After a disappointing end to the season, the Grand Forks Border Bruins are once again on the hunt for a head coach and general manager (GM).The Bruins were in the play-off hunt for the first half of the season after getting out to a strong start led by captain and top scorer Jackson Purvis and head coach/GM Nick Deschenes.Of course, Purvis ended up getting injuring and missing over a month, while Deschenes left to take the head coach job at junior A Trail.The team floundered under replacement coach/GM Kevin Flather, a young ex-pro player from Vancouver, losing the last 10 games of the season to finish well out of play-off contention.Board member and assistant coach/general manager Matt Zamec said the board is currently scouring their list of contacts in the hockey community.“Kevin was brought aboard as kind of an emergency fill in,” said Zamec. “We just wanted to put it out there and explore options. We told Kevin he’s welcome to submit his resume. The way our season ended we wanted to see what’s out there before we commit to anyone.”Zamec said the team is using its contacts to try to recruit a coach rather than just simply advertising widely and soliciting resumes.“Right now, we’re just going the route of contacting people who we know and spreading the word to see if there’s anyone out there we can bring in that we now before we just solicit piles of resumes,” said Zamec. “If you can get a personal recommendation from someone you trust, that’s the best way to bring someone in.”Zamec said the team is looking for a candidate who is a proven leader, has good communication skills and is able to develop good relationships with the players and the staff and the town.“We want someone who will represent us in a positive manner,” he said. “As for the win and loss record, obviously, we want to make the play-offs – that’s the goal every year.”He added that he’d like to see the Bruins build on the success the team had before Christmas.“Anything seemed possible,” he said. “We want to get that atmosphere back. It has to be the right person. That’s why we’re starting the process by going through personal connections. There’s people we know in the hockey world who are looking for jobs, or no people who are looking for jobs.”Clearly, the Bruins are hungry to make the play-offs after having been left out in the cold for the past 12 years or so.The Bruins have the potential to have some talented players back this season, despite losing top scorers Connor Gross and Purvis.“We’re hoping we can attract the group back and then we have to go out and get the players,” said Zamec. “Obviously, those two guys will be tough to replace. You need scoring but a good coach will adjust his strategy to the kind of team he has.”Eligible to return next year are forwards Max Newton, Dakota Kittle and Michael Rand who all had strong contributions this year scoring at least 40 points.The team will potentially need to find two new goaltenders with Dominic Stadnyk aging out and Kai McDonald likely to move on.AGMThe Bruins are holding their annual general meeting (AGM) on Monday, March 31 at 7 p.m. at the viewing room at the Jack Goddard Memorial Arena.The AGM is open to all residents of Grand Forks. Membership to join the Bruins association is $5.“At the AGM, we’ll go over the financials and do a summary of the season,” said Zamec. “There will be some changes proposed to the constitution of the Border Bruins association. The constitution was put together back in the 1970s. So there will be some changes just to update it.”There also 12 positions on the board that are one-year positions so they will all be up for election.

Grand Forks Gazette