A new, yet familiar face will be behind the bench next season for the AC Avalanche of the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League (AMMHL).

Veteran coach Terry Sydoryk is returning to coach the Avs, replacing Kenton Levesque who lead the Avs for three seasons.

While previously with the Avs, Sydoryk coached the team to a Sutter Cup championship and provincial silver medal in the 2012-13 season. He left the club at the end of the 2013-14 season to accept a position with the Northwest Calgary Bruins. Sydoryk took last season off, although he did coach North Calgary team in the ATB Alberta Cup. 

Sydoryk couldn't resist the temptation of returning to Cochrane when he saw the position posted. His children attended high school in Cochrane and his daughter-in-law currently has a studio here.

"It's good to be back in Cochrane. Cochrane is a fantastic hockey town and I have some great memories of the three years I coached here previously, including the league championship on 2012-13 and the athletes I had the privilege of working with during that time," says Sydoryk.

He has coached AMMHL hockey for six years and continues to be impressed with the play of the elite 15-year-old midgets. 

"The league is unique in that it's a high-calibre of hockey, where you have the athletes as a group for a single season. As a coaching staff we'll be working to develop the entire roster and coaching to get the most out of each athlete along the way,” he says.

The Avs spring camp is in Cochrane, May 25-27 and opens with a skills sessions on Friday night. More information is available on the Cochrane Minor Hockey website.

Sydoryk has been an ATB Alberta Cup coach since 2015.

"It's great, it always is. It's extremely hectic. We do a lot of things there, not only just hockey. They get good exposure, there's great talent; it's five days of full-on hockey and team bonding."

Cochrane's Ty Mueller and Sam Vincent were part of the Alberta Central team that won the Alberta Cup in Spruce Grove, last weekend.

As a player, Sydoryk was both a CIS (Golden Bears) and WHL  (Victoria Cougars) champion and played in the Memorial Cup in 1981.

Last year, the AC Avalanche finished 12th in the AMMHL South Division with 19 points.