BCHL steps in to settle Warriors ‘rebellion’

WEST KELOWNA — Defiant West Kelowna hockey players went to bat for their fired coach and emerged victorious in a strange showdown with the team’s owner.

Members of the B.C. Hockey League’s West Kelowna Warriors refused to practise on Wednesday after hearing Geoff Grimwood had been fired.

On Thursday, Grimwood was reinstated as coach and general manager by team owner Kim Dobranski, who said he had handled the situation poorly and underestimated the players’ devotion to Grimwood.

“I failed both as a partner in this league, and as the leader of this organization, to consider the emotional turmoil this could cause for these young men,” Dobranski said during a news conference outside the Royal LePage Place Arena in West Kelowna.

Dobranski suggested he was actually impressed by the players’ defiance, describing the walkout as an laudable bonding exercise.

“This was a courageous and selfless act,” he said of the shortlived rebellion. “I feel we have an incredible group of players here, with a foundation for success.”

After the news conference, Dobranski refused to take most questions, saying the team needed to focus on upcoming games and saying inquiries from reporters would be a distraction. However, he did say the fallout from the walkout had been dealt with “internally.”

Chris Hebb, commissioner of the BCHL, said the league will be “directing” the Warriors in the near term, and remaining in a “supporting role” through the rest of the season. Dobanski took over the Warriors last month from former owner Mark Cheyne, who had complained of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars on the franchise despite the Warriors winning a national title in 2016.

“There has been a steep learning curve with a new owner here, but we are putting our efforts behind the West Kelowna Warriors and will support and advise them this season,” Hebb said.

In his prepared remarks, Dobranski said that, after longtime coach and general manager Rylan Ferster’s abrupt departure during the preseason, he did not immediately realize he had “the best person for the [coaching] job right in front of me”, in Grimwood.

For his part, Grimwood, who hails from Victoria and was an assistant coach with the WHL’s Royals from 2012 to 2015 before taking the head coaching position with the Kindersley Klippers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, sought to downplay the significance of the events of the past few days, saying the team had been in a “time of transition.”

Grimwood said he was “very excited” to be named the Warriors’ head coach on a permanent basis.

During their one-day walkout, Warriors players took pictures of themselves at other locations around Kelowna and posted them to Twitter. Player Calvin Tilsley tweeted: “We need our coach back.”