Hurricanes fire coach/gm

[royal51]

What gives? Owners kids not getting enough playing time? Strange move now that Brick has them on a 3 game win streak.

From the Guelph Mercury Sept. 30/09

The Guelph Hurricanes have fired coach and general manager Jeff Brick.

Oddly, the Jr. B Hurricanes are on a three-game winning streak.

A source close to the team says Brick was canned Tuesday afternoon. There’s no word on his replacement. The Canes have four wins and four losses in Greater Ontario loop play.

Brick coached the Cambridge Winter Hawks to the Sutherland Cup in 2000.

Guelph hosts Brantford on Thursday night at the Sleeman Centre.

Strange....wonder what the story is??

[Maguire25]

Stranger still is his replacement.

According to sources it is Jim MacEachern a former assistant with the Dominators and until today an assistant with Elmira.

[muskoka]

Follow up indicated that Jeff wanted to take team in different direction than the ownership group. Clash of wills? Jeff is pretty intense and has an extreme mindset when it comes to hockey. Too bad because I think he would have made a big difference to that hockey club this season in keeping them out of the basement. Didn't see this coming.

[Just a Hockey Fan]

It's really too bad. I wish Jeff well, as I am certain he'll be behind a bench real soon. He's one hell of a great coach, intense yes, but he will get the best out of the kids he's coaching.

[The Masked Grappler]

Too bad, he seemed to have the team going in the right direction. Beating LaSalle and I saw them in Lambton Shores on Saturday and they looked pretty good.

[muskoka]

“He’s been doing a good job, we’re happy with him, it’s just indifference's of the direction we wanted to take the team,” co-owner Mario Cotroneo said.
Guelph Hurricanes include
# 66 Daniel Cotroneo
Kid was apparently not getting quality ice time after the 4th game. Team wins 4 in a row. Coach fired, kid gets more ice, team drops one. Could this be the indifference Dad spoke of?

[royal51]

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jr. b fan]

Someone tried to tell me that there was no owner's kid on this team . . . .

[the platz]

Brick has been fired everywhere he goes London,Kitchener (mid season -ask him why), Cambridge (after winning), Cambridge Senior A, and was suspended from Waterloo Minor Hockey (why anyone would let him coach kids??). There is never a good reason because Hockey has this old boys club to protect themselves .Then when the Frosts of the world get caught everone is surprised.

[snocain]

Eye catching statement, defaming perhaps but not exactly filled with information.

[the platz]

Just my take on why a coach gets fired every where he goes in a year or less. No one wants to admit he's a bad coach or a bad person or both, so they come up with statements like "the team has decided to go in a different direction" , "He's a good coach but, too intense for young players" . Defaming statements would be things like if someone said he was a drunken nutcase, or an embarrasment to hockey, or anything that would stop another organisation from hiring them .

[royal51]

And the circus continues....................... http://news.therecord.com/Sports/article/614718

Former Guelph Hurricanes coach denies allegations about his firing

October 17, 2009
By Jeff Hicks, Record staff

Jeff Brick slams allegations he was drunk while running a Guelph Hurricanes hockey practice one month ago as “ridiculous.”

The long-time Junior B coach is speaking out in a bid to quell rumours emanating from his sudden dismissal as Canes coach and general manager on Sept. 29.

Team ownership publicly cited “philosophical differences” after firing Brick.

But Brick – a former Jr. B coach in Elmira, Kitchener and Cambridge – claims he was given a different explanation by Canes co-owner Mario Cotroneo. Brick, 48, said Cotroneo told him he was being fired because of accusations he was intoxicated during a recent team practice.

“They told me that two of my assistants – Rich Carrer and Jay Guardiero – said that I was impaired, couldn’t speak properly and couldn’t run my practice on Sept. 16,” Brick told The Record.

“I don’t really know what to say. I can’t even believe it. They proceed to make these accusations and then coach with me the next week and a half until I was fired.”

Had Brick, who coached Cambridge to an all-Ontario title in 2000, been drinking that Wednesday a month ago? “Nope,’ said Brick, who maintains he was renovating an office in Guelph for Cotroneo that day.

“I started work at 8. Worked till 5:30. Came home and had my meeting (with his assistant general manager Craig McEwan) and went to hockey. I don’t know where I got all this time to get drunk and impaired. It’s ridiculous.”

Brick said Cotroneo told him the team had signed statements from Carrer, Guardiero and an unnamed parent of a player. Brick asked to see the statements but had not been provided copies.

Carrer and Guardiero didn’t respond to interview requests via email and phone from The Record.

Cotroneo maintained Friday that “philosophical reasons” were behind Brick’s firing.

“We had differences on the way we run our team,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m the president of the club and I decide the direction we’re going to go.”

When asked if he told Brick the firing was over allegations Brick was impaired at practice last month, Cotroneo declined to comment. When asked if Career and Guardiero had made those allegations about Brick, Cotroneo again declined comment.

Carrer and Guardiero are still on the Canes staff. Carrer’s brother in-law Jim MacEachern was hired to replace Brick as coach.

Carrer and Guardiero were fired after last season but re-hired by Brick, against the advice of Cotroneo.

The Canes had four wins and four losses when Brick was fired and were on a three-game winning streak.

They go into tonight’s game against Kitchener at the Sleeman Centre on a five-game losing streak.

Brick’s former top assistant in Guelph, Curtis Clairmont, backs up Brick’s assertion that he was sober on Sept. 16. “There was no indication on any level that he was nothing other than his intense, hockey-coach self,” Clairmont said. ‘I’ll stand on a stack of Bibles and say that that was true.”

McEwan also said he saw no indication Brick had been drinking during their pre-practice meeting on Sept. 16.

McEwan resigned via email after learning of Brick’s dismissal, which he considers to be without cause. He said Canes ownership did not properly investigated the allegations against his friend Brick. “They never asked me,” McEwan said.

John Creen, father of Hurricanes player Cayle Creen, knew nothing of the allegations against Brick. He said it was a shame Brick, a one-time New Hamburg Hahn Jr. B player, had been fired.

“The guy was doing a good job,” Creen said. “The promises he made, he followed through on.”

Bruce McDougall, the father of goalie Chris McDougall, said Brick was the main reason his son, a Kitchener Rangers Ontario Hockey League prospect, went to the Canes. He said he was happy with the new coaching staff.

One contentious issue Brick acknowledges was the matter of ice time for blueliner Daniel Cotroneo, the co-owner’s son. Brick thought it best for the teen to play midget and practice with the Canes, while getting in a few Jr. B games.

Now, Brick is trying to reach a settlement on his three-year deal to be coach-GM of the Hurricanes.

He said the Canes never produced the contract he was due to sign last May 31. However, Brick said he has a letter-of-intent that shows he is owed $37,500 over the life of the agreement.

Brick has spoken to a lawyer and hopes a settlement can soon be reached.

Brick has been the subject of controversy in the past. In February of 1994, he resigned as assistant coach for the OHL Rangers.

Brick said he’s always been up-front and honest with individuals when privately disclosing the circumstances surrounding that resignation. However, he declined to disclose them publicly to The Record.

Brick admitted his resignation with the Rangers, and whispers surrounding it, have dogged him for the last 15 years.

Brick believes he did a “terrific job” with Guelph.

In 2002, Brick was fired after three seasons coaching in Cambridge, after the Winter Hawks blew a 4-0 lead to lose a Game 7 in Stratford.

Then Cambridge general manager Peter Brill recalls Brick was behaved professionally at the rink during his time in Cambridge.

jhicks@therecord.com

[the platz]

He was suspended by Waterloo Minor Hockey last year for being drunk and the year before missed a tournament game because he was drinking all night ( a parent had with a coaching cert had to sign the team sheet) . Always the class act.

[wolfpack]

I think some of these post especially "the platz" regarding Brick have a personal agenda against him and don't have their facts straight !

[RocketGirl]

I was just looking at the transactions on Pointstreak and noticed this

Guelph 11/02/09 Clarke, Adam () relieved of duties

Who was this guy and why was he 'relieved of his duties'?

[Blades]

I was just looking at the transactions on Pointstreak and noticed this

Guelph 11/02/09 Clarke, Adam () relieved of duties

Who was this guy and why was he 'relieved of his duties'?

I've noticed "relieved of duties" shows up any time a staff/coach is no longer with the team. I'm guessing it has to do with the choices available from PS when it's someone that is "staff" as opposed to a "player".
I can't find the guy's name anywhere on their site.

[peterpuck]

it appears he was the equipment manager


Head Coach: MacEachern, Jim
Assistant Coach: Carrer, Richard
Assistant Coach: Shushack, Chris
Assistant Coach: Guardiero, Jason
Trainer: Bauman, Mike
Equipment Manager: Clarke, Adam

[royal51]

Who are these clowns going to "relieve of their duties" next? The music girl? 50/50 sellers? Zamboni driver? What a mess. I feel sorry for the players who thought they were joining a "professionally run" operation and find them selves playing for a team with hidden agenda's (read: play my 16 old son as much as possible regardless if he is good enough or not)

[HockeyFan1111]

So the only reason these new owners purchased the team was so that they could play their sons and give them all the icetime? I somehow doubt that. I don't think it's a hidden agenda. There likely is some over inflated view of their own kids, causing some disagreement with coaches, but to say that the owners have a hidden agenda to only allow their son to get more ice-time is way off. If there is any truth to that assertion, the owners will sell as soon as their son is too old, or has moved up to another league/level...

[ramrod]

So the only reason these new owners purchased the team was so that they could play their sons and give them all the icetime? I somehow doubt that. I don't think it's a hidden agenda. There likely is some over inflated view of their own kids, causing some disagreement with coaches, but to say that the owners have a hidden agenda to only allow their son to get more ice-time is way off. If there is any truth to that assertion, the owners will sell as soon as their son is too old, or has moved up to another league/level...

Yah !!!. Like Bill Abercrombie

[HockeyFan1111]

lol, I guess there are cases of it! I just don't see someone specifically buying a team just to let their son play. The owners may use it to their advantage to give their son more icetime, but I don't think they purchased the team for that reason.

[Blades]

lol, I guess there are cases of it! I just don't see someone specifically buying a team just to let their son play. The owners may use it to their advantage to give their son more icetime, but I don't think they purchased the team for that reason.

I know of at least two Sarnia owners who purchased the team at one time so said son(s) would have somewhere to play. For one of the owners, Sarnia wasn't the only place he was looking to purchase at that time, but it was where he did buy. BTW, it was the season the Blast won the Suthie. Another group of owners in Sarnia had sons that played for the team of which one was more suited to this level and played multiple years with the Blast; the other son only played the one year.

There have often been owners who purchase a team because they want somewhere for their son to play junior hockey and it happens in more than just our conference. There's chat going on in another forum about the same thing about a team in the GHC and bemoaning the fact that someone's kid is getting more ice time than deserved just because he is the owner's son.

[HockeyFan1111]

I agree that there are many times where an owner's/coach's son gets more icetime than they deserve. But many of those times, the person is owner/coach before the son joins, and continues in the role after the son is gone... Also, there are times where the son is deservingly on the the team, but people belittle his achievements because daddy did things for him. Personally, if I was in that situation of father/son, I would keep them on separate teams, and if possible, separate leagues, just to avoid those stereotypes...

[Just A Fan]

just check out the change of ownership every 2-3 years in Tier 2 and you'll see owners that buy teams to have a place for their kids to play. It is starting to happen here as well. You said if they buy teams for their kids there will be a change of ownership every 3 - 4 years? Well it happens and will continue to happen.....

[FiveHole]

how about lets buy a team so a stepson can coach?????

[wolfpack]

I wonder what Brick is thinking about this "Gong Show" that is happening now!!

It is becoming real clear now why he is no longer here.
He would only put hockey players on the ice instead of the "card board" cut outs who think that their hockey players regardless of what their father does....

I think that I will buy a team so that my 16 year old son who is a house league player can play Jr B hockey or at least wear a team jacket that says his name,number and position on the team!

[HockeyFan1111]

I think that I will buy a team so that my 16 year old son who is a house league player can play Jr B hockey or at least wear a team jacket that says his name,number and position on the team!

Theres a plan! maybe then the scouts will see him and he'll get a huge scholly to the states

[the platz]

I don't think anyone cares what "Brick" thinks about anything. If the owners are picking up the tab , they run the show , its no different than Dads or Uncles coaching in Minor Hockey and picking thier relatives and friends kids. Teams paying players is a bigger issue , which will destroy the league quicker than owners kids playing in the league ,unless an owner has 8 kids .

[muskoka]

The topic of discussion always seem to come back to the Eagles paying players. That must be the only reason guys would go there. What about Stratty "giving" their guys $150.00 a week for expenses. (Right out the mouth of a player's mom). Been going on for years but no one will point a finger at the Cullitons. Sh*t goes on in every organization.
The Eagles have very generous owners that put the players on a pedestal. They have built a business from scratch that is now a multi-billion dollar corporation worldwide. These gentlemen also own other sport ventures and an very active within their community. They purchased an organization that had nothing, hired dedicated people who worked tirelessly to find the best available players. Over the years Brantford has developed and acquired excellent players in an effort to put a competitive product on the ice. It finally led to a championship last season and with any luck will do so again this year.
Why the Eagles?
The Eagles offer a chance to play beyond junior as they are linked with the Amerks and teams in minor pro. They own their own bus and feed the kids after the majority of road games, as well as footing the bill for outings after home games. They take trips and host events for the players and families, even during the summer months. They provide equipment for the players. The management, including the coaches work extensively to promote the players, and aspire them to move on to higher levels of the game. They have Mike Bullard and Scott Rex. Both of these gentlemen have extensive connections in the hockey world, in North America and Europe. And they offer the allowable expenses including education packages to the players. That is quite an incentive for any player. Why Brantford, why not.
Question of fans lies solely with the Eagles management. You must be active in your community, among other things in order to try and bring people into your building. Obviously icing a great club is not enough, but keep in mind sport fans are usually a fickle breed. If you travel all the rinks you will find the numbers are down for a majority of treams. It's a hard sell, especially in the current economic environment where entertainment dollars are at a premium. And yes, the owners have "deep pockets" and as long as the Eagles win it won't be an issue.

[The Masked Grappler]

That's all well and good, who would have a problem with most of that. It must not be enough if they have to pay players $10,000-20,000 on top of all that. Which is more than a little ridiculous and creates quite an unfair advantage. It's one thing to help out with a few expenses or find these kids a job, it's quite another to pay them salaries to keep them away from everyone else. It's great to win championships, but is it really anything to brag about when you win them by outspending everyone else?

Besides, considering their GM is currently suspended it's not like everything is comp-letely above board.