Ed Zawatsky is a former General Manager and Head Coach of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Yorkton Terriers. He led the Terriers team to the SJHL championship, the Anavet Cup, in his rookie year (2004-05) and was also named SJHL Coach-of-the-Year. He followed that up by taking the team to a second Anavet Cup in 2005-06, and into the final of the Royal Bank Cup, Canada’s National Junior “A” Hockey Championship.
The Langenburg, Saskatchewan native was Head Coach of Team West at the 2006 CJHL Prospects Game, was Head Coach of Team Saskatchewan at the inaugural WHL Cup in 2009 and was also the Head Coach of the Saskatchewan Canada Winter Games team that competed in Halifax in 2011.
Ed has minor hockey coaching experience having coached back-to-back Provincial championship teams in Yorkton along with a trip to the Quebec Peewee tournament in 2012. Ed spent six years at the Pursuit Hockey Academy in Kelowna (2012 -2019) coaching a variety of levels including U18, U16, U15 which played in CSSHL and NAPHL. Numerous players from these teams were drafted into WHL or are attending NCAA schools.
Some notable NHL drafts that Ed has coached are Jake Neighbours, Connor Mclennon, Jack Finley and Luke Prokop.
Ed has spent the last three seasons in Saskatchewan coaching the Yorkton Maulers U18 AAA and teaching at the Hockey Academy at the Yorkton Regional High School. Connor Hvidston, a former Mauler who Ed coached was on Team Canada’s roster for the recently held World U18 Championships in Germany.
Ed also spent six years as a regional scout with the Portland Winterhawks (2013-2019) and has experience and training with Power Edge Pro.
Zawatsky is a former Terrier himself and still holds the team’s single season scoring record, recording 152 points (68G, 84A) in 1986-87.
After his junior playing career with the Terriers, Zawatsky earned an NCAA Division 1 scholarship from Colorado College. In 121 collegiate games, he tallied 134 points (51G, 83A), including 173 penalty minutes. He went on to play professionally in the American Hockey League, ECHL, and nine seasons in Germany before retiring in 2002.
Ed and his wife Christine have two sons, Christoph and Alec. Christoph was a goalie that played professionally in Germany and Alec has played in the BCHL, SJHL, WHL and is currently on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies roster.
Rob Klinkhammer, a native of Lethbridge, Alberta, recently retired after a 15-year professional playing career, which featured 193 National Hockey League games. Throughout his NHL career, he made stops in Chicago, Ottawa, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Edmonton. He finished his career playing six seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, which included a league championship (Gagarin Cup) with Ak Bars Kazan in 2018.
A major highlight in Klinkhammers career was being selected to represent his country at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeong Chang, South Korea. Klinkhammer and his Canadian teammates defeated the Czech Republic to capture the bronze medal.
Prior to turning professional, Klinkhammer played four seasons in the Western Hockey League, making stops in Lethbridge, Seattle, Portland, and Brandon. In 230 career WHL games, he tallied 57 goals and 67 for 124 points.
Rob and his wife Jessica live in Lethbridge with their three sons, Gunnar, Axel and Oskar and are expecting their fourth child this fall.
