Like any reputable hockey coach, Dan Auchenberg already had a sound scouting report on Lloydminster before moving to the border city to become coach of the U18 AAA PWM Steelers.
Read more: Column: Esso Cup Fever
As a veteran coach at various levels, from junior A to U18 girls’ and boys’ teams, he had been down this road before.
“I’ve always respected Lloyd,” said Auchenberg, whose Steelers are the host of this week’s Esso Cup national U18 female championship. “I’ve found it’s always a tough place to play. They’re always committed to a hard-working team, whether it’s on the female side or on the male side.
“You’ve got to come into Lloyd expecting a physical game all the time. It was the same thing when I first started with the girls here. That’s kind of the mentality. They’re not shy about working hard. And it’s working in their favour.”
Auchenberg and his Steelers made a favourable start in the six-team national championship tournament, working overtime to defeat the Eastern Stars of Prince Edward Island 2-1 in front of a supportive hometown crowd April 20 at the Centennial Civic Centre.
Just days before the Esso Cup, Auchenberg’s efforts with the Steelers this season were recognized as he was named the U18 AAA coach of the year in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Steelers’ coach Dan Auchenberg. John MacNeil MERIDIAN SOURCE
“I truly think this award is a big team award more than anything, because they’ve bought in to what we’ve asked from the start of the year,” he said. “It’s not just an individual award. Winning something, it has to do with your support all the way around you all the time. That makes you a better person or a better coach or a better player, whatever it is.”
The provincial award is the latest honour for a coach with a long history in Alberta hockey rinks. That reputation made Auchenberg an attractive candidate for the Lloydminster post in 2023 when he made the move from his longtime home in Sherwood Park.
Now two years into his Steelers’ job, Auchenberg and his wife Daisy consider Lloyd as their hometown.
“I don’t think we’re intending to move anywhere quickly, at all,” he said. “We’re very comfortable here. We like Lloyd. Daisy likes Lloyd. The community here has embraced Daisy very well.”
Auchenberg credits his wife with a primary assist on the play that brought him to Lloydminster after a long run with the St. Albert female program.
The Steelers were shopping for a high-profile coach.
“Jeremy Wakefield reached out to me and asked if I’d ever consider coaching Lloyd,” Auchenberg recalled. “I said, ‘I could coach anywhere. I love coaching.’ He basically said, ‘What does it take to get you here?’
“I said, ‘Physically, I’ve got to be able to live there.’ He said, ‘Would you be willing to move?’ I said I’ll talk to my wife. She said, ‘If you want to coach there and they make it right for you, I’m in.’
“They made it happen for me within two days, and I committed to come up here and try to change the program and the culture. And the girls have really bought into it. It’s been unreal.”
The Steelers have become the real deal in the Alberta league and worthy of hosting a national championship.
Auchenberg and his team have earned the respect of their peers, including their greatest competitors.
“Dan and I used to be big rivals and always had kind of an intense rivalry with each other,” said a smiling Joel Lenius, coach of the U18 AAA Pacific region champion Edmonton Junior Oilers.
“That was back when we were the Pandas and (Auchenberg was coaching) St. Albert Slash. Over the last two years, I’ve really gotten to know Dan a bit better and we actually have a family connection, which is great. I probably talk to him once every two weeks. We call each other and share thoughts and ideas.
“Dan is just a really good person. Just a good, kind man who treats the kids well and treats people well. I think the reason why he’s had so much success as a coach is just the way he treats people and the relationships he builds.”
Auchenberg has built such connections across the spectrum in both female and male hockey. His decades of coaching include a run with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Nowadays, along with coaching the Steelers, he’s the general manager of the Lloydminster Minor Hockey Association.
All eyes were on the Steelers this season as the Esso Cup hosts were guaranteed to be playing into the spring. They posted a 17-10-1 regular-season record and finished fourth in the eight-team Alberta league. In the quarter-finals in early March, the Calgary Fire Red defeated Lloyd in back-to-back games, 3-2 in overtime and 2-1.
“Unfortunately, we lost in the first round of the playoffs, but we played really well in both games,” Auchenberg said. “It was just (a case of) you can’t score, you can’t score.
“And I think the girls are determined to show people that they are better than what was shown in the playoffs.”
The Steelers gain encouragement from their performances against the mighty Oilers this season, during which Lloydminster was the only team to defeat Edmonton.
“We’re a good tournament team,” Auchenberg said. “Throughout the year, we played very well in big occasions when it was meant to be.
“Except for one game, we’ve played Edmonton very well. We lost to them 2-1, we beat them 2-1 and we lost in a shootout to them. When you’re playing against the best team in the country — supposedly — and matching up with them, you know you’ve got that capability of doing those things.”
At the Esso Cup, both the Steelers and Oilers were 1-0 when they faced each other Monday night (April 21). The result, not surprisingly, was another one-goal game as Edmonton prevailed 2-1 to become the only undefeated team after two days of action.
It was a physical game befitting two clubs that not only battle all year long, but now on a national stage in front of vocal, loyal fans from both sides.
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