Season Preview: Veteran core, fresh energy for Kodiaks

Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks men’s basketball veteran head coach Ryan Heggie realizes a revolving door is part of any Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) program.

“We’re a work in progress,” said Heggie. “Every year it’s almost like starting over. You have a nucleus that comes back, but then you add so many players.”

After losing four players to U Sports programs from the season before, the rebuilding Kodiaks placed fourth in the South Division last season, qualifying them for the ACAC Championship. In their first game they were edged 87-84 by eventual silver medalist Keyano in the quarter-finals.

“Last year’s team really went through the wall for the coaches and the program,” said Heggie. “We were a bit challenged on the offensive side, but we were one of the top five defensive teams in the conference. We held teams to under 80, but we scored under 80, so to get to 13-8 you know the kids are putting in the effort.”

Kodiaks lost several players from last year’s team, including key contributors Ryan Degner and Cody Tollestrup.

Returnees for the Kodiaks include ACAC second-team all-star Cole Lake (fifth year, Business Administration, Eagle, Id.), Trey Barton (fourth year, General Studies, Raymond), Levi Balderson (second year, General Studies, Welling), Rhett Lewis (third year, General Studies, Cardston) and Jackson Wright (third year, Business Administration, Claresholm).

“Those are a lot of the core guys who played minutes last year,” said Heggie. “Levi Balderson is scoring the ball really well (in preseason). The last couple of games he’s had 28, 29 points.

“Rhett Lewis is playing well, but Trey Barton has been injured for a month and is close to returning. We need Cole Lake to run the offence and make sure everybody gets involved touching the ball.”

Fortunately for Heggie and the Kodiaks, a few talented recruits came through that revolving door for this season.

“We’ve had some good recruiting over the summer with Marley Kenion (first year, Child and Youth Care, Coventry England) and Randall Mongard (first year, Open Studies, Quebec City, Que.) adding some punch for us,” said Heggie. “And Nate Hosannah (first year, Business Administration, Tacoma, Wash.) has been a real excellent pickup.”

Mongard, a six-foot-one guard/forward, and Hosannah, a six-foot-four forward, most recently played together at United Prep Canada, coached by Tony Tam, who recommended the Kodiaks program to the players.

“We needed some more athleticism for our program,” said Heggie of Mongard and Hosannah. “We needed some hungry players and those two have added a lot to us.

“We’re still running a lot of stuff that we have in the past few years. I think with the addition of Nate and Randall it takes our fastbreak game to another level because they’re both very good open-court players.”

Heggie is also pleased with the players coming into the program, including Kenion, a six-foot-three guard, and six-foot-six centre Memphis Gambler-Yellow Knee (first year, Open Studies, Leduc).

“Kade Lund (second year, General Arts and Science, Barnwell) came back from his two-year mission and he’s added some depth for us up front behind Jackson Wright and Memphis Gambler-Yellow Knee, who is a big kid with a soft touch around the basket.”

Other newcomers include five-foot-nine guard Avery Mackenzie (first year, General Arts and Science, Lethbridge Collegiate Institute), six-foot-three guard Zachary English (first year, General Arts and Science, Chinook High School), six-foot-four guard Nolan Grindle (first year, Environmental Assessment and Restoration, Coalhurst), six-foot-five forward Colby Hansen (first year, Academic Upgrading, Barnwell) and five-foot-10 guard Cash Red Crow (first year, General Arts and Science, Magrath).

“We have a few local kids we signed, too, who will have an impact on the program, but maybe won’t have a big impact in the games this year,” Heggie added. “They’ll have to learn the game for a year.”

Heggie is optimistic about the team’s chances heading into the ACAC regular season, which begins on the road Oct. 18 at Concordia University in Edmonton. He expects SAIT and defending ACAC champion Briercrest will be the teams to beat in the South.

“We know the league is really tough. The South Division is extremely difficult to get to playoffs through, but on any given night we’re as good as any team in Canada.

“I also know that on any given night there’s several teams out there who can beat anybody as well. Saying that, I expect these guys to play like they can, play hard defensively and share the basketball, have good character and help continue to make our culture better so people look and want to come to Lethbridge.”