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If eagerness is any indication of success to come, the Kimberley Dynamiters are on the verge of very good things after hiring local Garry Jacklin to be their new head coach and general manager.
The junior B hockey club announced the hiring yesterday.
“We’re very happy to have him,” said team president Rick Prasad.
“We hired him on Sunday night, and he was working right after our meeting.”
Jacklin becomes the fourth head coach and general manager in as many years for the Dynamiters, replacing Kevin MacKay who was recently hired by the junior A Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
For Jacklin, the time was right; his youngest child Sarah graduated from high school last year.
“I’ve got some spare time,” he said. “I’ve been scouting quite a bit for the last few years, and I’ve always wanted to get back into coaching. Kimberley being my hometown, I thought it was a good idea to throw my name in.”
Jacklin’s sons Shawn and Scott both started their junior hockey careers playing for the Columbia Valley Rockies, which is where the patriarch began scouting.
When Scott moved on to the junior A Cowichan Valley Capitals in 2007-08, Garry was enlisted to do some recruiting for them. Jacklin was most recently a scout for the Trail Smoke Eaters, to whom Scott was traded during his second season in the BCHL.
Jacklin also has college connections, in particular to the Portage Voyageurs in Lac La Biche, Alta. He’s arranged for former Nitros like his eldest son Shawn, and Leo Keefer, to play there. Matt Foster also recently hitched his wagon there.
Jacklin had a chance to coach in Trail last season, but with Scott still playing he felt it would be better to stay out of it.
“I’ve been out since I coached my son Shawn in midget AA, and ever since then I’ve basically been scouting,” he said.
While being general manager will be new to him, he said his experiences in Kimberley minor hockey will help out.
And if he has any questions, he has an extensive list of contacts in the BCHL to call for advice.
“They’re all more than willing to help me out with anything that I need,” he said.
“I think the biggest thing as a general manager is getting players, and having been a scout I’ve got a lot of kids already that I’ve been talking to over the years. There are kids that I’ve scouted for Trail that are close to being in Trail, but they might not be there — they would probably be with us.”
Prasad said Jacklin’s scouting background made him an attractive candidate of the six viable choices considered.
“At this level, recruiting is the No. 1 reason that a team has success actually,” he said. “If you can draw in the players, it gives you a leg up over everybody else.”
Prasad noted that the Dynamiters have had success bringing new coaches on board in recent years — including Scott Beattie and Wayne Keiver.
“Those guys have done well for us, and we hope Garry and his enthusiasm will open things up for us as well,” said Prasad.
As for the on-ice product, Jacklin wants an exciting, offence-first team.
“I think we’ll have some speed and some skill. It’s going to be fun hockey, they’re going to be finishing their checks,” he said.
“I just think hockey is a pretty simple game: I keep it simple for my kids, and then they know what their job is. If they make a mistake then there’s not a whole bunch of stuff that they have to go back through.”
Jacklin confirmed that Jordan Foreman will return as an assistant coach, but he hadn’t yet spoken to Jay Nelson about reprising his role — he has been assistant coach and assistant G.M. the past two seasons.
At this point, there’s still room behind the bench.
“I’m really open to anything,” said Jacklin. “I don’t ever turn down help; I don’t want to have 30 people there helping, but if somebody is interested definitely give me a call and I’ll talk to them and see what they want to do.”
He can be reached at 427-7020.
“We want to try to get hockey back to where it was years ago and get people in the building and make it exciting,” he said. “I’ll try to get the best hockey team I can on the ice.”
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