nivek_wahs
04-30-2007, 01:28 AM
http://www.kamloopsnews.ca
Extensions in works for Blazers coaches
by Gregg Drinnan
The three men who guide the on-ice fortunes of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers are likely to be offered contract extensions in the near future.
“We are considering it . . .,” Murray Owen, the president of the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society, said Thursday. “We are looking at that very seriously. It’s on our agenda.
“It is the mind of the board (of directors) that we have a very extraordinary group of people managing the club and we’d like to keep it that way.”
Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, Shane Zulyniak, the assistant GM/assistant coach, and assistant coach Andrew Milne each has one year left on his contract. The club holds a one-year option on each of the men.
Clark, 43, the 10th-winningest head coach in WHL history, has completed his fourth season with the Blazers. During that time, the Blazers have a 134-124-21-9 regular-season record. They failed to make the playoffs in 2005-06, for the first time in franchise history, and got bounced in the first round the other three seasons.
With the Prince Albert Raiders’ decision not to renew head coach Peter Anholt’s contract, Clark also is the winningest active coach.
Zulyniak, 32, and Milne, 28, both former WHL players, just completed their first seasons as WHL coaches.
This season, the Blazers put up a 40-26-4-2 record, their best regular-season performance since 1998-99 when they reached the WHL final under head coach Marc Habscheid. They lost that final in five games to the Clark-coached Calgary Hitmen.
This season, the Blazers were swept from the first round by the Prince George Cougars, who won four one-goal games, three of them in overtime.
Owen said the Blazers’ record was secondary to how it was accomplished.
“We started the season with a goal and that was to provide good, hard Blazer hockey throughout the season,” he said. “This team and the management of the team provided that for us.”
The Blazers were 27-7-2-0 in the Interior Savings Centre, the sixth-best home-ice record in the league and only seven points back of the No. 1 Everett Silvertips, who were 31-4-0-1.
Owen said the fact the Blazers won 40 games was “extraordinary.”
“Sure Prince George swept us . . . but with a lot of difficulty,” he added. “They had become a much better hockey club in the last month and they showed it by taking out Everett. Now they’ve come up against a pretty good coach and a pretty good hockey club.”
The Cougars trail the Vancouver Giants 3-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference final. Game 5 is tonight in Vancouver.
Owen said that Don Moores, who is chairman of the board’s hockey committee, has been out of town. Upon his return, he and Owen will meet and get the ball rolling on contract extensions.
With other coaching positions beginning to open up — at present, there are at least two openings in the AHL, and two more in the WHL — Owen said that a swift resolution to this situation is important.
“(Moores) and I are going to have a discussion as soon as he gets back,” Owen said.
Extensions in works for Blazers coaches
by Gregg Drinnan
The three men who guide the on-ice fortunes of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers are likely to be offered contract extensions in the near future.
“We are considering it . . .,” Murray Owen, the president of the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society, said Thursday. “We are looking at that very seriously. It’s on our agenda.
“It is the mind of the board (of directors) that we have a very extraordinary group of people managing the club and we’d like to keep it that way.”
Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, Shane Zulyniak, the assistant GM/assistant coach, and assistant coach Andrew Milne each has one year left on his contract. The club holds a one-year option on each of the men.
Clark, 43, the 10th-winningest head coach in WHL history, has completed his fourth season with the Blazers. During that time, the Blazers have a 134-124-21-9 regular-season record. They failed to make the playoffs in 2005-06, for the first time in franchise history, and got bounced in the first round the other three seasons.
With the Prince Albert Raiders’ decision not to renew head coach Peter Anholt’s contract, Clark also is the winningest active coach.
Zulyniak, 32, and Milne, 28, both former WHL players, just completed their first seasons as WHL coaches.
This season, the Blazers put up a 40-26-4-2 record, their best regular-season performance since 1998-99 when they reached the WHL final under head coach Marc Habscheid. They lost that final in five games to the Clark-coached Calgary Hitmen.
This season, the Blazers were swept from the first round by the Prince George Cougars, who won four one-goal games, three of them in overtime.
Owen said the Blazers’ record was secondary to how it was accomplished.
“We started the season with a goal and that was to provide good, hard Blazer hockey throughout the season,” he said. “This team and the management of the team provided that for us.”
The Blazers were 27-7-2-0 in the Interior Savings Centre, the sixth-best home-ice record in the league and only seven points back of the No. 1 Everett Silvertips, who were 31-4-0-1.
Owen said the fact the Blazers won 40 games was “extraordinary.”
“Sure Prince George swept us . . . but with a lot of difficulty,” he added. “They had become a much better hockey club in the last month and they showed it by taking out Everett. Now they’ve come up against a pretty good coach and a pretty good hockey club.”
The Cougars trail the Vancouver Giants 3-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference final. Game 5 is tonight in Vancouver.
Owen said that Don Moores, who is chairman of the board’s hockey committee, has been out of town. Upon his return, he and Owen will meet and get the ball rolling on contract extensions.
With other coaching positions beginning to open up — at present, there are at least two openings in the AHL, and two more in the WHL — Owen said that a swift resolution to this situation is important.
“(Moores) and I are going to have a discussion as soon as he gets back,” Owen said.