All aboard

Written by Dale Woodard
rLETHBRIDGE HERALD
rIt’s official, the Lethbridge Hurricanes hockey operations staff is now complete.
rAnd while one familar face is coming back, another familiar name that has been linked to the club since Janaury has officially come on board.
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rAt a press conference at the Shark Club Wednesday afternoon, Hurricanes coach and general manager Rich Preston announced the addition of Rich Sutter as the team’s assistant to the general manager/hockey operations.
rRounding out the hockey operations staff is the return of ’Canes assistant coach Matt Kabayama, who has been promoted to associate coach and Chris Chisamore, who will serve as the team’s assistant coach/goaltending coach.
rSutter served as a coaching consultant for the Hurricanes last season.
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rBringing the local product and former member of the Lethbridge Broncos on board made sense, said Preston.
r“Richie (is somebody) everybody knows and has been living here a long time,” he said of Sutter, who suited up for the Broncos from 1980 to 1983 and has lived in the city since his playing days ended. “I’ve known him a lot of years. He’s a really good hockey person and knows the game."
r“He’ll be a jack-of-all-trades. He’ll do a little bit of player development and from time-to-time scout the Western league and get a real book on the league and other teams.”
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rWhile Sutter was a presence on the ice at practice last season, Preston said that role will be altered this season.
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r“He’s going to be more on the road,” he said. “That doesn’t rule out that we might have him out on the ice once in a while, but one of the big things is (helping) our young players in the system and just knowing the league and the rest of the teams.”
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rSutter, who missed the press conference due to commitments to the Sutter Ice hockey camp in Coaldale, said he’s excited to come on board and work with Preston and Kabayama.
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r“You want the opportunity to work with good people,” said Sutter. “And in Rich and Matt, you’ve got two guys who bring the kinds of standards of accountability and the hockey know-how to bring this team back to where it should be.”
rGetting Kabayama back into the fold was a “no-brainer,” said Preston.
r“He’s been around the game a lot of years, is very popular with the players, is part of the community and knows the game,” said the GM of Kabayama, the Foremost native who spent the last three seasons as the ’Canes assistant coach. “I knew a week after I was hired that he would be coming back.”
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rWhile Kabayama brings the familiarity factor to the table, bringing back the assistant coach and promoting him to associate coach goes a little deeper than that, said Preston….
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