The last time Troy Ward was in Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre was April 20, 2006, during an emotional news conference to announce he could not accept a two-season contract extension from the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL because of family circumstances involving his young sons.
An American with mostly U.S. hockey connections, Ward never thought he would be back in British Columbia. Little did he know how his professional hockey life would become intrinsically linked with this province, producing winning records each of the last three seasons as head coach of Abbotsford in the American Hockey League.
Ward returns to the Memorial Centre today, but this time on the visitors’ bench, as new head coach of the Vancouver Giants as his club plays the Victoria Royals in a Western Hockey League pre-season game at 5 p.m.
The plan was to go to Adirondack when the Calgary Flames moved their AHL affiliate from Abby to New York state over the summer. But the Flames’ new management wanted a change on the Adirondack bench. Ward’s phone didn’t take long to ring with the pro KHL in Russia and the Giants, Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL all calling. The Giants’ offer, to replace Don Hay who had left to take over the Kamloops Blazers, made the most sense with the least disruption since he was already on the West Coast.
“I decided to stay where I was most comfortable,” said Ward, by phone from the Lower Mainland.
But now he goes from coaching men in the pros to kids in junior.
“The teaching is all the same,” said Ward.
“It’s just that you need more repetition and a greater level of patience at the junior level.”
Ward, who was assistant coach in the NCAA with the University of Denver Pioneers and University of Wisconsin Badgers, has dealt with non-pros before and is known as an insightful teacher of the game. So he may just find his niche in junior hockey.
When the tumultuous Bryan Maxwell era came to an end, the Salmon Kings looked as if they had found their coach of the future in Ward. Maxwell, at 14-23-1, was fired midway through the 2005-06 ECHL season and his replacement, Ward, brought new ideas and the Salmon Kings home down the stretch at 12-14-8. That was respectable for the S-Kings at that time.
He now inherits a Giants team in a rebuilding phase.
“Maybe we don’t have the depth of the other teams [in the B.C. Division],” said Ward. “But we have good players who are fresh and young. We’re hoping enthusiasm and change sparks us.”
ICE CHIPS: The Giants have four players away at NHL rookie camps — Matt Bellerive (Canucks), Brett Kulak (Flames), Jackson Houck (Oilers), Mason Geertsen (Avalanche) … The Royals are missing six players away at pro rookie camps — Joe Hicketts (Red Wings), Travis Brown (Senators), Axel Blomqvist (Jets) and Keegan Kanzig, Austin Carroll, Brandon Magee (all Flames) … There are four WHL teams ranked in the pre-season BMO Canadian Hockey League Mastercard top-10 poll. The Brandon Wheat Kings are No. 3, Kelowna Rockets No. 5, Calgary Hitmen No. 7 and Portland Winterhawks No. 10. Top ranked is Rimouski Oceanic from the QMJHL … Admission tonight is $5.
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