The fate of Ed Dempsey as head coach and general manager of the Prince George Spruce Kings was sealed Sunday night, following a 10-1 loss in Penticton.
Last overall in the B.C. Hockey League, with the likelihood of success in the postseason a dim prospect at best, the community-owned team finally decided it could no longer put aside the concerns of its fans and Dempsey took the fall.
He was fired on Wednesday, after nearly seven years with the team.
Spruce Kings president Darcy Buryn did not deny the vultures have been circling the Coliseum for months as the team struggled on the ice, and Dempsey has been the focal point for what's ailing the team.
"I've heard it a lot, the players have heard it a lot, our other directors have heard it a lot, and our marketers have heard it a lot, but that's not a reflection of what I personally feel about Ed's ability," Buryn said.
"The negative stuff tends to accumulate and when you combine that with what our record has been, it's easy to point the finger and say, 'the coach has to go', but this was a longer-term decision than that. If our record had been something different, those voices wouldn't have been quite so loud.
"That's the nature of the sports business. People expect a change and it's an unfortunate aspect of the coaching profession that you're one guy and one guy can be changed. Any time an organization has to let go an employee who has contributed so much and has shown so much dedication to his organization and his city, it will be a lot of work for the rest of us to replace everything Ed brought to the table."
To replace Dempsey as head coach, the Kings have hired former Williams Lake Timberwolves coach Dave Dupas
Dempsey joined the Kings in January 2004, after more than six seasons in the WHL as head coach of the Prince George Cougars, and two seasons as head coach of the Kamloops Blazers. His regular-season record with the Kings included 190 regulation-time wins, 189 regulation losses, 13 ties and 37 overtime losses. Buryn said his firing was not in response to Dempsey's ability to recruit players, but had everything to do with the team's win-loss record.
"Ed worked diligently at recruiting kids to come to Prince George and when you look at the players who have come here over the years, to come to the northernmost franchise in the BCHL, he's done a very good job of recruiting," Buryn said. "In terms of the contacts our players have had with NCAA school and with pro programs, Ed has certainly left our program a stronger one than one he came into."
Dempsey was in the second year of a two-year contract extension that expires in May 2011. Although the team is struggling financially, Buryn said that had no bearing on the decision to let him go with six months still left in his contract.
"Once we made the decision we wanted a change to put a fresh look to things, the ability to start now works in favour of the organization compared to starting at the end of the season," Buryn said.
The Spruce Kings missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 2003 and are in danger of missing out on the postseason again, currently last-overall in the BCHL with a 6-22-0-2 record. During Dempsey's tenure, the Spruce Kings won just one BCHL playoff series, a six-game series win in 2005 over Salmon Arm that came in the second round after a second-place finish resulted in a first-round bye. The Kings went on to lose in the third round to Vernon in a five-game series.
"One of the things that's been a challenge for us has been winning in the playoffs and that's important, not so much from a recruiting perspective but from a market perspective and community perspective; people like to watch playoffs," Buryn said. "It recharges and reinvigorates a lot of people and we didn't have as much success in the past as we'd like."
Dempsey did take the Kings to the Royal Bank Cup final in 2007. As host team of the junior A national championship tournament, the Spruce Kings survived an epic semifinal playoff with the Camrose Kodiaks which needed five overtime periods to decide, then lost 3-1 to the Aurora Tigers in the championship game.
In April 2008, Dempsey became the subject of a team investigation over complaints from Kings players about his coaching tactics. The Kings gave Dempsey and then assistant coach Mike Hawes a three-strikes-and-you're-out ultimatum after they'd each been suspended more than 10 games in the 2005-06 season.
Dupas guided the T-wolves to a 5-15-1-0 record until he left the team in November 2009, finishing the season in junior B with the North Okanagan Knights. The native of Burnaby is a former all-star defenceman in the early 1980's in the BCJHL with the New Westminster Royals, the franchise that eventually became the Spruce Kings. Dupas, a former scholarship player at Northern Arizona University who played four years of minor pro hockey, has more than 10 seasons of coaching experience with junior A, junior B and major midget teams.
"We wanted somebody with experience -- a fresh attitude, someone without any ties (to the city)," said Buryn. "Dave now has his foot in the door and as we start our long-term view to things here we may be hearing from some local contacts and we won't be limited in our search if there are qualified people."
Mike Hawes will continue to work as assistant general manager and director of player personnel, while the Kings also retained assistant coaches Tom Bohmer and Jason Garneau. Buryn said the hockey operations staff will be evaluated at the end of the season before the club makes any long-term contract agreements.
Dupas, who lives in Kelowna, will join the Kings on the road today in Westside, where they play the Warriors tonight. The Kings also play in Merritt Friday night before a home game Saturday against Salmon Arm.
The Spruce Kings rank second-worst in the BCHL in attendance, averaging 659 per game through 15 games and Buryn hopes the coaching change will reverse that trend.
"I hope that's a byproduct of it," Buryn said. "If people have been using (Dempsey) as an excuse not to come to games, I guess they can't use that excuse anymore."
