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View Full Version : Where did it go wrong?



scamperdog
05-07-2006, 10:49 PM
By RICK WILE www.kamloopsthisweek.com
May 07 2006

The parting of the ways between assistant coach Ryan Thorpe and the Kamloops Blazers this week demands far greater accountability than the team has been willing to serve up. Instead, the hockey club chose to bury its head in the sand trying to figure out what kind of spin to put on the breakup, so that the team wouldn't look bad. And the fact of the matter is, the Blazers aren't looking bad in the public eye, they're looking terrible.
The transparency promised three years ago by the hockey club and reiterated every year since, is looking like lip service in the Thorpe matter. Even more disappointing is that Thorpe's shortcomings, perceived by GM and coach Dean Clark, came about so suddenly, and, you have to wonder if the problems could have been worked on.
It's also a bloody shame that the team's shortcomings weren't readily acted upon a year ago at this time, when a major shakeup was so desperately needed. Had the realities of the situation been accepted a lot earlier, the team may not have slipped from 3rd, to 4th, and finally 5th and out of the playoffs during this three-year tailspin under his watch, resulting in the banishment of two pretty good hockey men in Thorpe and Mark Ferner, who left the team in December.
I don't believe for a minute that Thorpe was a detriment to the team or that the differences, if that's what you call them, couldn't have been resolved. It's also almost embarrassing for the organization to coax a young head coach away from Junior "A" hockey in Surrey and pronounce him a future Blazers head coach at the news conference, then spit him out just over a year later and try to negotiate downwards in a contract settlement.
How poor is that for a franchise that has had a great reputation of treating its people well . . . up until the last three years, of course.
I can't blame fans for wondering what's happening. By my calculations, Thorpe is at least the 12th person to leave the organization since the fall of 2003. He has plenty of company to share war stories with. There was another bright young assistant coach, Bernie Pimm, who found himself out and transferred to a scouting post at a time in the season when other coaching positions had been snapped up. He's now with the Vernon Vipers.
The purge has also included marketing man Don Larsen, office and game-day handyman Doug Mcleod, GM Mike Moore, billet co-ordinator Doris Ruble, trainer Mickey Laniuk, head coach Mark Ferner, store manager Melinda Gouschuk, and, scouts Jacques Trudel and Bob Unger. There's also Kirk Fraser who's now freelancing his services to NL Broadcasting and the hockey club after seeing his role as director of communications being eliminated.
I'm not even counting the team directors who bit the dust when Blazer-gate hit the organization and the ones who have since moved on. I'm not counting the coach and GM's wife Darilyn who has been in and out of the Corner Store a couple of times. Heck, I'm not even counting the stickboys and waterboys who have graduated, nor am I counting Fred and Hunter, the cats who have gone to the big scratching post in the sky.
I have my fingers crossed that Digger and Spike Wallace have long term contracts. If they don't, they should - if tradition means anything
I think most fans can accept change, but when it has happened so frequently over such a relatively short period of time, it has to bring about accountability at the highest levels of the hockey club, both on and off the ice. It's not an opinion. It's simply a fact of good business, and that's what the Kamloops Blazers are - a business. I would be shocked to think the business people on the board would run their own operations the way the Blazers have recently been operating. It's been a nightmare on Lorne Street.
The hockey end of things is of the utmost importance. I've always said if you take care of the hockey, the business will follow suit, and that's the most critical issue facing the club. The departure of Ferner in December, and now Thorpe, leaves the club without two bonafide hockey people and solely in the hands of GM and coach Clark. It may be a good situation for Clark, but is it good for the organization? If other people aren't brought in, can we honestly say the team has made progress from the same time a year ago? I think not. And, though I consider him a friend, I have to honestly say I have reservations about a multi year contract, or even a salary increase, for Clark until there's definitive progress. If that runs into next season, so be it. The corner the club has tried to turn has become bigger and bigger. When the corner is turned, Clark may be able to walk on water. Right now he's like everyone else trudging through mud, and hopefully the road leads to respectability.
As for Thorpe, I have to sincerely say it's sad to see his departure now as a coach after he was also traded as a player in 1999. He had two bad hands with this organization, and it cost him. Let's hope time heals the wounds of disillusionment, disappointment, and anger.


Rick Wile is sports director at Radio 'NL.


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