Championship hopes for Oshawa Generals new head coach

There’s going to be a new skipper at the helm of what could be a Memorial Cup-bound hockey club in Oshawa in 2024-25.

Steve O’Rourke, who served as Associate Coach in support of OHL Coach of the Year Derek Laxdal, was named the team’s 36th Head Coach Friday to replace Derek Laxdal, who returns to the American Hockey League as bench boss of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the top farm team of the Seattle Kraken.

Laxdal coached Dallas Stars’ affiliate Texas Stars for two years before joining the Generals in 2022.

Laxdal orchestrated a major turnaround in Oshawa last season, with the team fighting for a playoff position at Christmas and celebrating a conference championship and eventual berth in the OHL final by season end.

“Derek was great for our organization. I was hopeful he would be back next season but when you win Coach of the Year these opportunities come your way,” said Generals’ General Manager Roger Hunt. “We wish Derek all the best in his next coaching chapter.”

Laxdal thanked his coaching staff, Hunt, team owner Rocco Tullio, his players and the Oshawa Generals fans in his farewell address.

“Your support over the last two years has been incredible. Seeing the building full every playoff game this year and cheering on your team was incredible. Experiencing the game seven celebration against North Bay will always be one of the best experiences of my coaching career.”

O’Rourke inherits a team that looks to have a championship pedigree, especially if he gets back a few of his stars that may have professional options come October.

The chips may fall where they lay, but if Calum Ritchie (1st round, 27th overall, Colorado, 2023), Beckett Sennecke (1st round, third overall, Anaheim, 2024) and Goaltender of the Year Jacob Oster (overager) return, those chips may be all dressed and jacked for a run at some junior hardware.

Ritchie has one year of junior left, so if a stacked Avalanche squad can’t guarantee him top-six minutes at training camp it would likely make sense to return him to Oshawa.

Sennecke, whose reaction to his off-the-board selection at #3 overall went viral for all the right reasons, is definitely eventually NHL-bound, but not until he puts a few pounds on his 6’3” frame so he is likely returning as well.

(Both forwards signed entry level contracts with their clubs this week.)

The moment Beckett Sennecke became a member of the @AnaheimDucks!

📽️ @Sportsnet | #NHLDraft | #MeettheFuture pic.twitter.com/nFNhPalPSq

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) June 28, 2024

As for Oster, returning to junior for an extra year may be an option if training camp doesn’t go his way but getting paid to play hockey is also pretty enticing so expect the chances of him returning to be less than rosy.

Two other players drafted in the last weekend of June – defencemen Ben Danford (1st round, 31st overall, Toronto) and Luca Marelli (3rd round, 86th overall, Columbus) should also be returning to the club, and with the maturation of other young talent eager for bigger responsibilities, a trip to the Memorial Cup is not beyond reach.

O’Rourke, who spent 15 years as a player in the minor leagues, will hit the ground running as he has been with the organization for the past two seasons.

“This is an exciting and bittersweet moment for me,” he said, noting that the ‘exciting’ part is leading the 15-time OHL champions and five-time Memorial Cup champion Generals (both best-ever numbers) into the coming season. “The bittersweet part is losing a great coach, mentor and friend in Derek, but it is going to be a great opportunity to build on the momentum that has been created these past two seasons.”

O’Rourke’s coaching resume has taken him from Prince George and Red Deer in the Western junior league to two seasons with the AHL Abbotsford Heat and a stint as an assistant coach for Canada at the World Under-17 Challenge.

This year he will be tasked with bringing a Memorial Cup championship to Oshawa for the first time since 2015, the year after Laxdal led his Edmonton Oil Kings to the ultimate prize in junior hockey.

Quebec City was the host in 2015 and ten years later the national championship is back in Quebec with Rimouski winning the bid. Is it a sign?

September should give us an idea of the flavour of this team, but the real test will come next May. We will see then if Generals’ fans will be chipping in for gas money for the long drive to the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and a seat for the 105^th edition of the hardest trophy to win in hockey.

Beckett Sennecke being congratulated by his teammates. Photo Goodall Media