Hiller surprised by firing

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Chilliwack Bruins’ WHL regular season ended Sunday.
Jim Hiller’s run as their head coach ended when he was fired Monday.
“I was suprised, honestly,” said Hiller, the only head coach the Bruins have
known in their three seasons of existence. “I was a little surprised. . . .
I was a little bit surprised.”
Hiller, who had one season left on a two-year contract signed in August, was
fired less than two months after Darryl Porter, the Bruins’ president and
interim general manager, referred to him as an “exceptional head coach” and
added that “Jim will be our head coach next (season).”
Porter made those statements after firing general manager Darrell May on
Jan. 27.
The Bruins beat the Winter Hawks 4-3 in Portland on Sunday, a victory that
allowed them to escape the Western Conference basement. It was their fourth
straight victory and improved their record to 19-46-2-5.
The Bruins completed their third WHL season — they were an expansion team in
2006-07 — but didn’t make the playoffs for the first time. They qualified
for the postseason in each of their first two seasons, finishing eighth and seventh and getting beaten by the Vancouver Giants in the first round
each time.
Chilliwack suffered some particularly devastating injuries this season,
losing key defencemen Jesse Craige and Matt Strong at the same time early in
the season, and then losing captain Jadon Potter with a season-ending neck
injury in November. As well, forward Oscar Moller, a 19-year-old who was
expected to be a major offensive contributor, earned a spot on the NHL’s Los
Angeles Kings’ roster.
“It was a tough season for us,” Hiller said.
Glen Sather, the president and GM of the NHL’s New York Rangers, is part of
the Bruins’ ownership group. And it seems his recent decision to replace Tom
Renney with John Tortorella as the Rangers’ head coach influenced Porter’s
decision.
“The best analogy I can provide comes from Glen,” Porter told Eric Welsh of
the Chilliwack Progress. “He had a very prepared, meticulous and thoughtful
head coach in Tom Renney, with whom he got along very well. But Glen
thought the club had gone stale and he wanted someone with a more fiery
disposition and a different approach with the players. So he hired John
Tortorella. That’s very much been on my mind recently.”
Hiller leaves with a three-year record of 72-121-11-12.
At the same time, Porter, who hopes to sign a head coach by June 1, said the
Bruins would retain associate coach Dan Price.
Porter told Welsh that one of the potential candidates might be Renney, a
former head coach of the Kamloops Blazers.
“I don’t know what he’s up to, but I’m curious,” Porter said. “That’s a guy
I wouldn’t mind calling. This decision is still so fresh that we haven’t
gone too far down the road as far as who we’d like to call.”
The decision to dump Hiller means there will be at least two WHL coaching
vacancies.
The Prince George Cougars, who replaced Drew Schoneck with assistant Wade
Klippenstein on Dec. 1, have said that they will hire a new head coach
before next season.
“I love the game,” Hiller said. “Nobody who gets to this level doesn’t
absolutely love the game. It takes a lot of time and effort and energy, but
I think everybody who is involved at a high level of hockey does it because
they absolutely love it.
“I’m going to look at all the options that are presented. I hope there are
some . . . I believe firmly there are going to be some different options and
I’ll look at them.”