Mark Van Helvoirt is out as head coach of the Victoria Cougars.
The victorious bench boss resigned on Tuesday, two days before the start of the club鈥檚 2016-17 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League season as the defending champs open at home Thursday against the Saanich Braves at Archie Browning Sports Centre.
Associate coach Suneil Karod takes over as head man with Thomas Kala remaining on as his associate along with Bill Morrison and Brody Coulter. Jake Stolz also steps in to assist full-time.
鈥淚 know Mark was planning on this being his last season. I think he just made the decision, in his personal life, that now is a good time to move on,鈥� said Karod, who has been together with Van Helvoirt for seven seasons.
鈥淲e鈥檝e built this program over the last five years 鈥� Mark, myself and Tommy. We鈥檝e had others, but that鈥檚 been the core group.鈥�
The players were told on Tuesday as they gathered for practice.
鈥淚 had a team meeting with the players before practice. I think it caught everyone off guard, but the guys recruited this season came to play for the Cougars and not any one specific person. They are all still excited about it and to have a good season,鈥� added Karod.
Van Helvoirt was not available for comment.
He was heading into his ninth season as head man after four years as an assistant, becoming the youngest head coach in Cougars鈥� history.
Van Helvoirt compiled 373 wins, 94 Losses, 23 overtime losses and four ties over his 494 regular-season and playoff games for a .782 winning percentage. In his eight years as head coach, he guided Victoria to six division titles and four league championships. At the Cyclone Taylor Cup, his teams finished second twice (including last year at home) and added a third-place finish.
