The Cochrane Generals are looking for a new head coach.
In a surprise move, the Generals announced at their May 2 annual general meeting that the team was relieving head coach Ken Soloski of his duties.
Soloski guided the young team to a 15-18-4-1 regular-season record and a second-round playoff appearance against eventual league-champion Okotoks.
“It did catch me by surprise, a lot,” Soloski stated. “Basically, I was told that the board of directors wanted to take it in a different direction. They’re concerned about the image of the hockey club. And they didn’t see that would be changing with the current coaching staff.”
Unlike predecessor Dana Boothby, a more reserved coach who stayed on the bench as an assistant with Soloski this season, Soloski is an animated, vocal coach. His lively bench demeanour got him tossed out of more than one game this season and, he admits, led to roster changes.
“Personality clash with some of the players earlier in the season where a couple of kids quit because they didn’t like the way things were or the way things were going,” Soloski offered. “And a personality clash with Greg Keller and what he expected as the team president.”
Keller’s assessment of the breakup matched Soloski’s.
“We just weren’t comfortable with the direction the team was headed,” the Generals team president said. “It’s about more than wins and losses. Those are important, obviously.
“But it’s also about how the players and the program are developing and it wasn’t going the way we thought it should.”
Chalk it up to philosophical differences. But Soloski makes no apologies.
“I wasn’t going to compromise how I coach and how I treat the players and everything else, because I felt we were doing a really good job.”
The Generals struggled early in the season, particularly on the defensive end and in goal. Soloski had as many as four rookie defencemen who, by the playoffs, were much improved from the start of the season. His forward group also bought in, working hard on the back-check to help the young defenders out. The scheme contributed to a stronger second half of the season for Cochrane.
Soloski was particularly gratified by his team’s stirring first-round playoff win in Strathmore and the Generals’ effort against the Okotoks Bisons in the second round. While the Generals went out in four-straight, Okotoks would sail through the post-season to the league championship without losing a game.
“When you look at that (Okotoks) series, we were the best out of everybody that played them,” he observed. “When you look at the scores and stuff, we held our own against the best. They didn’t lose a game all playoffs and we were the closest.
“I thought we did really well for what we had.”
He was an assistant to Boothby in the 2011-12 season before becoming head coach in 2012-13. But he won’t be taking any official role with the club when the puck drops in September.
“I wasn’t offered anything on the team or anything else,” he said. “I’m going to be a parent. I’ve got a kid who plays (Generals forward Tyson Soloski) and I’m going to watch him.
“And that’s about all I’m going to do, for now.”
Keller said he has no short list of coaching candidates and has advertised the volunteer position, open to all qualified applicants.
“In a perfect world, we’ll have a replacement by June 1,” Keller offered. “But, as you know, it’s not always a perfect world.”
