Malc
05-29-2010, 12:13 PM
By Larry Fisher
Ken Andrusiak was chomping at the bit to get back behind the bench.
He‘ll get that opportunity in the fall, with the Chase Chiefs relocating to Kelowna for the 2010-11 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season. Andrusiak, who spent the past two seasons as Kelowna Minor Hockey‘s top coach, overseeing the bantam and midget teams, was on the ice with his new club, the junior B Chiefs, for spring camp on Friday.
"It‘s really great for me," Andrusiak, the Chiefs‘ new head coach, said of the franchise‘s long rumoured and recently approved move from Chase to Kelowna. "As much as I liked being the head coach of Kelowna Minor, you didn‘t have your own team. It‘s been two years of wanting to get back at it, and this is great for everybody, including me."
...
The three-day spring camp attracted 88 players, including nine returnees from last year‘s Chase squad, auditioning for invites back to main camp in August.
There‘s lots of local flavour, with Andrusiak estimating 60 to 70 per cent of the players at spring camp have Kelowna roots. Added to that, there‘s several Kelowna products spread throughout KIJHL rosters.
...
Andrusiak singled out the WHL‘s Kelowna Rockets for making the move possible, as the Chiefs needed permission from Rockets president Bruce Hamilton to relocate to the Central Okanagan, where they will play out of Rutland Arena.
"We‘ve had great co-operation from them. And if it wasn‘t for them, we wouldn‘t be here," Andrusiak said of the Rockets. "They allowed us to do it, and we‘re giving them our two 16-year-old spots in return, so it should be a good relationship."
KIJHL teams are allowed to carry a maximum of four 20-year-olds and two 16-year-olds, with the Chiefs planning to carry Rockets‘ list players to round out their roster.
Last season, Chase (26-20-0-4) finished fourth out of seven teams in the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference, then beat the Kamloops Storm in the first round of playoffs before bowing out to the Revelstoke Grizzlies in the second round.
This season, the KIJHL has added an eighth team, the expansion Osoyoos Coyotes, to the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference, bringing the league total to 18 teams.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=268589
Ken Andrusiak was chomping at the bit to get back behind the bench.
He‘ll get that opportunity in the fall, with the Chase Chiefs relocating to Kelowna for the 2010-11 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season. Andrusiak, who spent the past two seasons as Kelowna Minor Hockey‘s top coach, overseeing the bantam and midget teams, was on the ice with his new club, the junior B Chiefs, for spring camp on Friday.
"It‘s really great for me," Andrusiak, the Chiefs‘ new head coach, said of the franchise‘s long rumoured and recently approved move from Chase to Kelowna. "As much as I liked being the head coach of Kelowna Minor, you didn‘t have your own team. It‘s been two years of wanting to get back at it, and this is great for everybody, including me."
...
The three-day spring camp attracted 88 players, including nine returnees from last year‘s Chase squad, auditioning for invites back to main camp in August.
There‘s lots of local flavour, with Andrusiak estimating 60 to 70 per cent of the players at spring camp have Kelowna roots. Added to that, there‘s several Kelowna products spread throughout KIJHL rosters.
...
Andrusiak singled out the WHL‘s Kelowna Rockets for making the move possible, as the Chiefs needed permission from Rockets president Bruce Hamilton to relocate to the Central Okanagan, where they will play out of Rutland Arena.
"We‘ve had great co-operation from them. And if it wasn‘t for them, we wouldn‘t be here," Andrusiak said of the Rockets. "They allowed us to do it, and we‘re giving them our two 16-year-old spots in return, so it should be a good relationship."
KIJHL teams are allowed to carry a maximum of four 20-year-olds and two 16-year-olds, with the Chiefs planning to carry Rockets‘ list players to round out their roster.
Last season, Chase (26-20-0-4) finished fourth out of seven teams in the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference, then beat the Kamloops Storm in the first round of playoffs before bowing out to the Revelstoke Grizzlies in the second round.
This season, the KIJHL has added an eighth team, the expansion Osoyoos Coyotes, to the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference, bringing the league total to 18 teams.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=268589