Osoyoos makes another coaching change amid challenging, losing season

Chase also relieved as general manager; no replacement named

Osoyoos Today

Much like it was when Ken Law was sent packing, it was a terse note Monday that announced Mark Chase was no longer the Osoyoos Coyotes general manager and head coach.

“As of today, Mark Chase has been relieved of his duties as Head Coach/ GM of the Osoyoos Coyotes,” said a tweet delivered from the official Osoyoos Coyotes Twitter account.

The young coach, who came from the Melville Millionaires in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, was hired in late June and managed to take a roster of mostly rookies through a horrendous early-season start to third place in the Okanagan Division.

He leaves with a record of 13-21-2-1 — good enough for third place in the Okanagan Division and what would be a first-round playoff matchup with the Summerland Steam as of today.

There’s no indication who will replace Chase behind the bench as the Coyotes finish out the campaign that has 12 games to go in the regular season. Osoyoos hosts Kamloops on Saturday at 7:35 p.m. at the Sun Bowl Arena.

When announcing Chase’s hiring last spring, Coyotes owner Randy Bedard said his expectations for the season would be tempered by the late start.

“The fan base is pretty used to a good club,” he said then. “All our fan base asks for is to see some competitive hockey. (But) if we have some growing pains, we’ll get through them.”

Chase, 31, replaced Law, who served as head coach in the Coyotes’ storied first eight years. Law guided the team to a league championship in its inaugural 2010-11 season and six regularseason Okanagan Division titles with a combined 354-147-9 record during his tenure as Osoyoos bench boss.

But the team, despite advancing in the playoffs to the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference championship five times in the following seven years, could not repeat its firstseason success.

Law now coaches the Kelowna Chiefs, who own the KIJHL’s best record at 31-2-1-2.