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Stay-Puft
07-19-2007, 05:40 PM
http://www.whl.ca/news/?id=7197&showToc=1&game_id=

Winter Hawks Elect to Make Coaching Change

Created: Jul 19, 2007

Portland Winter Hawks Director of Hockey Operations Jim Goldsmith announced today that Coach Mike Williamson’s contract will not be renewed with the team.

“We have been having ongoing discussions with Mike and thought we were going to move forward with a contract, but, in the end, we just felt that there were some philosophical differences,” Goldsmith said. “Mike is a great person, a very dedicated, hard worker, and has served the Winter Hawks in the utmost, professional manner. He will be a valuable part of any organization he chooses to work for in the future.”

Williamson, 34, was head coach in Portland for seven full seasons, taking over for Harold Snepsts, who resigned on February 3, 2000. That season was Williamson’s sixth as an assistant coach with Portland, starting in 1994-95, after he graduated as a Winter Hawks’ player as captain of the 1993-94 team. Overall, as a player, coach and assistant coach, Williamson, originally from Leduc, Alberta, spent 16 seasons with the Hawks since he entered the Western Hockey League as a player in 1991-92.

In his first full season as head coach in 2000-01, Williamson earned Western Conference Coach of the Year honors after Portland jumped 43 points in the standings, the biggest one-season improvement in franchise history, to jump from a last place finish in 1999-2000 to a second place finish in the West in 2000-01. The Hawks enjoyed a great playoff run, winning the franchise’s eighth Western Conference playoff championship before losing to eventual Memorial Cup champion Red Deer in five games in the 2001 WHL Championship series.

Overall, Williamson coached 531 regular season games and 54 playoff games for the Hawks during his head-coaching tenure.

Goldsmith said that the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

nivek_wahs
08-08-2007, 08:29 AM
Rich Kromm it is...

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=118654575152998100


Kromm to be named Winter Hawks coach
A former captain, he played for Portland from 1981 to 1984

By Jason Vondersmith
LocalNewsDaily.com, Aug 7, 2007

The Portland Winter Hawks have decided on their new coach, the Portland Tribune has learned. It’ll be Richard Kromm, a former captain for the Winter Hawks.

Kromm played with the team from 1981 to 1984 before embarking an extended pro career that saw him play parts of 10 seasons with Calgary and the New York Islanders.

Kromm, 43, has been busy most recently as an instructor with the Okanagan Hockey Schools. He replaces Mike Williamson, whose seven-year stint as Portland coach ended last month when the team did not renew his contract.

Kromm inherits a young team and needs to get right to work with a training camp scheduled to start Aug. 22 in Memorial Coliseum. It is unknown whether Kromm will retain assistant coaches Brian Pellerin and Kyle Gustafson. General manager Ken Hodge is expected to stay with the club, while a player personnel director has yet to be named.

Kromm last served as head coach at Calgary of the Western Hockey League in 2002-03. The Hitmen went 27-36-7 with Kromm in charge.

His previous coaching stops: Muskegon Fury, UHL, 1998-2001; Chicago Wolves, IHL, 1997-98; Carolina Monarchs, AHL, 1995-97; Cincinnati Cyclones, IHL, 1993-95.

Kromm played in 142 regular-season games, recording 62 goals and 110 assists. In 28 playoff games, he had seven goals and 16 assists.

He played on the 1982-83 Memorial Cup champion team, scoring 35 goals with 68 assists during the regular season.