After coaching pro and teenage players for three years near Paris, Bryant Perrier will be living and working in Armstrong.
The 50-year-old Penticton native is the new head coach/GM of the North Okanagan Knights.
Perrier replaces Vernon’s Jim Armstrong with the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League franchise. Former Knights’ owner Chuck Gallacher, of Kelowna, was the team’s GM last year.
Perrier is not looking at the cultural shock of coaching Junior B in smalltown B.C., but rather accepting a new challenge in his 20th season behind the bench.
“From what I can see, this is a major rebuild,” said Perrier. “I will be living in Armstrong because I feel it’s important and it’s safe for the players.”
Perrier previously served as head coach of the BCHL Merritt Centennials for two years and the Penticton Panthers for seven seasons, ending in 2004, when he joined the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
In France, he coached the Division 2 Asnieres Castors pro team and also ran the U22 and U18 programs. His wife, Jeanne, who works for the government, made a few yearly trips to France from the couple’s home in Penticton.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and you learn from your mistakes and take a personal inventory,” said Perrier. “In France, I was coaching men who had played Olympics so it was a completely different level, but I still enjoy the developmental part of hockey and think I have a lot to offer.”
Perrier’s strengths are in communication, video analysis and skill development by way of teaching fundamentals, technical and tactical components of the game. He also enjoys recruiting, scouting, media relations and community service.
“I worked for great people in France. There was a president and vice-president and it was like family. The unemployment rate in France was 16 per cent and our team was likely going to fall to Division III. They let me know what was happening.”
He noticed hockey people in France stayed calm during crisis, a trait he is bringing back to Canada.
“I have learned over the last eight, nine years how to become a better communicator. You have to show, not talk. Actions first, talk second. As long as you cover the A, B, Cs, pay attention to detail, you should be successful.”
An all-star d-man with the BCJHL Penticton Knights, Revelstoke Rangers and Langley Eagles, Perrier earned a scholarship to the University of Alaska, where he amassed 100 points in four years. He played 56 games with the IHL Phoenix Roadrunners.
“Bryant has an extensive and impressive coaching and playing resume,” said new team owner Dean Keller, of Oliver. “Bryant will provide a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Knights organization. He has had a tremendous amount of success as a head coach at the Junior level.”
While with Penticton, Perrier led the Panthers to 45-, 42- and 48-win seasons, all good for league regular-season titles. The Panthers lost the 1998 Fred Page Cup in five games to the South Surrey Eagles and were swept by the fourth-place Merritt Centennials in the 2001 Interior final. The Cents stunned Penticton in six games in the first round of the 2000 playoffs.
He spent two years as bench boss with the now-defunct Neepawa Natives of the Manitoba Junior League before getting fired 17 games into his third season, in 2011.
“Bryant is dedicated, enthusiastic and passionate about the game,” said Keller, who owns a lift-truck service in the South Okanagan. “His main motivators are to help improve the athletes and make a positive impact for the players and organization both on and off the ice.”
Keller has been involved in South Okanagan minor hockey for 10 years, four as president. He also served on the Okanagan Mainline board.
