The Prince George Spruce Kings’ search for a coach turned up a hit in New Brunswick.
The Kings have hired 33-year-old Saint John, N.B., native Brad Tesink as their associate coach.
Tesink joins the B.C. Hockey League club from the South Shore Lumberjacks of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League, where he was in his second season as the head coach. He replaces Andrew Shaw, who left after five weeks with the Spruce Kings.
"Brad is a young progressive coach with a similar approach to coaching that Alex (Evin) and the rest of our coaches have,” aid Kings general manager Mike Hawes, in a team release.
“He played the game at a high level and has some valuable coaching experience as well. He comes highly recommended after we went through the due diligence process. He will bring a lot to the table and I look forward to watching him assist our players with their development and helping the Spruce Kings organization have success on and off the ice."
Tesink coached the Saint John Sea Dogs U-15 triple-A team from 2016-18, taking over the head coaching duties his second season after one year as an assistant. Prior to joining South Shore, he was head coach of the Port City Sharks bantam team in 2018-19.
"I want to thank Mike Hawes and Alex Evin for the exciting opportunity to join the Spruce Kings," said Tesink. "The chance to join such an established community-based program was an easy decision.
“I am committed to helping build a successful culture on and off the ice with the players and staff in Prince George.”
As a six-foot-four, 230-pound defenceman, Tesink played four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Gatineau Olympiques (2005-07), Acadia-Bathurst Titan (2006-09) and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (2008-10). He joined the Woodstock Slammers of the MJAHL for his final season of junior eligibility. The Slammers won the league championship that season.
Tesink went on to play 11 games in the CIS for St. Thomas University in 2010-11.
The Spruce Kings (9-3-0-1-0) are on the road this weekend. They’ll take on the undefeated Penticton Vees (14-0-0-0-0) on Friday (7 p.m.) , then visit the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday (6 p.m.).
The Kings return to Kopar Memorial Arena to play the Merritt Centennials on Thursday (7 p.m.), part of a doubleheader against the Centennials that continues Friday afternoon in Merritt (4 p.m. start).
