Blazers, Charron cut new deal

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Guy Charron plans on sticking around as head coach of the Kamloops Blazers.
When Charron took over as the WHL team’s head coach on Nov. 23, the contract he agreed to ran through the end of this season. At the time, both Charron and the Blazers said they would see how things went and then take it from there.
It would seem that both parties are quite enamoured with the relationship because the Blazers will announce today that they have cut a new deal with Charron.
A source familiar with the negotiations told The Daily News on Tuesday night that Charron’s new contract will be for two years, running through the 2011-12 season.
Charron, 61, took over as head coach from Scott Ferguson, an assistant coach who was named interim head coach following the firing of Barry Smith. Smith, who had been in his second season with the Blazers, was fired on Oct. 26.
The Blazers, who are seventh in the 10-team Western Conference and have two regular-season games remaining, were 8-7-2-0 under Smith, who was fired following a 1-5-0-0 swing through the East Division.
With Ferguson and fellow assistant Geoff Smith running things, the Blazers went 3-6-0-1.
Under Charron, the Blazers are 21-19-0-3. More telling, however, is that they are 13-12-0-1 since the Jan. 10 WHL trade deadline when general manager Craig Bonner completed his purging of veteran players, turning the team into one of the youngest in the league. Immediately after the deadline, only the Seattle Thunderbirds (17.57) had a younger average age than the Blazers (17.64).
The Blazers, who have won their last two games and four of five, will wrap up the regular season by entertaining the Prince George Cougars on Friday night and meeting the Giants in Vancouver on Saturday.
Kamloops remains two points behind the Kelowna Rockets (33-31-2-4), who were beaten 5-2 by the Chiefs in Spokane last night, and two ahead of the Chilliwack Bruins (31-32-1-5), who dropped the Cougars 7-4 in Prince George.
The Bruins play again tonight in Prince George. The Rockets meet the Giants in Vancouver on Friday.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com