Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Update: Saskatoon Blades name new head coach as Bob Woods returns to NHL

Jun 23, 2016 | 4:09 PM

If an afternoon media conference on Thursday was supposed to be the announcement, consider it spoiled.

Shortly before 11 a.m., John Vogl with Buffalo News confirmed on twitter that Saskatoon Blade’s coach and general manager Bob Woods is leaving to join Buffalo’s NHL team, the Sabres, as an assistant coach under Dan Bylsma.

Woods has spent the last two seasons as the head coach and general manager of the Blades.

Within five minutes of CKOM News reporting on the announcement, the Saskatoon Blades tweeted the team has named Dean Brockman as its 21st head coach, confirming Woods departure to Buffalo.

“This was too great of an offer to pass up,” Woods said in a news release by the Blades Thursday.

“It’s a chance to work alongside a Stanley Cup winning coach who also coached in the AHL. It’s an example I’d love to follow. I have mixed emotions leaving the Blades since the team is turning the corner, but I know the players are in great hands.”

The team said new coach Brockman, 48, who was alongside Woods for the past two seasons, is thrilled with the opportunity.

“We’ve come through three difficult but necessary years, but the time for talk is over,” Brockman said in the same news release.

“It’s time for results and we are committed to take a major step forward this season. We have a room full of great players who have outstanding character. They’ve taken great strides during our time together and I can’t wait to work with them to seize the opportunity we have in front of us.”

Prior to his Saskatoon gig, Brockman coached the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for 17 years.

He lead to the team to several championship victories, and was named SJHL Coach of the Year four times.

Additionally, Brockman coached Canada West to a silver medal at the World Junior A Championship in 2012, taking home a gold medal at that same event as an assistant coach one year earlier in 2011.

The Saskatoon Blades have also named a new general manager, Colin Priestner. The 32-year-old is the seventh GM in Blade’s history, and will nab the title of youngest general manager in the Western Hockey League.

The team said Priestner was instrumental through the previous three drafts, the results of which have been widely praised by independent observers.

He also crafted the restructuring of the Blades scouting system, as well as rebuilding the 50-man list.

Priestner has a degree in Political Science from the University of Alberta and is currently enrolled at the Business of Hockey MBA program at Athabasca University.

Blade’s Assistant General Manager Steve Hildebrand is now promoted to Associate General Manager; Hildebrand was just named by Hockey Canada as one of the Directors of Operations for the U17 national team.

The team said staff will be rounded out in short order, and the new head coach has a few candidates in mind for his assistant.

The Saskatoon Blades will still hold a news conference for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

 

Email news@ckom.com

Twitter @CKOMNews