The Red Deer Rebels' new head coach has plenty in common with the Western Hockey League club's owner, president and general manager Brent Sutter.
On Thursday, June 5, the Rebels announced Marc Habscheid will be taking over as bench boss beginning in the 2025-26 season.
"We come from the same upbringing. We're both farm kids and we're only one year apart. We played against each other a lot and coached against each other a lot," Habscheid said of Sutter during a media conference on Friday, June 6.
As a player, Habscheid played in the WHL before being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1981. He went on to play in 345 National Hockey League games — he also played in the American Hockey League and in European hockey leagues.
Habscheid was the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers from 1997-1999. He then became head coach of the Kelowna Rockets from the 1999-2000 season until 2003-04. After a stint as a Boston Bruins associate coach in 2006-07, he returned to the WHL, serving as the head coach of Chilliwack/Victoria from 2009-2012 and Prince Albert from 2015-2022.
In 18 years as a WHL head coach, the Swift Current, Sask. native has 582 wins, which is the sixth most in league history, in 1166 regular season games, also the sixth most in league history. He won two WHL championships in 2003 and 2019, and a Memorial Cup championship in 2004.
Sutter said he and Habscheid have a similar approach to the game hockey.
"I knew when I had to coach against him that his teams were always going to be well prepared. They were always very disciplined, structured and hard teams to play against. I always respected the way he coached," said Sutter.
"I'm thrilled (Habscheid) wanted to be in Red Deer. I'm thrilled that he wanted to coach the Red Deer Rebels. There's an identity we have here and his teams played with the same identity. I'm really excited that he's on board and he wants to be part of organization."
Habscheid was a coach in Austria in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. He took a year off from coaching last season and got hip surgery. During that time he considered the future path for his career.
"Honestly I thought, 'Do I just want to retire?' After a year off, I knew I didn't want to do that. I'm 62. I'm not young, but I'm not old. I really missed the coach's office, the laughs, the winning, the losing and the people. I wanted that back," he said, noting he has family nearby the city, including a 15-month-old granddaughter in Calgary.
Over the coming months, Habscheid said he will set out to learn as much about the players and organization as possible.
"There are things I have to learn from Brent and the staff here. But I know the foundation (of the Rebels)," he said.
"I know the goaltending is good and the back-end is good. We're going to work to score. When I played, I loved the offensive side of the game and creativity, but there has to be creativity within structure. There's a process to that and I want the players to play together, not because they have to, but because they choose to."
It's important to create an environment that ensures players are working hard, while still enjoying themselves, Habscheid added.
"When your players see that your organization and staff is tight, they love coming to the rink and they have smiles on their faces ... they'll love it too and want to be part of it," he said.
"Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. I'm a big believer in having a big-picture view of everything. It's most important to realize we're not solving world hunger here, we're playing hockey. Our players work hard, but they have to live coming to the rink. We want our players to work hard, hate to lose and love to win."
Habscheid said he wants to be part of the city, not just the organization.
"To win, it doesn't take one player, one line, one coach, one trainer, one owner, one officer staff (worker). It takes everyone and that includes the city — everyone in Red Deer and area is important if we're going to win. I want the fans to know they're going to be part of this, we need their support and we're going to give a lot back to the community."
