Sitting last in the West Stobbs Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League, the Wallaceburg Lakers have fired their entire coaching staff.
Ritch Kanally, general manager of the club, released a statement this morning on the Lakers website, confirming the team had parted ways with its coaches, including: Rick Vancoillie, head coach; Ed Burm, assistant coach; Luke Blackbird, assistant coach, and Justin Allaer, goalie coach.
“We wish Rick, Ed, Luke, and Justin all the best in the future endeavours,” Kanally said.
“This year is crucial for the Lakers and after losing the last six games and with nearly 25% of the season gone, we needed to make a change.”
Port Huron’s John Hartig is taking over behind the bench.
John Hartig Jr. and Nick Hartig will be assistant coaches. Zachery Hartig is currently the team’s leading scorer, with 3 goals and 1 assist.
Vancoillie and his staff had been hired this past off-season.
The Lakers were bought this past off-season as well by some Wallaceburg investors.
Jim McCrae, a former team president of the team, told the Sydenham Current back in April that himself and five other people have bought the club from the Byrne Laus Hockey Corp. Read more about the sale, here.
The team is off to a slow start this season, with a 1-7-0 record.
The Lakers are in Wheatley on Monday night, before they host Petrolia on Wednesday.
We had local coaching building a local team with local players from the two communities of Wallaceburg and Walpole Island.Our two communities were behind this team.We knew we had a lot of younger players there and it was a building process.These coaches were cheated out of there chance to make a real difference for this team and this town.Rick is a proven winner and Luke has more knowledge in hockey than anyone in the area with Jr A and AHL experience.As much as this upsets me we welcome the new coaches with open arms and hope they succeed.If they are not Skip and the rest of the old boys club should resign in disgrace.Its easy to coach from the sidelines a little harder in the trenches.This was the worst move in Laker history.