Ward to Vancouver ............ Giants - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Otto-matic · 07-17-2014, 11:04 AM

#WHLGiants announce Troy Ward as new head coach. Spent last four seasons with #AHLHeat, including three as head coach.

Good for him to stay in BC, he must like it out on the coast.

Money Baer · 07-17-2014, 12:06 PM

Good for Ward! He coached will in Abby. Wishing him nothing but the best!

saXon · 07-17-2014, 06:44 PM

So for those saying that moving to Adirondack wasn't too far, because his hometown is closer to NY than Van, well, I guess the move very well could have been part of the mutual breakup.

Not everyone wants to move back to their hometown, and it looks like he's got a good life out on the west coast.

thymebalm · 07-17-2014, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saXon

So for those saying that moving to Adirondack wasn't too far, because his hometown is closer to NY than Van, well, I guess the move very well could have been part of the mutual breakup.

Not everyone wants to move back to their hometown, and it looks like he's got a good life out on the west coast.

I'm not sure about that. He'd made mention of getting back home to the US (Wisconsin?) when the team had a break. Sounded like he liked his 'hood.

The case is more likely that Vancouver Giants were closer to Abbotsford and paid a little closer attention to what Ward was doing. The ownership/hiring group likely has lots of connections in the lower mainland and his name came up. Also speculation however.

jschick88 · 11-26-2014, 05:06 PM

That didn't take long.

Dickson Liong ‏@DLLiong 2m2 minutes ago
The #WHLGiants have relieved head coach Troy Ward of his duties.

Drury18 · 11-26-2014, 05:12 PM

The Giants didn't have a great record. 9-16-0-0 to start season

It's a shame. Ward seemed like a good coach, did a great job with what he had in Abbotsford. I'm sure he'll find another coaching job.

Enoch Root · 11-26-2014, 06:21 PM

wow. you don't fire a coach after 25 games, just on record.

I wonder if something else is up here

dammage79 · 11-26-2014, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drury18

The Giants didn't have a great record. 9-16-0-0 to start season

It's a shame. Ward seemed like a good coach, did a great job with what he had in Abbotsford. I'm sure he'll find another coaching job.

Next coach of the Oilers.....

Pierre "Monster" McGuire · 11-26-2014, 07:51 PM

What the hell...

btimbit · 11-26-2014, 07:52 PM

Wow, that's fast. Must be something else going on there

albertGQ · 11-26-2014, 08:33 PM

@RogMillions: If Troy Ward fired in Vancouver WHL Giants. He has had a rough 6 months. Frankly I am not surprised.

Erick Estrada · 11-26-2014, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by albertGQ

@RogMillions: If Troy Ward fired in Vancouver WHL Giants. He has had a rough 6 months. Frankly I am not surprised.

There must be something with this guy rubbing people the wrong way but of course in typical Millions cryptic fashion he makes a pointed comment but doesn't follow up with any support.

getbak · 11-26-2014, 08:59 PM

Maybe the Flames want to send Kulak back to the WHL and would only do it if Ward wasn't the coach.

Vulcan · 11-26-2014, 09:19 PM

From what I remember it was said there was some disagreement between the Flames wanting to have the same program for their AHL team as in the NHL. Maybe Ward is a little head strong on how he wants to run things?

It seemed to me that Ward was more interested in winning than in developing players. The way he handled Irving didn't do him any favours when Irving was struggling. Meanwhile Huska has stuck with Ortio through his slow start and it's paying dividends.

Erick Estrada · 11-26-2014, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vulcan

From what I remember it was said there was some disagreement between the Flames wanting to have the same program for their AHL team as in the NHL. Maybe Ward is a little head strong on how he wants to run things?

It seemed to me that Ward was more interested in winning than in developing players. The way he handled Irving didn't do him any favours when Irving was struggling. Meanwhile Huska has stuck with Ortio through his slow start and it's paying dividends.

Winning is the number one goal in the WHL though so while I believe that was an issue with the Flames I don't think it applies here.

Vulcan · 11-26-2014, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Winning is the number one goal in the WHL though so while I believe that was an issue with the Flames I don't think it applies here.

Yeah sure, but my conclusion was that Ward may be a little head strong, which could cause problems with upper management. Winning in the AHL was just an example of his different priorities.

getbak · 11-26-2014, 10:08 PM

Really odd timing. Just two hours before a game in the middle of a road trip.

Vulcan · 11-26-2014, 10:26 PM

According to this it was his losing record. Still awfully sudden.

Quote:

“Obviously with where we are in the standings, it just wasn’t working with Troy,” Giants general manager Scott Bonner, who is with the team on the road trip, said in a release. “This is the unfortunate part of sports, but we thought change was needed.”

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Va...188/story.html

Here's more. The poor attendance is telling.

Quote:

Vancouver coach Troy Ward mentioned repeatedly in the post-game about how much he liked his team’s effort and how he had a bunch of good kids in the dressing room. He seems to be right. They had lots of try Saturday. Lots of it. But they had trouble stringing two passes together. They had no puck support, no guy in the same colour jersey within a reasonable vicinity to dish to. Anything positive that happened for them offensively seemed to be by chance, rather than choice.
The puck possession that owner Ron Toigo and general manager Scott Bonner talked up in the off-season and Ward seemed to instill once he got here has vanished. Kaput. Gone.

Fans in Vancouver have also rapidly lost interest in the team. Two seasons ago, the Giants averaged more than 7,200 fans per game. Last year that declined to about 6,200 and through 14 games this season they're averaging just 4,879 at Pacific Coliseum.
For now, the Giants will turn to assistant coach Matt Erhart — who won the BCHL title as head coach of the Surrey Eagles in 2012-13 — to lead the team on an interim basis.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jr...010429680.html

Drury18 · 11-26-2014, 10:54 PM

Weird.

Either something else was going on with Ward, or he was made a scapegoat for bigger problems. I'm not sure which one sounds more plausible.

Erick Estrada · 11-27-2014, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drury18

Weird.

Either something else was going on with Ward, or he was made a scapegoat for bigger problems. I'm not sure which one sounds more plausible.

You never fire a head coach this early into his first season unless there were reasons behind the scenes. We may never know what the real reason is but you can bet he didn't get fired solely on their record or attendance. Vancouver isn't really a great sports town and Canucks and Lions have also seen continuous drops in attendance as of late as well. There was a spike of interest last decade when the Canucks were cup contenders but for the most part it seems like the level of sports interest in Vancouver has settled back to its norm. Whitecaps in fact are the new "in" team if anything as they have probably surpassed the Lions in overall interest.