Denise continued...

As a builder Rob was always true to his passion for fitness and community involvement. While playing in the WHL, Rob would return during the off season to Wetaskiwin and organize the Hart of the Game hockey camps to minor hockey players which were always well attended. Rob would share his hard work ethic, and of course his fitness tips with all that attended.

To continue his efforts of a builder, Rob coached minor hockey and soccer for his son Bobby for 3 years and ran the hockey program at Sacred Hear for numerous years before going on to coach the Wetaskiwin Jr B Icemen.

My actual introduction to Rob was in his first year of becoming the Wetaskiwin Icemen Jr B head coach in 2014. I was managing the Midget AA team here in Wetaskiwin for Rob’s friend Dave Morrow and Rob was having an interesting first year as Head Coach. Rob was trying hard to instill a hard work ethic and make the players become dedicated to showing up for practices and games and he was definitely getting some push back as some players thought, what the heck this is only Jr B!  But Rob had a vision that these players could be more, and that the Icemen could become a team to be reckoned with.

Well that’s where I came in, as some players would not give Rob the dedication he required, Rob would call our Midget team for Call ups on a regular basis. In his first year of coaching the Icemen, he ended the year with only 14 players and the team did not make playoffs. However, the players that he had called up from midget were very interested in this new Head Coach and his vision for the Jr B team. Over the spring/summer Rob did some pretty hefty scouting and when the season opened there were numerous young guns fighting for a chance to play on this new and improved team.

Over the years we used to joke with Rob that his first season of coaching was his practice year.  With all his hard work to entice players to come to Wetaskiwin in the 2015/16 season, the team made it to the League finals and lost out in a hard-fought battle, but made it to Provincials and came home with a Bronze medal. The first medal won by an Icemen team in Junior B Provincials. Rob had found a group of young men that worked hard and wanted to win, but Rob also included his family in his Icemen endeavors, in the 2016/17 season saw both his daughters Rayvin and Keely becoming trainers for the team and Rachel and Bobby were always in the stands cheering the team on. In the 2016/17 season the team won the League Championship for the first time in Icemen history and to make it extra special it was the 25th anniversary of the inception of the team. Another bronze medal was brought home that year from Provincials and in the following season the Icemen repeated their season and became back-to-back league champs.

Gregg continued...

At the end of 2018 season Rob decided that Wetaskiwin Icemen should put in a bid to host Provincials for 2019. He worked hard on the bid and submitted the application, but to Rob’s dismay the 2019 provincials were initially going to be awarded to the Leduc Riggers a team that was 6 and 31 in their 2018 season compared, to a team that went 30 and 7 and won the league championship. Well, that did not sit well with Mr. Rob Hartnell. As Rob did not take no very easily he went to Hockey Alberta and fought for our team to be the hosts to showcase the Icemen and Wetaskiwin. He fought tooth and nail and low and behold when the announcement came the Wetaskiwin Icemen had been picked to be the 2019 Host team for Junior B Provincials.

Now as you might remember I said Rob does not take “No” easily, well one day at the arena before a game Rob was talking to us and said “I’m going to bid for the chance to host Provincials and I’ve picked my chairperson for the games”,  Denise answered to him “oh who is that?” He answered “you are!” as he pointed at Denise and then he smiled that smile of his and walked away to the coach’s room. We don’t actually remember saying yes but, he just starting calling Denise and texting her about what needed to get accomplished and that was the start of our 9 months of planning for the big event. Rob was an intricate part of bringing that huge event to Wetaskiwin and he was determined it would be a benefit for the whole community. He brought in numerous community sponsors and he again worked hard to have a competitive team for the 2018/19 season where once again the team made it to the league finals. In Provincials we had a shaky start to the tournament but the team banded together on the do, or die game and made it to medal rounds on Sunday, and won a bronze medal once again in front of a packed home town crowd. 

Denise continued...

In texting with Rob one night about Provincials, we were talking about something and he came out with “Don’t worry Denise” “Build it and they will come”. Just like the Field of Dreams movie he quoted that night, Rob, you did build it, and they did come, players wanted to play here, fans packed the stands to watch a winning team, and those were some of the most successful years in Icemen history.

My son played all his Junior years for Rob and one thing he said to me that stuck in my head about Rob as a coach was “you know mom Rob was the type coach that you wanted to play hard for and you wanted to win for him. You didn’t know why it was so important you just knew you wanted to make him proud and do it for him”. That really sums up what Rob did for all those boys, from what I hear about Rob’s playing days he played hard and gritty and being on the smaller size for a forward I think he brought that edge to his coaching of these young men. We were definitely known for playing a gritty game for those years, no team could push us around and our players were known for standing up for each other but as well Rob also had numerous smaller forwards on our team and he never told anyone sorry you’re too small for Jr B hockey. He gave everyone an even chance and if you put in the hard work and effort, you were on the team no matter if you were 5’3 or 6’3. The boys were treated like kings on those teams and Rob worked hard to make sure they thought they were playing for the WHL. To this day we are still one of the only teams in the league that does not make players pay to play as Rob was insistent that the monies raised for the team were not spent on big coaches’ salaries but instead spent on the boys and gear to allow them to play here.    

Outside of the arena Rob also pushed the boys to be better in their personal lives. He was instrumental in the setup of the Icemen Scholarships, which to date has provided over $40,000 to assist players in their post secondary education. Whether it be schooling or trades Rob pushed these boys in all areas of life to succeed and that’s a big part of what made his contributions so impactful.            

Rob never came to a game without stopping in the Icemen office to say hi to all the board members working and numerous times brought Tims cards etc for us to thank us for doing what we did.  But at this time, I would like to thank the Hartnell family for sharing Rob with us for those years. The countless hours he put in coaching, practicing, scouting were all hours he spent away from you and for that I want to thank you for giving those up. I want to thank you all for the hours you guys contributed to our team, helping with the team, cheering us on and probably being Rob’s sounding board after each game. You will never know how much we appreciate it and his efforts live on as our team continues on their journey with Rob watching from his seat.

At this time, we would like to make the presentation to the Hartnell family.