Ex-Blazers coach gets three-year deal

From The Daily News of Thursday, April 10, 2008 . . .

The Canmore Eagles obviously like what they’ve seen of Andrew Milne because
the former assistant coach with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers now is the
general manager and head coach of the AJHL team.
The Eagles have given Milne a three-year contract that allows him to leave
for a better position at any time.
“I have zero clauses involving getting out,” he said, adding that the deal
is for three years, no options. “If I get another job, I can leave tomorrow.
They said, ‘We’re a development league and we don’t want to put anything in
there to hinder that.’ I was, like, ‘Wow, that‚s great!’ ”
Milne, 29, joined the Eagles’ coaching staff on Jan. 17, a month after being
dismissed from the Blazers’ coaching staff. At the time, Milne, who had one
year left on his Blazers’ contract, agreed to stay with the Eagles through
the end of this season.
Prior to adding Milne, the Eagles were 17-24-0-5, had lost eight in a row
and were sixth in the AJHL’s South Division. With Milne on staff, they went
8-5-1-2 and moved up to fifth place. They then were swept from a
best-of-five first-round playoff series by the Olds Grizzlys, who won two of
the games in overtime.
Milne said he feels that he brought “new energy and new blood” to the
Eagles.
“I don’t think they have ever become the organization they wanted to be,”
added Milne, who is a native of St. Albert, Alta., and played for the AJHL’s
St. Albert Saints before moving into the WHL. “We’re going to be really
young next season and they agreed to my saying this is the plan for the next
three years.
“We lose 12 players. We’re going to build on the 1990-born players so that
in three years when they’re 20 we should be solid. We should develop a good
team between now and then.”
As the general manager, Milne said he will be responsible for “everything.”
“Overseeing the budget and the day-to-day operations, all on-ice operations
. . . you are the man of the hour there,” Milne said. “But I was in the
smallest market in the CHL (Swift Current) for about five years so I
understand small-market teams as well as anybody. I know how important the
community is.”
Milne played in the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs, Medicine Hat Tigers and
Swift Current Broncos. He also had some coaching experience with the Broncos
before joining the Blazers prior to 2006-07.
Milne knows that he faces quite a challenge in Canmore, too.
“We’re like the 10th winter sport that anybody wants to do or watch there,
with all the skiing, ice climbing, snowshoeing. . . everything,” he said.
“But the direction the organization wants to go . . . I think things have
been complacent and stagnant here.
“Now there’s new energy and some young blood, so let’s go.”
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Mark Recchi, one of the Blazers’ five co-owners, is working
with TSN during the first round of the NHL playoffs. Recchi, whose Atlanta
Thrashers didn’t qualify for the playoffs, will appear Friday, Saturday and
Sunday as part of the network’s studio show. . . . Kamloops D Nick Ross, who
signed a three-year deal last week with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, scored
his first AHL goal Tuesday as his San Antonio Rampage edged the host Iowa
Stars 3-2 in overtime.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca