VANCOUVER – A familiar face has actually re-joined the Thunderbirds as alumnus Matt Revel is back with the UBC Men’s Hockey group, just this time behind the bench as the program’s brand-new full-time assistant coach.
Following the departure of Jackson Playfair who invested the previous 2 seasons as head coach Sven Butenschon‘s right-hand man man, Revel saw a chance to return into the T-Birds fold and begin what might end up being a flourishing training profession.
“I’m truly delighted to be back with the program,” said Revel who formally started his brand-new position July 10. “I got on it immediately, my strategy was to enter training eventually and ideally for this next season. I simply feel honoured to have the chance to be at such a high level and deal with men who are a bit older and in positions I simply ended up in, to be an outlet for them and simply provide support.”
Graduating from UBC in 2022, Revel started what he hoped would be an expert profession in Europe. Having tattooed an agreement with an Austrian based group in the International Central European Hockey League, an injury ended his season prior to it started, eventually causing him returning home to B.C. to consider his future.
“I believe the stars simply lined up completely for us,” said Butenschon who enters his 8th season at the helm this fall. “With Jackson proceeding it’s constantly difficult finding good individuals, capable individuals, somebody you trust and somebody who is going to motivate the men because room. The truth Matt has constantly had a little bit of a training state of mind, he liked can be found in the coaches’ workplace and talking hockey and systems and I constantly understood he’d be a coach eventually. He had some injuries as an expert and was searching for a method to remain in the video game. I made a couple telephone call and here we are.”
His time as a Thunderbird accompanied among the program’s most thriving in history. Over 4 seasons and 83 routine season video games, the Abbotsford native accumulated 24 objectives and 32 helps for 56 points, including another 14 points in 18 playoff looks. He was a crucial part of the T-Birds’ offense on both the 2020 and 2022 groups which completed at the University Cup championship game competition.
“We’ve punched our ticket to 2 nationals in my time here and we’re on the brink now of not simply punching our ticket however winning the league and being competitive at nationals,” Revel included. “My experience playing versus groups like Alberta in a three-game series in a weekend, it sort of passes like a blur so I believe my experience in those sort of scenarios will ideally assist a lot.”
Prior to UBC, Revel invested 5 years in the Western Hockey League, wearing in 314 routine season video games divided in between the Saskatoon Blades, Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks scoring a combined 71 objectives with 101 helps for 172 points.
His young age and distance to his playing days integrated with his experience at the WHL, U SPORTS, and expert levels make him a perfect fit behind the ‘Birds’ bench.
“It’s a huge change originating from junior hockey,” said Revel. “Coming to school with housing, with academics, there’s a great deal of things you need to find out by yourself and sort of go in blindly to. So I believe because sense with the very first years I’ll have the ability to help a lot. I’m truly eagerly anticipating that since I understand how demanding that can be with discovering your own location and including academics to playing hockey too. It’s a lot on your plate in your first year.”
Butenschon agrees that recent experience is vital to helping the team’s younger players in particular, both on and off the ice.
“It’s huge, it’s part of the reason he’s here. There were a lot of interesting candidates for the role, a lot of fascinating and intriguing names. But the one thing that truly excites me is that he’s been through everything those guys have been through. When he got here, the program was fighting to make the playoffs every year. But with the help of Matt and guys like Tyler Sandhu and Rylan Toth, they’ve elevated the program to another level and now he gets to continue that messaging and that drive for excellence and the push for a national title.”
As one of Butenschon’s very first recruits to the program back in 2017, Revel has now come full circle as a Thunderbird and is excited to experience things from a different perspective.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot since I transitioned out and moved onto the staff side of it. I think that just shows how good of a job Sven has done, taking out a great deal of the noise and just letting us play and go to school and focus on those things. There are a great deal of things I never truly considered being a player and I’m seeing all those sides of it now and I really enjoy that side of it.”
“Watching those men grow as young men is super cool,” Butenschon added. “To be able to add Matt to the coaching staff, it’s simply another milestone and the maturation of a young man. There are a great deal of cool elements to it.”
The T-Birds open the 2023-24 Canada West routine season at home on Friday, September 29 versus the Alberta Golden Bears.
