Jason McKee has been appointed as the seventh head coach in Vancouver Giants history.
McKee will be introduced as the bench boss of the Giants – who recently announced their relocation from the PNE Coliseum to the Langley Events Centre – during a press conference Thursday morning in Vancouver.
McKee was the general manager and coach of the Alberta Junior A league’s Spruce Grove Saints,
McKee will the be fifth head coach for the likes of forwards Tyler Benson, Ty Ronning, Alec Baer and Thomas Foster. Don Hay left in May 2014 to accept a job with the rival Kamloops Blazers. Troy Ward replaced him, but lasted just 25 games into the 2014-15 campaign before he was fired and replaced by Claude Noel. Noel parted ways with the club at the end of the season, and Lorne Molleken was hired last summer.
Molleken was fired with two games left in this season. Vancouver missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2009-10.
McKee — not to be confused with former Buffalo Sabres defenceman Jay McKee, who was recently named head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers — worked for four seasons as an assistant under Steve Hamilton with Spruce Grove before becoming the club’s GM and coach in 2010-11.
– Files from the Vancouver Sun