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Thread: Press Conference Today!

  1. #11
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    Default Press Release

    Posted : : 08/21/2006
    Soetaert Back with the Silvertips
    Doug Soetaert Assumes VP/General Manager Duties
    Everett Silvertips Press Release



    Vice-President / General Manager Doug Soetaert
    Everett, WA - EHT Inc. the parent company of the Everett Silvertips Hockey Club is pleased to announce that Doug Soetaert has agreed to assume the responsibilities of Vice President and General Manager of the hockey club effective immediately.

    "I couldn't be more delighted," said Bill Yuill, President of the Company. "Doug played a major role in developing this franchise and he was instrumental in building our present personnel roster, both on and off the ice."

    "Over the past three years, the Everett Silvertips have achieved some pretty lofty goals and we will need all the resources available to us to maintain that record," Yuill said. "We intend to be competitive in the future, but with the expansion of the Western Hockey League, it probably will take more horsepower than previous."

    Doug started his hockey career playing 4 years of junior with the Edmonton Oil Kings, then went on to play 12 seasons in the NHL, winning a Stanley Cup ring with Montreal. After his playing career he scouted for the Rangers, coached in minor pro and became a GM over a period of 11 years in the International Hockey League. He was most recently employed by the Calgary Flames.

    The 2006-2007 Everett Silvertips 4th season home opener will take place on Friday, September 29th at the Everett Events Center at 7:35 p.m.
    _____________________
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  2. #12
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    Default

    Thats a noodle scratcher for me...should make things intresting.
    I take pride in not owning a cowbell!

  3. #13
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Tipped Off
    ....Everett-->Omaha-->Calgary-->Everett.

    Why?

    http://www.network54.com/Forum/28583...signs+in+Omaha
    Kristi
    ---------------------------------

  4. #14
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    Default yeah, I've seen the article

    It doesn;t say very much. He enjoyed the hockey aspect more? What, in a year something changed? Enough to leave an NHL position and an AHL position to "pursue other options?"

    Still doesn't make sense to me.
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  5. #15
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    Default

    Maybe the NHL/AHL wasn't what he expected.....simple as that.

    There is a lot more pressure at that level to be successful year after year.

    This Everett team is Doug's baby! He helped build and mold it from day 1. I for one am thrilled he is back and going to let Kevin get back to COACHING and not having to worry about day to day issues with the team.
    Kristi
    ---------------------------------

  6. #16
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    Default

    Maybe this could help KC keep his mind on coaching for a Cup run and not calling Speedy Creek for trades...
    I take pride in not owning a cowbell!

  7. #17
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    Default Back for the long haul

    Soetaert returns as GM
    GM who built Tips says he's back for 'a long run'


    By Nick Patterson
    Herald Writer


    EVERETT - When Everett Silvertips owner Bill Yuill introduced Doug Soetaert as the team's new general manager for the second time, the fans attending Monday's press conference held at the Everett Events Center burst into enthusiastic applause.

    It was a fitting tribute for a man who is largely responsible for where the Silvertips currently find themselves.

    Soetaert, Everett's original general manger, was rehired as the team's GM Monday, little more than a year after he stepped down to pursue other opportunities.

    "It was difficult leaving. It was not very difficult coming back," Soetaert said.

    "I'm excited to be back as a part of this organization," Soetaert added. "When you build something from scratch and have the success that we had, it's always tough to leave. I'm excited to be back, I'm rejuvenated and I'm looking forward to working with our coaching staff and scouting staff."

    Yuill jumped at the opportunity to bring Soetaert back into the fold.

    "I thought long and hard about it. It took me two, maybe three minutes," Yuill deadpanned.

    "I'm interested in making this franchise the best in the Western Hockey League," Yuill added. "With the expansion teams coming, it's going to be very competitive to maintain that standard. So I just thought we have to have the best people and resources available to us to get up there to No. 1, be the best and remain in that position."

    Said Everett coach Kevin Constantine, who took over some of Soetaert's duties while he was gone: "Just having another body doing the things we need to do to stay competitive is great. We love the way it was when Doug was here and we're happy we have a friend and another worker bee on the job."

    Details of Soetaert's contract were not divulged. However, Soetaert emphasized that he's "looking to make a long run."

    Soetaert helped build Everett into one of the top franchises in the WHL. He was originally hired as Everett's general manager in August of 2002, more than a year before the Silvertips began play. He became the architect of the team that won the U.S. Division title and advanced to the WHL finals in its inaugural season. Thanks in large part to Soetaert's contributions, Everett has reached at least the second round of the playoffs in each of its three seasons of existence.

    Soetaert resigned following the 2004-05 season when an NHL opportunity opened up, becoming the assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames, as well as president and general manager of Calgary's American Hockey League affiliate in Omaha, Neb.

    However, his job with the Calgary organization became overwhelmingly business related rather than hockey related, prompting Soetaert to step down at the beginning of August.

    It didn't take long for Soetaert to land back in Everett.

    "I resigned from my position with the Calgary Flames and at that point in time I began looking for a job," Soetaert explained. "I contacted Bill to see what was going on in Everett, we started discussing and one thing led to the next. I still feel a part of this organization."

    The Silvertips never hired a replacement for Soetaert. Instead Constantine, director of business operations Zoran Rajcic and head scout Scott Scoville combined to take on Soetaert's responsibilities. With Soetaert back, Constantine, Rajcic and Scoville will return to their previous responsibilities.

    "I wasn't out looking for general managers," Yuill said. "We have a tremendous bank of talent running this organization. All Doug does in bring another dimension.

    "Our people work at maximum right now," Yuill added. "We need people out there working hard all the time, not just during the winter but right around the clock. By bringing in Doug, with his background and experience, it may lighten the load for them. We're going to have to work a lot harder than we did in the past to achieve the same results. That's what I'm interested in."

    Constantine was a little surprised when he first learned that Soetaert was returning, but he wasn't expecting any major changes to his role.

    "I really didn't anticipate this happening, to be honest with you," Constantine said. "I was just preparing for the season in the role I was in, and now with Doug back it changes a little, but not all that much.

    "We even now will be able to share NHL experiences together, too, so the depth of our ability to relate probably grew," Constantine, a former NHL coach himself, added with a wry smile.

    Soetaert said he will continue to seek imput from Constantine, Rajcic and Scoville.

    "Not much is going to change," Soetaert said. "We worked together as a group when I was here and we'll continue to work that way when it comes to decisions about the team."

    Soetaert's return comes just in time for rookie training camp, which begins Thursday.
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  8. #18
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    Default back where he belongs

    Soetaert back where he belongs


    By John Sleeper
    Herald columnist


    EVERETT - You've just been hired to teach tuba and head the music department at Buzzard's Breath University, one of your life's goals.

    The job description is that 1) you'll teach tuba as much as your time will permit. They'll work it out with you; and 2) as head of the department, you also have to do some recruiting and glad-hand donors. Shouldn't be overwhelming, the bigwigs say. Should be about half teaching and half the other stuff.

    You think about it. You've always wanted to teach tuba at BBU. You've done it for decades. You're good at it. Teaching is your love, your passion. The administrative stuff should be tolerable. Just so you get to teach.

    So you accept.

    Months into the new job you want out. The administrative duties are so demanding that you hardly have time to look at a tuba, much less teach others how to play it.

    That's what Doug Soetaert faced as assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames and general manager of the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, the Flames' new farm team, a job he left the Everett Silvertips for a year ago.

    To his surprise and disappointment, the new job was anything but a 50-50 split between hockey operations and administrative duties. It was about 90 percent on the business side.

    Soetaert's assignment: Get the Knights up and running in four months, something that took him a comparatively leisurely 12 months as the Silvertips GM. After the initial set-up, Soetaert reasoned, he would get to spend vast more time in hockey operations.

    Love it, he thought.

    It didn't work out that way. Omaha is a tough market, with Nebraska football, Creighton basketball and two other hockey teams in the area. Soetaert found that his time on the hockey end of the deal was all but non-existent.

    He lasted a year before he resigned.

    "They needed someone there full-time to be in the business, knocking on doors," he said. "I just felt it wasn't me. My passion is on the hockey side."

    Doug Soetaert without hockey is Emeril Legasse without linguine. Hockey is what makes Soetaert come to work every day. Has been for four decades as a player, coach and front-office guy.

    Soetaert is no more a corporate suit than he is a seamstress. As he showed in his wildly successful two-year stint as the Silvertips' first general manager, he is immensely skilled at building a hockey team from the ground up. He hired virtually everyone connected with the team, including coach Kevin Constantine and head scout Scott Scoville. His connections and judgment are immeasurable.

    Soetaert left the Silvertips as one of the most thriving franchises in the Western Hockey League. He jumped at the chance to do the same with a team with direct connections to the Calgary Flames. Who wouldn't?

    It simply was a bad fit.

    Soetaert's talents, wasted with the Flames, are perfectly suited for the Silvertips. The question was whether owner Bill Yuill wanted to re-introduce Soetaert back into the franchise, in which Constantine, his coaching staff, Scoville and others combined to work the general manager's duties.

    Would Soetaert's presence upset something that already was working well?

    "I think if anybody else would have come back, other than Doug, we'd all be going, 'Whoaaaa! How's this gonna work? Are we gonna get along with this guy? Does he think like us?' " Constantine said. "We'd be really nervous. But with it being Doug, there are no chemistry issues at all."

    So, on Monday, Soetaert returned to his old job.

    The differences in mechanics within the front office will be few in comparison to last season. The vast majority of team decisions were made by committee, with Constantine finally pulling the trigger. The process will be similar group think, only Soetaert will have the final say, as it was his first two years here.

    So everybody's happy. Soetaert's thrilled to be back and the Silvertips are thrilled to have him back.

    What's to complain about? With Soetaert's return comes the same vast knowledge of the game and personnel in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The architect of the franchise that shocked the WHL by reaching the league finals in its expansion season, the one who did much to turn Everett into a hockey-mad city, is back at it. The group that started it all in Everett is again complete.

    For Silvertips opponents, this has to be a very dark day.
    _____________________
    Tipped Off

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