The Nanaimo Clippers coaching carousel makes its way through The Q Centre tonight in a sa国际传媒 Hockey League game against the Victoria Grizzlies.
Head coach Darren Naylor will remain off the Nanaimo bench for the rest of the season on league-mandated administrative leave until May 31. Clippers assistant coach Colin Birkas, who was also on league-ordered administrative leave until this week, is allowed to return to the team and will take over the head coaching role for the rest of the season.
Veteran Bob Beatty had been handling the Nanaimo bench as interim head coach in the absence of Naylor and Birkas, after they had been placed on temporary administrative leave by the BCHL for allegedly breaching the league’s coaches code of conduct. Clippers owner Wes Mussio said Beatty will remain to help Birkas on the bench, as will Bob Foglieta
The coaching turmoil hasn’t seemed to affect the Clippers’ play much on the ice. Nanaimo is humming along in third place in the Coastal Conference (29-16-2 heading into Friday night’s game against the Langley Rivermen).
Both the Clippers and fifth-place Grizzlies (27-21) have clinched playoff spots and are riding two-game winning runs.
The Clippers lead the season series 3-1 against the Grizzlies.
“Nanaimo is a good team with a lot of skill — they play a wide-open and fun game— and it’s going to be a challenge for us,” said Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon.
Meanwhile, the BCHL has not specified what exactly the alleged breaches were by the Clippers that led to the actions against Naylor and Birkas. That has left an air of uncertainty hanging over the situation.
The league says an independent investigation has been partly completed but is still ongoing and will not comment further.
The BCHL informed the Clippers players of their decision to suspend Naylor and Birkas in an email to them on Feb. 7, before hiring an independent investigator to look into matters.
In a team statement on Feb. 11, Mussio said: “A complaint was brought forth to our attention back on October. We immediately did our own internal investigation and found no serious issues.”
The Grizzlies will complete the weekend with a fan-appreciation Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. against Coastal Conference second-place Langley (31-15-3 heading into Nanaimo on Friday night).
ICE CHIPS: The Grizzlies suffered a blow with six-foot-three defenceman Clark Hiebert, an important physcial presence on the blue line, listed as out for the season following an injury in the Grizzlies’ last game in Powell River. Veteran forward Connor Eddy is also sidelined until the end of the regular season.
