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.
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.