Chad Carder has made Bonnyville his home over the last two years.
He’s seen the culture grow around the organization. He’s seen his family grow with their fourth child. Now? He’ll see his role expand from assistant coach to associate coach for the 2026–27 season.
“I’ve been trying to put my head down and work hard, and I think the Pontiacs have noticed that,” said Carder. “I’m happy to make that jump to associate coach and add another year on my contract.”
In August 2024, Carder and his family took the plunge to come back to the Alberta Junior Hockey League, a league he played in during his junior career. The family packed up and left Kelowna, where they’d lived for over a decade, to come to northeastern Alberta.
Jumping from a skills and goalie coach to a full-time assistant coach job, he’s been seizing the opportunities in front of him.
In turn, Carder has added stability to the Pontiacs, thriving as an assistant under two different head coaches. He’s also made an imprint on Bonnyville Minor Hockey Association and the community as a whole.
“We didn’t really know what to expect when we first moved, to be honest, being in West Kelowna for so long,” said Carder.
“Bonnyville has not only been good to me, but my family as well. With all the kids in hockey, and not being around all the time, whether it’s getting rides to certain rinks or we had our neighbours help us move just a couple weeks ago. The people in Bonnyville and the ties we’ve made here have been great.”
Head coach Chad Mercier can resonate with that. Although this is his hometown, he knows what it’s like to be a young coach promoted to work in Bonnyville, as he was over 20 years ago. Mercier returned behind the Pontiacs’ bench last season and retained both assistant coaches to create the Chad-coaching staff: Mercier, Carder, and Taylor.
While they met originally on the job, the veteran coach has been impressed with Carder.
“Anytime you go into a first year working with somebody, there’s a feeling-out process on both sides,” said Mercier.
“But the one thing that was evident right off the bat with Chad is his willingness to do absolutely anything and everything, whatever it took for players to have success.
“And anytime you have somebody with the type of passion he has for the team and the game and the work ethic, it’s obviously a huge thing for our organization and for us.
“We want to be a place where not only players are advancing, but coaches are advancing. He’s a young coach, been in the game a long time, but a young coach that we like to see take a step. I think the work he put in certainly deserves him to take a step.”
The same could be said for Carder. When he first took the Bonnyville job, he was working beside a close friend and colleague in Ayrton Nikkel.
But as the Pontiacs went in a different direction last season, it was a crossroads for Carder. The opportunity to work with a veteran coach in Mercier was one he decided to seize.
It’s been beneficial for both him and the organization.
“I just wanted to learn from Merc,” said Carder. “I know he’s been around a long time, and the knowledge he has for the game and the ability to think and think quickly. I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can every day from him.
“We collab a lot, and I found that’s probably been the biggest thing that’s helped. Whether it be our video, our systems, just even day-to-day stuff off the ice, little things here and there.
“Obviously we had our ups and downs last season, but for the most part, I thought we were on the same page quite a bit. I’m just hoping to grow that relationship going into this year and be able to get our guys to the culture that we wanted to build right from the start of the season. I can take a bigger role that way, and maybe take a little bit off of his plate as well.”
Although the Pontiacs improved by seven wins last season to finish with a 27-24-2-1 record, and the eighth-most points in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, they did not qualify for the post-season.
With a changed playoff format that will add two more teams and re-seed top to bottom each round, there’s an opportunity for the Pontiacs to begin a new playoff streak.
“The fact that he’s going into his third year here with the organization – I think that’s important,” said Mercier.
“It speaks to what his commitment to the organization is, and obviously the commitment back from the organization, which I think is how you build strong organizations. It’s a huge step forward.”
Carder is grateful for the relationships that have been forged within the Junior A Pontiacs, like vice-president of operations Neil Langridge and general manager Chad Nelson over the last two years, but there’s one true MVP that allows him to focus on hockey.
“My wife — she does all the work,” he says. “I don’t know if I could handle her job after having our fourth kid in January. I thank her for the amount of time and effort she puts into our family, allowing me to do this for a living.”
