By Drew Wilson

Raiders extend contract with Derkatch

May 31, 2011 | 11:48 AM

Dale Derkatch wants to be a part of the Raider resurgence.

The positive feeling about the team's prospects extend from the coaches' offices to the coffee shops and water coolers around Prince Albert after its first appearance in the playoff in four years.

The Raiders director of player personnel has signed on for another two seasons with the club holding an option for a third. The excitement about the future is one reason for staying around, said Derkatch.

“I think you have fun through hard work and with the people you work with on a daily basis, like Bruno (Campese) and the coaching staff and just all the people in the Raider organization that makes it a fun place to be. I start to think, and see, we are building something and it's starting to come to fruition and hopefully this coming year it will really start to take off.”

In addition to directing the scouting staff, who are looking for prospects in minor hockey, other Junior leagues and on other WHL teams, Derkatch is also the team's new skills development coach.

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The concept was put together with Campese during a scouting trip and the benefits could be considerable, said Derkatch.

“If every player on the team could improve their passing by five to 10 per cent, you add that all up and it's a significant amount. You add that all up and sometimes during a long season where you travel and play a lot of games, sometimes the skills take a back seat to systems.”

The idea is to start with a basic skill, like passing and then move into more specific areas that individual players need to work on.  Despite a 72 game schedule with extensive travel, there is ample time to work on individual skills, said Derkatch.

“Two weeks in every month you will have an area in the schedule where you will have at least three practice days before a game and that would be the time for me to come in an work with the players and sometimes you even get a whole week off maybe after a trip like a west coast trip.”

This also provides the opportunity to return to coaching said Derkatch.

” I am looking forward to being a part of the coaching staff and working with the players directly. It is a unique, exciting opportunity and hopefully I can contribute to the overall success of the organization.”

Prior to joining the Raiders, Derkatch served as the coach of the Regina Pats in the 2008-09 season and in the four years prior to that was the director of hHockey development at the prestigious Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox Saskatchewan.

Among his many duties at Notre Dame, Derkatch oversaw all aspects of scouting and recruitment to the college including appointment of scouts and contacting potential players and their parents. As a coach at Notre Dame, Derkatch was selected the SMAAAHL Coach of the Year in 2006-07 and was a finalist for that award in two other seasons.

From 1998-04 Derkatch was an Amateur Scout for the Washington Capitals of the NHL. He identified, evaluated and assessed draft eligible players for the NHL Entry Draft. While maintaining constant knowledge of all draft eligible players he also formulated a cost efficient schedule to scout across Canada, the United States and Europe for the Caps.

As a player Derkatch was one of the most prolific scorers in WHL history. Among his records are: career playoff points (103), career playoff assists (73) and most points in one playoff season (53 in 1984). He was the WHL Rookie of the Year in 1982 and won the league scoring title in 1983. The speedy centre played for Canada at the World Junior Championships in 1983 and 1984 and played on the Canadian Olympic team in 1984.

He was a seventh round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1983. Derkatch went on to a 14 year professional career in Europe playing in Elite Leagues in Finland, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

dwilson@rawlco.com