up to former Dash student and current NHL phenom Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche who, as of this writing, sits 4 wins away from winning the Stanley Cup.

Traptow says he and Switzer share a similar philosophy when it comes to building a team, which is likely what kickstarted this budding relationship.

“Building that [winning] culture doesn’t start with the guys on the ice, it starts with the guys in the dressing room. I think that’s the big thing that Brandon and I clicked on and probably one of the reasons he reached out to me.”

As for his role with the Cats, he sees his literal distance from the team as a positive, rather than a negative.

For me being in that outside role, I’m not with the team every single day so if kids need to bounce anything off me or if coaches are pressuring them or they want an outside opinion on what they can do to improve their game or they want me to clip some video and sent it to them [we can] have meetings based on that.”

He says he also has plans to make his way out to Creston multiple times throughout the year in order to run some skill development ice times.

The strong connections he’s made throughout his career make him a strong addition as Head Scout and serves as a fantastic networking opportunity for the Cats. After his time in Whitecourt, he had a cup of coffee with Camrose before heading off to Rochester for four years. With Traptow’s Alberta connections and Switzers’ Manitoba roots, the team is poised for a strong off-season as they look to build on last year’s playoff success.