By Olivia McDonald

New Head Coach Has Northern Capitals Hopeful

Oct 14, 2018 | 12:34 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Justin Fillion has taken on a new role as the head coach for the Northern Capitals. A Female Tripple A hockey team made up of girls from around Northern BC. 

The Northern Capitals were in need of a new head coach after last season and Fillion decided to step up to the challenge. Part of the reason he took the position was that he’s already spent some time coaching a few of the female players at training camps and formed a bond with the team. 

“I have a close relationship with a lot of them and they kept bugging me and bugging me and at the end of the day I wanted to try something new with my coaching career and I thought what the heck. This should be a fun experience and you know what I have loved every second of it and these girls have done nothing but listen to what myself and my coaching staff has offered. They come to the rink every day prepared, willing and wanting to get better and it’s just been fun to see how far they’ve come in just a month and I can’t wait to see what happens and what we can do in seven, so it’s going to be a fun experience.”

Fillion spent his last season coaching a major midget boys team and says there is quite a big difference when it comes to coaching females. 

“There’s the strength, hitting and speed that’s a big difference, but you know coming to these girls, they are a little unpolished when it comes to the finer skills of the game. But they play for the right reasons they are passionate, they love it and they want to get better each and every day. Not saying the boys don’t, but the girls, you ask them to go and do something and they do it to a tee. They might ask you a hundred questions of why you are doing it but at the end of the day they just do it with a smile on their face.” 

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The captain of the Northern Capitals, Camryn Scully expressed her excitement to have Fillion take the lead with the team. She believes he will do great things for their squad this season. 

“Justin is an amazing coach, he plays to win. Every time there is something that we need to work on he sits down with us and goes through it, especially in practices he breaks everything down and just like puts us through and always skates us to get that cardio. He always makes sure when we have a bad game that we take that to practice and we really work on it. He’s really great and when we do something wrong he doesn’t get mad at us he tells us something else we could do better. He’s a really great coach and he gives a disappointed dad impression which makes you feel so much worse but it helps out a lot and makes you push and he’s really inspirational,” says Scully. 

The girls had their home-opener over the weekend to kick things off. Both the players and their new coach are reaching for the goal of winning their league this year.