NEW ULM — Jack Strommen, who has been an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Junior Kings for the past six seasons, has been named as the new assistant coach for the New Ulm Steel.

Strommen, who was hired Tuesday and is in the process of moving, will assume his duties on Monday.

“Jack is an old friend of mine that I played with at (Faribault) Shattuck,” Steel head coach Zach Stepan said. “He ended up playing hockey at Okanagan Hockey Academy (located in British Columbia, Canada) and for the past six years has been living in Los Angeles and coaching the L.A Junior Kings. He had just moved back to the Twin Cities last week and he gave me a call asking if I knew of any openings around Minnesota.”

Stepan told Strommen that he had called at the right time as long-time Steel assistant Nick Campbell has resigned.

Stepan said that he is going to use Strommen to coach the defensemen.

“He coaches high-end level hockey. It will be good for him to coach our nine defensemen. But I am also going to have him pick the brain of Chippewa Steel head coach Carter Foguth (of the NAHL). I talk to Carter quite a bit but it is hard to remember everything so it wil be nice to give Jack some of those duties that he can focus on. We lost a lot of experience when Nick left. He was an incredible defensive coach.”

Stepan said that this wil be a big step up for Strommen, “but he has go get his foot in the door somehow. This is a great start for him in getting into the NA3HL.”

Stepan also announced that the Steel have traded forward Ben Cremer and defenseman Cooper Curti to Wausau (Wisconsin) for cash and had signed Barry Bauer, who was recently cut from the Minnesota Magicians of the NAHL. He will start to skate with the Steel. Also, New Ulm High School goalie Joey Gag will skate with the Steel until the high school season starts.