OLDS — Members of the Friends of the Grizzlys Society (FGS) have appointed an acting general manager and acting head coach while they continue to look for a permanent replacement for former head coach/GMT Scott Atkinson.
The club announced Monday, Aug. 28 that Atkinson had resigned immediately for personal reasons.
During a special meeting of the board of directors on Tuesday, Aug. 29, Grant McNeil was named acting general manager and Kyle Finch was appointed as acting head coach.
McNeil has provided oversight to the Grizzlys scouting and recruiting team as well as hockey operations over the past season.
He has also served as the primary liaison between players, player families and the team.
Finch was hired in June as an assistant coach.
He was previously head coach of a U17 AAA provincial championship team in Okotoks.
Meanwhile, a news release says, a “targeted recruitment process” to replace Atkinson on a permanent basis is underway.
“The Grizzlys are committed to stability of hockey operations and to bring continuity to the roster build that has occurred over the past week of tryouts and training camp,” FGS president Josh Erdman said in a news release, issued Tuesday.
“We have depth in our coaching staff that allows us to continue with our hockey operations plan over the next few weeks while we actively recruit a head coach and general manager.”
“We appreciate Kyle’s willingness to assume the acting head coach role in the interim and all other members of our hockey operations team for stepping up during this transition time,” McNeil said in the release.
“We have a solid group of players that we are focused on, with a week of hard roster decisions to make during the upcoming week of exhibition.”
