Former Storm coach added to Flames Coaching staff
By Calgary Flames staff, CalgaryFlames.com
The Calgary Flames announced today that Geoff Ward and Ryan Huska will join Bill Peters’ staff to work alongside existing coaches Martin Gelinas, Jamie Pringle and Jordan Sigalet.
Geoff Ward joins the Flames after spending the past three seasons with the New Jersey Devils, as their assistant coach, while Ryan Huska joins the Flames staff after serving as the head coach in Stockton for three seasons and one in Adirondack, Calgary’s AHL affiliate.
Ward, a native of Waterloo, Ontario, brings a decade of NHL coaching experience to the Flames. Prior to the last three years with New Jersey, he served as the Boston Bruins assistant coach for seven seasons including winning the Stanley Cup in 2011 and another finals appearance in 2013.
The 56-year-old started his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Waterloo in 1989 and remained there for three years. In 1993-94, he guided the Waterloo Siskins to a MWJHL championship. In 1994-95 he signed on as the head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers for four seasons and finished his OHL coaching career as the head coach with the Guelph Storm in 1998-99. Following that, he spent one year coaching in the East Coast League as the head coach of Arkansas in 1999-00. He moved on to the AHL as an assistant in Hamilton and later became the head coach guiding them to the Calder Cup Finals in 2002-03 and was named as the Louis A.R. Pieri AHL coach of the year recipient. He finished his AHL coaching career as head coach of the Edmonton Roadrunners in 2004-05 after the team moved from Toronto. He has also been a head coach in Germany on three separate occasions (2000-01, 2006-07 and 2014-15) including winning the DEL Championship and being named coach of the year with Adler Mannheim in 2014-15 before returning to the NHL.
Huska, a native of Cranbrook, BC, has been coaching for 16 years after a nine year playing career in the WHL, IHL and AHL, including one NHL game with the Chicago Blackhawks.
