Asides

2023-2024 Season Tickets Now on Sale!

With the season fast approaching, the much awaited season tickets have now gone on sale! All tickets will be in Rush seating formatting. Prices are as shown below.

Please contact Director of Marketing, Jenn Reynolds to purchase.

(204)620-5200 or ocnblizzard.marketing@hotmail.com

Blizzard Announce Assistant Coach

Another move made by HC/GM Eric Labrosse since his recent hiring is to add Paul-Antoine Deslauriers as Assistant Coach. With an extensive background that naturally leads to coaching, he will take the full-time position to join Labrosse behind the bench in the coming season.

 

“What a great acquisition for our organization it is to have Paul-Antoine join us with the Blizzard today. As a newly retired professional hockey player, this is an opportunity for PA to stay in the game of hockey and start his coaching career. His experience and knowledge as an ex-university and minor pro player will be beneficial to our players. Having a bachelor’s degree in Sports psychology as well as being in the process of finishing his master’s degree in human kinetics, PA will hold the roles of assistant coach as well as conditioning and mental coach. He will be a great asset to the coaching staff, offering our players all the resources they need in order for them to succeed both on and off the ice. We want our players to attain the next level in hockey as well as in life coming out of our junior hockey program. PA exemplifies all of these criteria’s and I am happy to have him on board and join our staff.” – Labrosse

 

“I am excited and grateful to be joining the Blizzard organization. Becoming a part of such an esteemed hockey club is very thrilling for myself. First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude towards Eric Labrosse and the organization for considering me in my new role as assistant and conditioning coach. The possibility of joining a team whose philosophy is now based around hard work, cultivating commitment to excellence and the nurturing environment it provides for its players was important to me. I am looking forward to bringing my passion, discipline, and creativity to each training session and game, always striving to support the players’ development and the club’s success.
I am also genuinely eager to meet and start working with the management team and the support staff. I believe that together, we can foster a positive and growth-oriented atmosphere that will lead the team to new heights and achievements in the upcoming seasons.” – Deslauriers

 

Welcome to the North!

Blizzard Hire Scouting Staff

In the days since Head Coach and GM Eric Labrosse’s hiring, he has been busy making key moves for the organization. One of the first decisions he made was to ensure the Blizzard added two elite scouting staff members that will help bring quality players to the club. Ryan Goethals will take the role of Director of Player Personnel and Mark Patton joins as Head Scout.

Ryan Goethals: Director of Player Personnel

“I am very excited and honoured to be joining the Blizzard. I want to thank Head Coach/GM Eric Labrosse for giving me this opportunity and putting his trust in me to help build something special here. I’m looking forward to working very closely with Eric and Mark Patton for many years to come.

We are going to be a hard working staff that is dedicated to finding the right players that fit what we are looking for within our organization, developing them into even better hockey players and human beings, and achieving team success. I can’t wait to get started and begin this new challenge.”

 

Mark Patton : Head Scout

“I am excited to be joining the Blizzard in the role of Head Scout. We have some really good pieces in place already and good prospects. Lead by Head Coach Eric Labrosse, I have no doubt that we can return the organization to being a main stay at the top of the standings.

I am eager to get going, and I am honoured to be a part of the organization.”

“Adding both Ryan Goethals as Director of Player Personnel and Mark Patton as Head Scout to the staff was a priority of mine. To build a great organization you need to have a staff on board that has knowledge of the young talent that’s out there. That’s exactly what Ryan and Mark will bring to us.

Their experience whether it’d be with their current WHL teams, as well as their past experiences in Junior A hockey, Ryan being with the La Ronge Ice Wolves the last few years and Mark with the Flin Flon Bombers, will serve the Blizzard’s future tremendously. Their mandate will be to prepare the Blizzard’s future for the MJHL drafts to come, as well as following up on our drafted prospects progress throughout their respective seasons. Their role will be key to making the future of the Blizzard bright for many years to come.

I’m happy they’ve decided to join our organization and look forward to get the season going with them both.” – Eric Labrosse

We welcome both to our tri-community!

Blizzard Looking to Add to Staff

Blizzard are looking to hire two positions to fill their staff for the upcoming season. The first, a full-time Assistant Coach and second, an Athletic Therapist/Equipment Manager. These positions will add to the newly hired HC/GM Eric Labrosse to set the team up for success this year.

Both Job descriptions and requirements are listed below.

Assistant Coach

AT:Equip

All interested applicants are asked to contact Eric Labrosse at

labrosseeric_27@hotmail.com

Closing date: July 22, 2023

Photo by: Kelly  Kocur Jacobson

Summer Camp Registration

Blizzard hockey is back and set to start with our annual Identification camp July 23-24, 2023 in Winnipeg, MB. The camp will take place at the Canlan Arena on Ellice Ave.

All 2003-2007 born players are welcome to attend. There will be a fee of $175 for each player. This will include 2 hours of ice time per day and a dryland session.

Deadline for registration will be July 20, 2023.

Please fill out the registration form below and email it to ocnblizzard.camps@hotmail.com to confirm your spot and make payment arrangements.

Summer Camp 23

For any questions contact HC/GM Eric Labrosse at 514-690-3534.

Photo by Kelly Kocur Jacobson

Eric Labrosse named HC/GM

The Blizzard are pleased to announce the hiring of Eric Labrosse as Head Coach and General Manager. Eric has many years of coaching experience ranging from France2, Usports and most recently serving as the Assistant Coach for the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL.

“Coming to the Blizzard is a great challenge for me in my career. I want to come in and prove that we can build a team that competes for a championship. We will be a hard working group that will be exciting to watch. Hopefully we can represent the community with humility and a big sense of pride.”

Welcome to the club!

Photo by Daniel St-Louis

Building a Board

The Blizzard MJHL Junior A Club will be forming a community board to assist in the operations of our program.
We are currently taking names of those interested in assisting, from all communities in the area.  Hockey operations knowledge is a major plus, as well as your community network.
Please feel free to forward your name, and why you’d be suited to assisting our club’s direction to
usman_tahir625@yahoo.com.Closing date:  July 12, 2023
First meeting:  TBA, last half of July.

Blizzard Announce New Partnership

The Blizzard Junior ‘A’ Hockey Club of the MJHL, and the Town of The Pas, are announcing today that the team has signed a 3 year agreement to play out of the Roy H Johnston Arena, in The Pas.

“There has been a lot of chatter around the communities as our agreement with the GLMC ended this past season.  Despite offers to move the team out of the region, we were committed to accomplish our original goal when we took over the team – to keep a world class Junior team in the North, where we call home. We’re excited that we can keep our team here for our fans in our three communities, and in the North.  We are very grateful to the hard work of the staff of the Town of The Pas over the past months to create this deal.  We are also extremely thankful to the fans of our club from The Pas, Opaskwayak, and the entire region, who wanted to ensure that MHJL Junior A hockey continues to have a home in Northern Manitoba.” – [Blizzard official]
“With any move of this size, yes, we know there will be some challenges.  However, to us, the economic and community impacts of the team staying outweighs this, and I’m proud how our staff are committed to making this work to the best of our abilities.  So many communities without a Junior team wish they had this opportunity.  Our kids can still look up to a local Junior A program, which is a goal that many players from The Pas, Opaskwayak and the RM have had.  It should also be noted, that there are no new direct costs related to this deal that will come from the taxpayer.  This is an arrangement of in-kind support, which is best suited to our community’s needs.” – Andre Murphy, Mayor.
“We hope to continue to build relationships within the North, as we have so much talent emerging, that we’d love to have part of this club.   As we look to grow, we are exploring options on a restructure to a community-based, board-led organization.  Be on the look out for many new exciting announcements in the days to come.  Thank you fans from across the North, and all our volunteers, staff and sponsors.  Looking forward to an exciting up-coming season.” – [Blizzard official]
(Pictured – Mayor Andre Murphy and Ownership Usman Tahir)

Blizzard Hiring HC/GM

Blizzard are looking forward to the 2023-2024 season. With this excitement comes the hiring of a new Head Coach and General Manager. We are looking to add a motivated individual to our team for the upcoming season. Job requirements and duties are listed in the link below.

HC/GM Duties

All interested parties are asked to email Usman Tahir at usman_tahir625@yahoo.com

Closing Date: June 25, 2023