The Prince George Spruce Kings are in the market for a new assistant coach.
The full-time position with the local B.C. Hockey League club opened up when previous assistant Kurt Walsten accepted a job with the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League a couple weeks ago. Walsten will work alongside friend and Dragons head coach Brian Curran, a former NHL defenceman with the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals.
Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes said he hopes to have the job filled "well in advance of training camp," which gives him about a three-week window.
The Kings have written a job posting, asking for someone with proper accreditation and previous coaching experience at the junior A, junior B or midget level. Candidates with higher levels of experience will also be considered.
"I made some inquiries on my own about some other assistant coaches and the ones I was interested in weren't available, hence the posting is going to go out and I'll go about it that way," Hawes said.
The new assistant will join a staff that includes head coach Dave Dupas, assistant coach Jason Garneau and assistant/video coach Colton Buffie. Hawes said Tom Bohmer, an assistant last season, will take on more of a consultant's role this season.
The Kings are coming off a 33-21-2-4 season. They finished third in the Interior Conference and then suffered a first-round playoff loss to the Merritt Centennials.
Hawes is happy with the club's off-season recruiting efforts and said training camp will see about 40 players on the ice at the Coliseum.
"We're going to have very few roster spots available," he said. "It will be a condensed camp, if you will, but it will be extremely competitive. That's by design so we can get into systems and all that sort of stuff a lot earlier than we have in the past."
