Dennis Williams Named Silvertips Interim GM

Everett, Wash. – The Everett Silvertips The Everett Silvertips, eight-time U.S. Division champions and two-time Western Conference champions of the Western Hockey League, and Consolidated Sports Holdings chief executive officer Zoran Rajcic announced today that Dennis Williams, Silvertips head coach, has been named Interim General Manager effective immediately.

Williams continues his current position as Silvertips head coach, adding to his duties after helping guide the Silvertips to their fourth U.S. Division title in five seasons.

“Dennis’ experience helps us address an immediate need inside our hockey operations department with the CHL Import Draft coming up,” said Rajcic. “As we handle the objective of ‘what’s important next,’ he is a confident, well-connected, and driven individual to help us reach our goals in the oncoming months.”

As a two-time recipient of the WHL Western Conference Coach of the Year award, Williams has led the Silvertips to three U.S. Division titles and the 2018 Western Conference championship in his four seasons behind the bench, carrying a record of 154-52-7-7 (.733 percentage) in his WHL career since being named Silvertips head coach on May 15, 2017. After preparing for the pandemic shortened 2021 regular season, he guided the Silvertips to their eighth U.S. Division title, a 19-4 (38 points) record, and the second highest points percentage (.826) in the league.

Under his guidance, Silvertips players have earned the following achievements:

• Drafted by NHL teams: 8 players in 3 years
• Signed to 3-year, NHL entry level contracts or AHL contracts: 11 players in 3 years
• Earned gold medals in IIHF competition: 3 players (Carter Hart and Olen Zellweger, Canada; Dustin Wolf, United States)

The native of Stratford, Ontario also has been selected in back-to-back years as assistant coach for Hockey Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and for Team Canada Black at the 2018 U17 World Hockey Challenge.