Blazers to add coaches

From The Daily News of Monday, July 21, 2008 . . .

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Things are slowly coming together for Barry Smith, the new head coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers.
And three more pieces will fall into place Tuesday when the WHL team rounds out its coaching staff.
The Daily News learned Sunday night that former Blazers defencemen Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith will be added to the coaching staff on Tuesday. At the same time, the WHL team will announce that Steve Passmore will be returning as goaltending coach.
While neither general manager Craig Bonner nor Smith would confirm the signings, sources familiar with the situation told The Daily News the deals are done.
Ferguson, 35, is a native of Camrose, Alta., who spent three full seasons (1991-94) with the Blazers. Bonner was on two of those teams; in fact, the two were paired together in 1993-94. Ferguson’s pro career included 218 NHL games, split between the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Minnesota Wild. He spent last season with Ingolstadt ERC of the German DEL.
Smith, who played 32 games with the Blazers in 1988-89 after leaving the U of North Dakota, is from Edmonton. During his pro playing career, he split 462 NHL games between the Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers. A Kamloops businessman, he is involved in the ownership of The Thirsty Dog, a local watering hole. Smith, 39, was head coach of the bantam AAA Jardine’s Blazers last season.
Passmore, 35, played four seasons in the WHL (1990-94) before embarking on a pro career that included 93 NHL games. Locally, he is a co-owner of the Players Chophouse and Lounge. Passmore was a co-coach with the junior B Kamloops Storm last season, a position he will continue with in the approaching season.
Passmore joined the Blazers’ coaching staff in midseason after the club’s new ownership group started rebuilding the organization.
The Blazers revealed last week that Greg Hawgood, who finished last season as the interim head coach, and assistant coach Steve Gainey won’t be returning. Hawgood had a year left on his contract when he was released.
Asked last night about impending coaching announcements, Bonner deferred to Smith.
“Talk to Barry,” Bonner said, “but I think we’re real close.”
Reached in Penticton, Smith said: “We’re going to announce it on Tuesday.”
Smith, who is in Penticton working a hockey school for the next couple of weeks, was named head coach on July 3. Since then, he has spoken to all the team’s returning players, with the exception of goaltender Jon Groenheyde and centre C.J. Stretch, with whom Smith has been playing phone tag.
Smith said his message to the players is simple.
“It’s going to be a culture change,” Smith said of that message. “There’s going to be a lot more structure both on and off the ice . . . discipline on and off the ice.
“The big thing is for guys to be in shape. I’m a stickler about conditioning. Make sure you come to camp in shape . . . it’s going to be hard.
“You’re going to learn good work habits right from Day 1. There will be a high learning curve with new systems and things . . . I don’t want to waste my time having to get guys into shape.”
Bonner and Storm head coach Ed Patterson met over lunch last week in a move aimed at strengthening the relationship between the two organizations.
“It makes no sense why we don’t have a relationship with them,” Bonner said. “It doesn’t have to be an affiliation, but we should be able to put players there. They aren’t competing with us . . . it’s a different product and they are the first to admit it . . . and we’re not competing with them.
“If we have some players we can affiliate there . . . if we need players fo practise . . . it makes so much sense to have a working relationship.
“I think it’s important and I don’t see anything negative in it.”
The Blazers had defenceman Josh Caron with the Storm last season. He was taken in the third round of the WHL’s 2006 bantam draft.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Bonner will be in Kelowna on Thursday as the Western Conference’s 10 teams gather for their scheduling meeting. . . . The Everett Silvertips have signed C Paul Van de Velde, 18, who was a third-round selection by the Blazers in the 2005 bantam draft. Van de Velde left the Blazer’s camp last year when he wasn’t able to obtain undisclosed guarantees from the team. From Mariapolis, Man., he played for the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines. He had 28 points in 29 games, but missed a number of games with a knee injury.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca