As basketball coach Johnny Kerr once said: 鈥淲ho wants five guys running around every night with your paycheque?鈥�
One could paraphrase the same thing about hockey and six guys skating around a rink deciding your livelihood.
Four Western Hockey League clubs have hired new head coaches this off-season.
A tumultuous season in Saskatoon, in which the Blades risked everything to make a national splash as they hosted the 2013 Memorial Cup, fell short of expectations. But that didn鈥檛 stop Lorne Molleken from kicking himself upstairs as GM alone and elevating his assistant coach, David Struch, to the head coaching position.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes have plucked Drake Berehowsky out of the pro ECHL, where he was head coach and GM of the expansion Orlando Solar Bears. The former NHL blueliner, replacing the fired Rich Preston in Lethbridge, will be looking to emulate the success of another ECHL bench boss who came across from the pros to guide juniors in the WHL 鈥� former Idaho Steelheads coach Derek Laxdal of the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Cory Clouston, once rumoured for the Victoria Royals head coaching position which went last summer to Dave Lowry, is the new bench boss of the Prince Albert Raiders. Clouston, who has pro coaching experience in both the NHL and AHL, replaces Steve Young whose contract was not renewed.
And Clouston has kept on assistants Dave Manson and Tim Leonard.
The coaching carousel continues down I-5 in Everett where everything old is new again. Kevin Constantine, the successful original coach of the franchise from 2003 to 2007, returns for another go. Heck, why not, if it worked the first time around. He relieves GM Garry Davidson, the former Victoria Salsa and Nanaimo Clippers coach-GM, who was behind the bench on an interim basis after firing Mark Ferner mid-season.
ICE CHIPS: The longest day of the year is pretty much upon us. But that doesn鈥檛 stop hockey leagues from planning for those dark winter nights that yet seem so far away. But in many parts of sa国际传媒, hockey is what makes winter bearable, and it鈥檚 never too early to prepare. The WHL will release it鈥檚 2013-14 regular-season schedule next Wednesday. The pre-season schedule will be announced the day before. 鈥� Graduating Kamloops Blazers captain Dylan Willick, a thorn in the side of the Victoria Royals for two seasons, has committed to play university hockey for defending CIS-champion New Brunswick.
