Rylan Ferster’s twin daughters are the reason he’s back in Kelowna.
“The opportunity to be here with both of them was just a no-brainer for me,” says Ferster on why he wanted to become the next head coach-general manager of the Kelowna Chiefs. “I love the Okanagan – it’s kind of like home.”
The process of becoming the Chiefs next bench boss began by having a few chats with friend and Chiefs marketing director Alex Draper. Ferster asked him questions about what the job would entail.
“When Rylan and I started talking, it was evident in my mind that we needed to take an even bigger step this year,” says Chiefs owner Darren Tymchyshyn, who stated that former head coach-GM Dave Whistle did a great job and they made progress last season, taking “a big step.”
“When he (Ferster) became available, I’d like to think that he saw what we were doing as an organization and that appealed to him,” says Tymchyshyn. “Obviously his pedigree appealed to us. We just thought it was a really good fit so we pulled the trigger.”
Tymchyshyn likes that Ferster is a different coach who is very detailed and cares about the players.
“He is a teacher first and a coach second. I really think the kids will flourish under him,” he says. “He can really coach and I think that is going to elevate us to the next level in recruiting and on the ice.”
Over his 25 years coaching, the Prince Albert, Sask., native has 453 career wins in the BCHL and guided the West Kelowna Warriors in 2015-16 to a Fred Page Cup as BCHL Champions and an RBC Cup as National Champions.
Ferster has evolved as a coach from when he first started. He laughed when asked about that.
“If you ask a lot of guys who have coached as long as me, you change,” he says. “I’ve always tried to learn. From the start, even this last summer, I’ve been watching podcasts or watching things on YouTube, or always asking guys questions.
“In fact, I phoned two BCHL coaches that I coached against last year and asked them why they did certain things,” he continued. “From that standpoint, you are always trying to learn. From when I first started, I think it was a little bit more ‘do this and just do it.’ Now, I really believe coaching has become more of a partnership. You want to give them ownership and give them input whether it’s on the power-play or what do we want to do here.”
As Ferster puts it, “at the end of the day, we’re going to win together, and we’re going to lose together.”
From the start of camp, Ferster and his staff (assistant coaches Chase Witala and Wilson Eberle) have focused on habits and details with the players. There have also been discussions about defence as Ferster is a defence-first coach.
Ferster says that all coaches state they want to be the hardest working team and toughest to play against – be disciplined.
“For me those are kind of non-negotiables,” he says. “What is going to separate us from other things? We talked about back-checking, being in good spots – play honest. You want to play honest in all three zones. The way you have success is with more complete players.”
All season Ferster will be emphasizing his vision of defensive play.
“If you want to be a good offensive team, you have to be a good defensive team,” he says. “Sometimes that’s where the stigma is. Maybe that’s where the sell is? If you want to score goals, and we all want to score goals right? That’s the most fun, but what do you have to do? You have to get the puck. If you’re good checkers, you’ll be a good goal-scorer. That’s the first thing. That has been a bit of a message so far.”
And now back at home, as he enjoys quality time with his daughters, Ferster is looking to get the Chiefs back into the playoffs.
