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Beaner
06-15-2006, 01:36 PM
from, www.whl.ca



Matt Kabayama joins coaching staff
Created: Jun 15, 2006
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Lethbridge, AB – Lethbridge Hurricanes General Manager Roy Stasiuk announced today the hiring of Matt Kabayama as Assistant Coach for the upcoming 2006-2007 season.

Kabayama, a resident of Lethbridge for nine years, was born and raised in Foremost, AB. He played four seasons in the Western Hockey League for the Medicine Hat Tigers from 1981 to 1985.

“I’m looking forward to working with the Hurricanes and (Head Coach) Michael Dyck and (General Manager) Roy Stasiuk and to get back to my roots in hockey,” Kabayama said. “I look forward to working with some good young men and developing them as hockey players.”

“We believe this will be a cornerstone in terms of succession planning,” Stasiuk said. “All successful franchises in the WHL use a similar template in terms of grooming an assistant coach for an eventual head coaching position while adding stability to our hockey operations.”

“I am really looking forward to working with Matt,” Dyck said. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our coaching staff. Matt has been a winner throughout his playing and coaching career and will be an integral part of building this team into a winner.”

Following his WHL career, Kabayama spent two years in Germany, three years playing for Mount Royal College in Calgary and two years playing for the University of Calgary before playing and coaching in Japan.

He was a player/coach from 1998 to 2003 with the Seibu Bears in Tokyo, Japan then was a player/coach for two seasons with the Nippon Paper Cranes, also in Japan.

In keeping with club policy, terms of Kabayama’s agreement are undisclosed.

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Goaltender/Video Coach Jeff Battah returning to ‘Canes

Lethbridge, AB – Lethbridge Hurricanes General Manager Roy Stasiuk also announced today that Goaltender/Video Coach Jeff Battah will be returning to the Hurricanes for the 2006-2007 season.

“Jeff has shown an incredible level of loyalty and dedication to the Hurricanes,” Stasiuk said. “The work he has done with our young goaltenders speaks for itself.”

Battah will be entering his third season with the ‘Canes after working in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League. Battah also captured a gold medal with Hockey Canada in August of 2005 at the Under-18 World Cup.

“I’m honoured to be returning and continuing in the development of Hurricanes players,” Battah said. “Over the past two years I have enjoyed working and living in Lethbridge. I look forward to the continuous development of the goaltenders on our roster and with those on our list as well, and to build towards reaching our ultimate goal of bringing a championship to Lethbridge.”

“We are looking forward to having Jeff back, not only as our goaltending coach, but as a key member of our coaching staff,” Head Coach Michael Dyck added.

Through Battah’s guidance last season, Justin Leclerc emerged as one of the top young goaltenders in the Canadian Hockey League. Leclerc had a solid 2.80 goals against average and a sparkling .915 save percentage in the 2006 WHL playoffs in his 16-year-old year.

Battah also helped former ‘Cane goaltender Aaron Sorochan, now of the University of Alberta Golden Bears, capture a few franchise season records in games played, wins, save percentage and goals against average. Sorochan was also an Eastern Conference First Team All-Star and runner-up for goaltender of the year.

In keeping with club policy, terms of Battah’s agreement are undisclosed.

grainbear
06-15-2006, 10:01 PM
No offense to our friends in Tiger Country. I am certainly happy to see Matt join our coaching staff. My hope is that his winning attitude he developed playing in the Hat helps translate into us finally winning a good percentage of our games against the Tigers. Can, t wait for the season to start. I think this season will be similar to two seasons ago when all of our Central division teams had winning percentages. On paper the teams look very balanced and we will almost see playoff type hockey from the get go.