New Royals GM has plenty of talented coaches to choose from
New Royals GM has plenty of talented coaches to choose from
BY MARIO ANNICCHIARICO, TIMES COLONIST JULY 7, 2012
Now that he's been officially introduced to the media and community, Cameron Hope's first order of business as the new general manager of the Victoria Royals is to find a coach.
That search is well underway as Hope looks to hire a bench boss in the next week or two to replace Marc Habscheid who vacated both positions with the Western Hockey League club late last month.
Hope will have plenty of solid choices as a host of qualified coaches are looking for work, with Cory Clouston and Dave Lowry already expressing interested in the plum position. But you can also toss Mark Holick, Jeff Truitt, Tim Hunter and Kris Knoblauch into that mix.
"There are a lot of guys," said Hope, almost licking his lips. "I'm not going to say any of their names because it's not fair to them.
"At first I was surprised, but the more I thought about it, I'm not surprised at the level of guy that has put his name forward, because I think they recognize this as something special, too."
Hope has not narrowed the group down to a manageable number.
"Not yet, we're kicking names around," admitted the new Royals' GM.
"I think the process will be fast once we put our heads down and get to it. I'm really anxious to do it," he said.
Clouston (Ottawa) and Lowry (Calgary) have plenty of experience in both the National Hockey League and major junior, with Clouston having coached the Brandon Wheat Kings last season. Hunter also has pro experience as an assistant coach in the NHL, while both Holick and Truitt were in the American Hockey League, having lost their jobs with Syracuse and Texas respectively.
Holick and Truitt also had successful WHL coaching careers and Holick led the South Surrey Eagles of the B.C. Hockey League to the 1998 Royal Bank Cup national title.
Knoblauch was just as impressive with his stint with the Kootenay Ice, having led them to the league title in 2011.
