Lethbridge United logo. (Photo: JPHL at juniorprospectshockeyleague.com)

By Justin Goulet

Junior Prospects Hockey League

Lethbridge United coaching lineups taking shape

May 26, 2022 | 7:46 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge will be home to a new hockey team starting this fall.

The Lethbridge United is joining the Junior Prospects Hockey League (JPHL), with the JPHL’s inaugural season being the 2022-2023 campaign.

Former National Hockey League (NHL) forward Rob Klinkhammer has been named the head coach of the United’s Under-15 program. Klinkhammer hails from Lethbridge and played professionally for 15 years. Throughout his 193 games in the NHL, he suited up for Chicago, Ottawa, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Edmonton. Klinkhammer finished his professional career playing six seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia. In 2018, he won a league championship (the Gagarin Cup) with Ak Bars Kazan.

Klinkhammer was also a member of the Canadian national team roster at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeong Chang, South Korea. The team beat Czech Republic to win bronze at the Games.

Before turning professional, the Lethbridge-born skater played four seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL), hitting the ice for Lethbridge, Seattle, Portland, and Brandon. Over the course of 230 career WHL games. He recorded 124 points (57 goals and 67 assists).

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UNITED UNDER-18 PROGRAM

Meanwhile, Ed Zawatsky has accepted the role of head coach for the United’s Under-18 program. He is a former general manager and head coach of the Yorkton Terriers in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). He led the team to the SJHL championship, the Anavet Cup, in his rookie year (2004-2005). That season, Zawatsky was also named SJHL Coach of the Year.

He followed that early success up by leading the team to a second Anavet Cup in 2005-2006, and into the final of the Royal Bank Cup, Canada’s National Junior “A” Hockey Championship.

Zawatsky comes from Langenburg, Saskatchewan and was head coach of Team West at the 2006 CJHL Prospects Game, head coach of Team Saskatchewan at the inaugural WHL Cup in 2009 and was the head coach of the Saskatchewan Canada Winter Games team that competed in Halifax in 2011.

The experienced coach led back-to-back provincial championship teams in Yorkton, along with a trip to the Quebec Peewee tournament in 2012. Zawatsky spent six years at the Pursuit Hockey Academy in Kelowna from 2012 to 2019, coaching at a variety of levels including Under-18, Under-16, and Under-15, which played in CSSHL and NAPHL.

For the last three seasons, Zawatsky has coached the Yorkton Maulers Under 18 AAA team and has been teaching at the Hockey Academy at the Yorkton Regional High School. He also spent six years as a regional scout with the Portland Winterhawks from 2013 to 2019.

Not only does Zawatsky have years of coaching experience, he was a player himself and still holds the Yorkton Terriers’ single season scoring recording with 152 points (68 goals, 84 assists) in 1986-1987.

After his junior career with the Terriers, Zawatsky earned an NCAA Division 1 scholarship from Colorado College. In 121 games, he scored 51 goals and dished out 83 assists, along with 173 penalty minutes. He went on to play professionally in the American Hockey League, ECHL and played nine seasons in Germany before retiring from play in 2002.

More information on the new Junior Prospects Hockey League is available at the JPHL website. Fans can also follow Lethbridge United on Twitter.