More from Lethbridge . . .

Some interesting conversation came out of the Monday press conference at which the Lethbridge Hurricanes announced the firing of general manager Roy Stasiuk.
(Audio from the news conference and from Stasiuk is posted on Pat Siedlecki’s blog over there on the left. Thanks to him for making it available.)
According to Hurricanes president Brian McNaughton, the decision to fire Stasiuk was based strictly on performance.
“We had very high expectations going into this season,” Lethbridge president Brian McNaughton told the gathering. “We believed we had a very strong group of 1989-born players and coming off of last season our expectations were quite high. Those expectations were not met. We’ve gone through an extensive evaluation period here for the last several weeks and came to this decision in the middle of last week.”
(If the board did, indeed, reach the decision to fire Stasiuk in the middle of last week, it’s interesting that they kept him around long enough that he handled the announcement Friday that head coach Michael Dyck’s contract wouldn’t be renewed.)
McNaughton also said that Herman Elfring will serve as the interim general manager “while we go through this search period.” McNaughton said the board hopes to have a general manager in place in a maximum of eight weeks.
McNaughton added that Elfring would work with Brad Robson, the director of scouting and player personnel, on the European draft and next season’s schedule.
McNaughton wouldn’t discuss potential candidates, saying that “there is a long list of potential candidates and we aren’t going to get into discussing that until we are prepared to make an announcement.”
He did allow that the new general manager will hire the head coach and that the firing of Stasiuk doesn’t changing anything that was announced last week. In other words, Michael Dyck, who was told Friday that this contract as head coach won’t be renewed, won’t be coming back.
As for Stasiuk, while he didn’t attend the news conference, he made himself available and was interviewed by Siedlecki, who calls Hurricanes games on CJOC 94.1 FM. And if you read what Stasiuk had to say, he provides some insight into the problems the Hurricanes had this season (some off-ice discipline problems?) and what it’s like working for a so-called community-owned team that is run by a board of directors.
Here are Stasiuk’s comments . . .
ON BEING FIRED: “That’s part of the hockey business. I leave here feeling quite proud. I think we . . . everybody in the organization . . . I think we’ve done a wonderful job here in four years. I get paid to do a job. I think I’ve done that job to this date. I leave proud and I have no bitter or ill feelings towards anyone.”
ON THE DECISION: “I was informed of the decision affecting me this morning. I can’t say I’m surprised; I can’t say I’m bitter about anything. That’s the prerogative of the leadership of the organization. I’ve had a positive experience here in Lethbridge.”
ON NOT RENEWING DYCK’S CONTRACT: “Michael’s decision . . . that was something that was purely between the board and Michael. That was honouring Michael’s wishes from last June. I was asked for input on it and that’s where it ended as far as Michael and myself.”
ON HIS FUTURE: “My immediate plans are to take a vacation and I had that planned beforehand anyway. It’s an opportunity . . . I’m still under contract for one year . . . so it’s an opportunity to reflect a little bit, to recharge the batteries. I’d love to stay in the game. It’s a privilege and an honour to work in the Western Hockey League. I’d love to continue doing that. I’ve been in it for 21 years now. If that doesn’t turn out, life will go on. This is certainly not a tragedy; it’s part of the business. This is the first time I’ve gone through something like this and I’m OK with it.”
ON LETHBRIDGE: “I’ve a lot of great memories. We did a lot of great things here and we includes everybody in the organization. I think we’ve put somethings in place in terms of a process where you look after athletes. You abide by academics, you abide by curfew rules and all those things, and when you do those things good things happen. That was evidenced by our championship of last season. This season, I thought we strayed a little bit and that was a concern of mine. I don’t want to say it as philosophical differences but I don’t think it was ever addressed the way it needs to be in order to be successful.
ON WHY: “(They) didn’t really give me any clear reasons and I hope I was evaluated based on the performance. I hope it wasn’t rumour or innuendo or personalities because I don’t think that’s very professional. I didn’t get a lot of reasons. . . . I understand the decision was a very tough one. For probably two-thirds of the board members I have nothing but the utmost respect. There are some really good people there. Then there are some people there who choose to hold backroom meetings and get into personalities and innuendo and that’s really disappointing but, thereto, that’s an experience. . . . Everybody means well. . . . If you’re running an org or a bus, there’s always a chain of command. That’s what successful businesses have. I think we strayed from that from time to time and that’s frustrating. I don’t feel good about Michael Dyck having to look for work . . . but at the same time there were some things that were happening that were unacceptable as well. How they were addressed and how they were handled . . . that was a bit of a disappointment for me because ultimately I think what it did is pit each of us against teach other and that’s wrong. Again, I have no ill will against anyone in this organization and certainly not Michael Dyck."