A familiar face will be returning to the bench this season for the Creston Valley Thunder Cats.
“The Thunder Cats organization is pleased to have Bill Rotheisler back to our Thunder Cats bench, this time as our Head Coach, General Manager. Bill’s professionalism and team ethics will be a great match for our program,” says President Kelly Everett.
After spending stints in Junior A as an Associate Coach and Assistant General Manager both with the Drayton Valley Thunder of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the St. Stephen Aces of the Maritime Hockey League, Rotheisler is excited to return to the Kootenay International Hockey League. His previous roles in the KIJHL include General Manager and Head Coach of the Castlegar Rebels and Princeton Posse, Head Coach in the VIJHL, as well as here in Creston as an Associate Coach.
Prior to coaching junior hockey, Bill was a Head Coach at both Okanagan Hockey Academy and Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy as well as winning a bronze medal as Assistant Coach at the U17 World Championship where he coached a handful of current NHL stars. He has held various other roles as a coach with the Calgary Buffalo Hockey Association, National Sports Development, BC Hockey, Okanagan Hockey Schools and more along with doing scouting work for many teams over his 19-year coaching career.
Rotheisler is already preparing for a unique season, “I am overly excited to be back in Creston with the Thunder Cats. This season has certainly presented, and will continue to present challenges; however, these challenges although unique to the time, are not unique to our team. We share these challenges on an even playing field. It is my job to build a culture to make the uncomfortable comfortable, and as I have learned to in the hardest of ways, to not just get through challenges, but to accept them head on, and use them. The adversity, the need to be malleable yet the preparation to be ready, are characteristics that we are excited to add to the arsenal of our budding championship culture.”
The Thunder Cats look to officially start their season mid-November, with players arriving next month
