MUSKEGON TWP. - Bill Zalba was not really planning to be a head coach at the high school hockey level again, at least at this point in his life.
He had been head coach of the Reeths-Puffer varsity squad for four seasons, between 2017 and 2021, then stepped aside. He returned to the R-P bench in 2023 as an assistant coach, when his friend and former assistant Dustin Langlois became head coach, and that was a good fit for his very busy schedule.
Zalba was planning to do the same again this season, before August, when Langlois suddenly got the opportunity to take the head coaching job at Grand Haven High School and lead a team closer to his home and his children's school.
Before accepting the job, Langlois turned to Zalba to see if he would become head coach at R-P again, to provide continuity for the successful Rocket program.
R-P head coach Bill Zalba
Zalba accepted, because he loves R-P hockey, and now he’s set to resume his career as a head coach when the Rockets open their 2025-26 season on Friday in Grand Rapids against Rockford, then on Saturday at Muskegon's Trinity Health Arena against Troy.
“We talked about it, and (Langlois) asked me if I would stay on and make sure the program was not left hanging,” Zalba said. “I said ‘I got you.’ There are a lot of Reeths-Puffer kids and families that I’m connected to, and I just couldn’t say no.”
Zalba admits he did not miss being a head coach, considering everything the job entails. But he loves working with the kids as they develop, and he's all about jumping into that challenge for another season.
“My biggest thing is that I love to coach,” he said. “I love watching young players succeed and helping them do so, and I love the Xs and Os. I don’t like all the scheduling and all the ins and outs of what being a head coach also entails. My life is pretty busy.
“Luckily I have some great assistant coaches around me right now, Nolan Convertini and Andrew Anderson, and we form a really good team that will help make a smooth transition.”
Zalba on the bench during a previous season as R-P head coach. Photo/Joe Lane
When asked if he is back as the head coach for the long haul, Zalba simply said “I’m here right now. It’s just one of those things. I am committed to the school and the team, and we’ll see what happens in the future. It could be for a year or 10 years. Who knows?”
Zalba, 43, is a former professional hockey player who spent four seasons - 2004-2005 through 2007-08 - with the old Muskegon Fury.
He met a Muskegon girl while playing for the Fury, got married and put down roots here and had a family. He spent several years coaching area youth players before taking over as head coach at Reeths-Puffer in the 2017-18 season.
His program got off to a slow start, with a 5-17-3 record in his first season. The Rockets improved to 14-13 in his second season, then had a great run in his third, posting a 16-7-2 record and winning a conference and a Division 1 regional championship.
The Rockets reached the state quarterfinals that year before losing to Byron Center 5-1. That was in early 2020, just as the Covid pandemic hit the nation and world.
“The next morning the world shut down,” Zalba said about the quarterfinal loss. “Nobody won the state championship that year.”
Zalba addressing one of his former R-P teams. Photo/Joe Lane
Zalba coached one more year at R-P and stepped down after the Covid-shortened 2020-21 season. He returned as an assistant coach under Langlois in 2023-24, and helped R-P to several more very successful seasons.
The Rockets were 17-7 in 2023-24 and advanced all the way to the Division 1 state semifinals before losing to Detroit Catholic Central.
Last year, with a lot of players back from that semifinal team, the Rockets were 17-8-2, but were disappointed with a season-ending 4-1 loss to Traverse City Central in the regional finals.
“Last year was kind of a funny team,” Zalba said. “We definitely had talent, but sometimes we did not click on all cylinders at the right times. We lost because we didn't play our best in the games that mattered the most.”
This year he returns as head coach of a team that lost a lot of talented seniors to graduation, but also returns a lot of very good players, including forwards Eli Cuti, Tyler Cuti and Hayden Taylor and defensemen like Connor Anderson and Kaeden Benner. Several very talented newcomers will also bolster the R-P attack.
“Like I told the parents, don’t judge us too much in November and December, because we have a lot of kids who have to get up to speed, but once January and February roll around, we could be pretty dangerous,” the coach said.