Colts part ways with Rychel
Former Windsor Spitfires general manager and co-owner Warren Rychel is out as interim head coach of the Barrie Colts.
“Never easy,” Colts owner Howie Campbell said of the decision in a release. “We were thankful he was able to join us and unfortunately it just didn’t work out.”
Rychel was the architect of Windsor’s three Memorial Cup championship teams and is mostly responsible for the current roster that sits atop the West Division.
However, the 52-yearold Rychel opted to sell his remaining stake in the club, which he purchased in 2006 with Bob Boughner and Peter Dobrich, and stepped away from the Spitfires over the summer after 13 seasons.
When Colts head coach Dale Hawerchuk had to take of leave of absence to battle stomach cancer, Campbell reached out to Rychel to guide the team and he was hired just before the 2019-20 season opened.
While it was Rychel’s first-ever head coaching post, the Colts got out of the gate with a 10-5-0-1 record and were in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings.
However, the Barrie roster would be hit hard by injuries and the Colts became a heavy seller at the OHL trade deadline and sent out six veterans in return for three young players and 18 draft picks.
After that quick start, Barrie is just 6-16-2-1 since and has slid into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, just six points up on Kingston.
“It’s been tough on two ends of it,” said longtime Colts assistant coach Todd Miller, who will take over as head coach. “Obviously, Warren is a great guy and then one of my best friends in the world. Dale Hawerchuk, being out, it’s not the greatest situation to be doing this.
“At the same time, I’m kind of wanting this for Dale and for the city to get into the playoffs.”