The Wallaceburg Lakers have hired a new bench boss and general manager.
Former Dresden Kings and Chatham Maroons coach Marc Swayze has been hired to help guide the Lakers, who have missed the playoffs the last four seasons
“Marc is dedicated to making a team that is good for the fans and good for Wallaceburg,” new Lakers president Jim McCrea told the Sydenham Current.
“He has had some good experience with the Maroons and Dresden and a little with Blenheim. He’s a knowledgeable, good guy that likes to work with the kids and he wants the kids to be happy. That’s what we want, a team where the kids are number one. All the players deserve the respect and they will get it.”
McCrea said the decision was made at the first meeting for the new executive on Tuesday night (April 14.)
Swayze is set to bring in his own assistant coaches as well.
“What we have asked him for and what we’ve hired him for is to make a playoff team,” McCrea said. “I’ve hired Kris Jacobs as director of player personnel. He’s going to be relaying everything from Marc to the executive. We’ve set up a new way for how the executive runs, those people are going to look after the hockey and the executive is going to look after the Lakers itself.”
Swayze will replace Ken Shine, who stepped down as the Lakers head coach to join the Blenheim Blades coaching staff.
Brian Griffith had also recently stepped down as the Lakers GM.
The entire organization was overhauled on April 7 at the club’s annual general meeting.
McCrea said there was a “divide” among people in the meeting.
“That always happened when there is new people coming in. The last board did a fine job in getting the finances of the Lakers cleared up. The last few years, they have been pretty badly in debt. I would really like to thank Ron Barnier, Mike Gyuricza, Dave Meyskens and Sandy Williams for getting us out of debt and putting us in a position where we can do something. I think they contributed quite a lot to the Lakers.”
Looking forward, McCrea said the Lakers have a good board.
“We have approximately 16 members on the board and all people that are eager to get out there and promote the Lakers.”
McCrea said the names of the board members and their jobs are set to be announced on Monday.
Watch for more on this story.
