Coach Chynoweth responds to ESPN story

[Scout]

Coach Dean has responded in disbelief and is very upset on how Gare Joyce portrayed the Broncos organization and the city itself. When it is on the web i will repost it.

Scout

[ointhecreek]

I read the story in the booster, very well done. Good job Mr. Mah. It's good of Dean to come out publicly on this. Expresses himself quite well with emotion. I really hope they re-sign him. He is good for this organization, imo, and should have a chance to finish what he started.

[Scout]

Broncos irate with negative portrayal by ESPN


BY STEVEN MAH
The Southwest Booster

The Swift Current Broncos Hockey Club is reeling, along with the entire city that they call home, after the release of an ESPN article detailing the 20th anniversary of the tragic bus crash that killed four Broncos players on Dec. 30th, 1986.

The article entitled "Denial of Death" by Toronto-based writer Gare Joyce is a scathing account of the 20th anniversary of the crash that killed Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka, and Brent Ruff.

"Denial of Death" is particularly critical of the lack of a lavish ceremony at the Dec. 30th anniversary game versus the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Joyce was given full access to the Broncos hockey team and spent five days in Swift Current including the Dec. 30th game in which a 30-second moment of silence was held to honor the four fallen Broncos.

The Broncos organization is upset about the piece, which portrays the organization, individuals connected with the team, the Board, and the city of Swift Current in a less then positive light.

Head coach/general manager Dean Chynoweth expressed his disbelief in the nature of the article.

"I can't even explain in words how upset I was when I read it. Gare Joyce, the author, had spent about four or five days out here. He had full access to our team. We included him in everything, he even traveled with us.

"I had an understanding with him prior to his trip out here of what this article was going to entail because I was a little leery to start with of what it might be about. He reassured me that it would be about the bus crash and 20 years ahead and how we have dealt with it and progressed and continued to survive in the smallest market in the CHL. So at that point I felt comfortable enough to bring him in and include him in everything. I helped set up and arrange for the people he needed to talk to. I feel like he really took advantage of that and obviously he played me for something for an article that he wanted to come out a certain way.

"At no time was it ever mentioned about Graham. Some of the inaccuracies in that article and the sensationalism that are in there, I am disgusted with it. I feel bad for the people of Swift Current, the people that have gone through a lot, that continue to support the organization and make junior hockey possible."

Chynoweth also strongly disputed Joyce's claim that Broncos players do not feel comfortable playing in Swift Current.

"I totally disagree with that. The comments made by Brady Leavold were taken out of context. He has not been in high school in two years. He is a player that quit our team at one point and did deal with some homesickness and has come back and put together a pretty good season.

"The likes and dislikes at the high school are common in any junior hockey market. All you have to do is think about it, the kids are coming in and they are the toast of the town. The girls are usually hanging around them so of course there is usually lots of jealousy.

"I know first hand that the school and the personnel, the teachers, counselors have been very impressed with our group and the relationship that we have with them is excellent. Dave Hunchak has done a tremendous job with that. Colleen MacBean has served as a liaison between the two and I don't think that are relationship could be any better that way. Playing here I have never seen any sign of that. I think that it comes to light, especially when we have our parents weekend, that there are lots of times when we get players from far away like the lower mainland BC that don't necessarily know where Swift Current is. When they get here they are usually very impressed. Number one, with the family type atmosphere that our staff provides, from the girls in the front office, to the marketing guys, to Elden (Moberg, assistant general manager), to the coaching staff, to the fact that they know their kids are safe. Everything is five or 10 minutes away, which you can't say about Calgary or Vancouver, where the kids are driving an hour everyday.

"Our kids are extremely close because they can do things at the drop of a hat and go to one another's house or a movie. The environment is a hockey one, with no distractions from outside venues like I had in Seattle with being the smallest on the totem pole as far as different sports. Our kids think hockey - have to think hockey. They have to learn to deal with things when they are good and not so good because they have to be accountable in this town. That is one of the reasons that I took this job. I thought that it would be great not only for my development, but to be a part of something where hockey is the mainstream and on everyone's mind. There are a lot of things that come along with that. You have to have thick skin at times. I know first hand from the last three years that as visible as you are, you have to be able to take criticism at different times. I believe that that makes you stronger as a person and as a group. If they are going to be players or successful in other avenues of life then there are always going to be critics and people with other opinions."

Broncos captain Myles Rumsey, recovering from a serious knee injury in Winnipeg, was quick to jump to the defense of Leavold and the city where he played hockey for the past five seasons.

"I think the writer kind of took that out of context about what Brady said. I think that what Brady was talking about was that in high school some of the kids give you a hard time. But that is everywhere and every hockey player deals with that. I think that it was taken way out of context."

As for the players relationship with the city, Rumsey said the article doesn't do justice to the fan support.

"The fans in Swifty are great; there is lots of support as you can see. Even when we were re-building there in my 18-year-old season, we had wins few and far between and they always came out to games. So I think that it was taken out of context. It is unfortunate that that happened but the fans show great support for the kids and it is a great place for guys to."

Rumsey believes that Joyce's opinion comes from a lack of knowledge.

"It was disappointing. It is hard for him to get a judgment on everything. He's there for one or two games. The game against Medicine Hat we didn't really do anything for the anniversary with the renovations and stuff. I know that there is stuff going up about the four players. I just don't think that he got a good enough feel for things and he needed to be here for a lot longer to realize what it is like to play in a small town and how much support we do have in the community."

Chynoweth believes that Joyce's perceived disconnect between the Broncos and the community of Swift Current and the teams past is a fabricated one.

"That is what is disappointing, because the inaccuracies are in there. We have the community service award every month, we have our kids in the schools, and the kids are out doing things like building the shed and doing the raffle. It could have been such a feel good story of where we are at. Yes, we have had some tragic stuff go on in the history of the club, but we also have had some tremendous things go on. By no means do we close our eyes to that. We are aware of that each and every day. To glorify it is definitely not my style."

Joyce's article also points out the Broncos Board of Directors as a heartless group who gave little consideration to the anniversary. But Chynoweth disagrees.

"His other inaccuracy is me going to the board. We talked about this at length with the board. It was not a ho hum discussion and me presenting something, we talked about it as a group.

"His reference to the banner, I had made reference to two years ago when I got here, as nice as the memorial is, I feel that it should be in the arena, that there should be a banner. Now we have had the clover leaf and numbers on the ice my first year. Due to advertising and other revenue streams I would rather have that hanging from the rafters, visible, so that when those kids stand for O' Canada they see it.

"They know the history. We talk about it with the kids every year from the time they are drafted and come. They know what has gone on here, or the parents do. The plan to put the banner in was not a matter of doing it on the anniversary, it was a matter of doing it when the renovation is complete. That part, I don't know where he got that, because I told him plain and simple we are going to wait for the renovation and the board was totally supportive of that.

"As far as what more we could have done there is always going to be people that question that it wasn't a good time, it was a terrible time. We wanted to be subtle. We wanted to recognize it. The last thing that we wanted to do was bring in families to drum up what a terrible feeling that was. I was surprised at the angle he took."

For Chynoweth, the inclusion of the Graham James storyline is the most disappointing.

"To bring in the Graham stuff that everybody is sick of hearing about. We have moved on. This is a different group. I am proud of the organization that I am a part of and running. I don't have a lot of time and energy to waste on those types of things."

As much as the article hurts those involved with the Broncos in the present, Chynoweth fears that it will have a real affect on the team in the future.

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"I know that I will feel it on the recruiting side of it. I was actually excited about the potential of the article because I was led to believe that it would be a feel good article about fact of the bus crash, of the challenges that we have had and faced and persevered and been resilient through it. Now it is the exact opposite, we are at a time in the season where my head scout and I are in every rink for the next month doing the recruiting leading up to the bantam draft. I know this will be brought up now."