After only one year as head coach of the Battlefords North Stars, Connor Logan of the Ditidaht First Nation, was named Sask. Junior Hockey League (SJHL) Coach of the Year for the 2025-2026 season.
Logan,29, is the first rookie head coach to win the award since Kindersley Klippers head coach Clayton Jardine in 2018-19. In his first year, Logan led the North Stars to a 35-15-4-3 (W-L-OTL-SOL) record and a third place finish in the regular season.
Winning coach of the year is a huge personal accomplishment for Logan, especially during his first year coaching Junior A hockey—and for a team he played for 10 years earlier. But Logan says none of it would be possible without his support system.
“Even when you’re in a position considered to get recognized at that capacity, you realize how hard it is to have success in Junior hockey as a coach. For me it was because I had such good support from my assistant coach, Owen Lamb, and assistant general manager, Wylie Riendeau,” Logan said. “Also the support of our board and our president, Kyle Kellgren. As great as it is to get recognized individually, I think it just shows how important it is to have good people around you.”
Logan grew up playing hockey. Both his grandma, Geraldine Tom, and father, Rod Logan, from the Ditidaht First Nation, were huge hockey fans, which rubbed off on a young Logan. He began playing hockey around five years old and hasn’t stopped since.
“I think my grandma was such an integral part of my hockey career in terms of the support,” Logan said. “She was with me a lot, came to a lot of tournaments and supported my career.”
Logan came up through the minor hockey system in Cowichan Valley and began his Junior hockey career at age 16 in the Vancouver Island Jr. Hockey Leage (VIJHL). After that he moved up to Junior B and later made Junior A at 19 years old, playing in Prince George for the BCHL. Logan finished his Junior hockey career with the Battlefords North Stars, where he helped the team win the championship for the 2016-2017 season.
After that, Logan went to the University of Windsor in Ontario where he played collegiate hockey for three years, while obtaining a degree.
Logan’s hockey career took a pause when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
“I would have tried to pursue more opportunities professionally but obviously with travel and the prolonged time off…that was one of the more significant factors,” Logan said. “By the time you could go back to [hockey], I had been out of the game for three years.”
This allowed Logan to transition into sport performance coaching, both on and off the ice.
“Being exposed to the game (as a player) I kind of knew coaching was something I was interested in,” Logan said. “I got the opportunity to work with the Cowichan Capitals and sort of got dragged back into coaching. I was on the ice quite a bit with the Capitals…the head coach was a hockey mentor of mine and he really gave me the chance to get exposed to coaching without the title.”
The exposure to coaching with the Capitals led to the opportunity to become the assistant coach of the Merit Centennials in the BCHL.
“That was the beginning and kind of got me hooked,” Logan said. “I had a really great experience with Merit and the BCHL.”
The next year brought on a big life change with the birth of Logan’s son, Gabrielle.
“I wanted to be closer to home so I spent a year with the Victoria Cougars as the head coach…I got exposure to what it was actually like to be a head coach,” Logan said. “I realized it’s a lot harder than being an assistant coach. A lot more stress but it was good. It was a tough transition but I was really grateful for it.”
After a year with the Cougars, Logan was presented with the opportunity to be the head coach of the Battlefords North Stars in Saskatchewan, where he was a player 10 years earlier.
As a coach, Logan believes his greatest strength is communication and having a sense of relatability to the players.
“I think my ability to relate to what they’re going through and have meaningful dialogue with the players about navigating through some of the hardships…and some of the positives,” Logan said. “I think you need to be constantly talking to your players. You need to have good rapport with all players. I think that’s important for their game.”
Logan said there is a strong Indigenous backing for the SJHL and most rinks where games are held are located on Treaty 6. He said at least three players on the Battlefords North Stars are First Nations or Metis.
Logan is able to get back to his Nuu-chah-nulth roots by visiting family in summers in Port Alberni or Nitinaht.
Hockey has run deep in Logan’s family and the young father is now passing that along to his son.
“We can’t get a hockey stick out of his hands,” Logan laughs.
