Photo courtesy Grande Prairie Storm Facebook

By Erika Rolling

Local Hockey

Storm Head Coach named AJHL’s Coach of the Year

Mar 25, 2025 | 12:27 PM

The Grande Prairie Storm’s Head Coach has been honoured with a league award.

Chris Schmidt is the 2024-2025 AJHL Coach of the Year.

Schmidt led the Storm to second in the North Division during the regular season, the highest finish since 2009-10.

He was promoted to his position after being an assistant coach for three years. He also served as head coach of the U18 AAA Storm for four seasons.

The Beaverlodge native was drafted by the LA Kings in the 1994 NHL draft, played four years on the Seattle WHL team and played 17 more years of professional hockey. Chris played for the LA Kings in the 2002-03 season and represented the Maple Leaf in 1999-2000 on the Canadian National Team as well.

On top of these accomplishments, Schmidt also played for eight years in Germany, competing in two World Championships and in the 2010 Olympics for Germany.

Storm General Manager Mark Bomersback said in a news release that Schmidt’s honour of Coach of the Year is well deserved.

“His hard work and dedication have rubbed off on everyone and has led to a very strong culture within the team and players. We look forward to seeing him and the team succeed for the remainder of this year and years to come. Congrats Schmidty!” -Mark Bomersback

Schmidt is also joined on the Storm Coaching Staff by Assistant Coaches: Jordan McTaggart and Brandon Wells, as well as General Manager Mark Bomersback.