Scouts part ways with Soo T-Birds
Veteran Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League scouts Brad Boyer and Charly Murray no longer have an association with the reigning champion Soo Thunderbirds.
Boyer, who was the Thunderbirds chief scout, confirmed his departure from the Thunderbirds to HockeyNewsNorth.com this morning.
Citing a “lack of communication” with new Thunderbirds director of hockey operations Denny Lambert, the 50-year old Boyer added that a “lack of respect” was the “final factor” in his decision to resign his position with the NOJHL champs.
Boyer’s terse departure follows the termination of Thunderbirds special assignment scout Charly Murray. The 65-year old Murray, who has been a junior hockey scout for parts of five decades, was informed by Lambert of his release from the Thunderbirds via e-mail earlier this week.
The departure of trusted scouts Boyer and Murray follows last week’s accepted resignations of president of hockey operations Kevin Cain and general manager Jamie Henderson from the Thunderbirds, who are now operated by the owners of The Tech 1921 Ltd.
And before that, assistant coaches Kyle Brick and Jeremy Rebek moved on from the Thunderbirds to take head-coaching positions elsewhere.
Brick is the new bench boss of the NOJHL’s Blind River Beavers while Rebek has taken over as head coach of the major midget Soo Indians of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association.
Meanwhile, with Lambert having been hired by The Tech 1921 Ltd. as its full-time director of hockey operations earlier this spring, the Thunderbirds are expected to retain Jordan Smith as head coach for the upcoming, 2016-2017 season.
?????????? W.T.F. is going on over there ??????????
The Old Goat and Super Scout, they are 2 of the best scouts around and even better guys.
So true Chad..
They should both of them come to Blind River and Scout for the Beavs.
Stepper just lost one fan no charly . He was a good guy too sit with and chat.
These are two good men who will be an asset to any Team. The Thunderbirds loss will be a gain for another Organisation you can bet on that.
I can sense self-destruction of one of the best junior A hockey teams in all of Canada. It’s a disgrace to be handed over to new ownership who are tearing apart a winning organization. I wonder if they’ll be playing in an empty Essar Centre next season, or will they play in front of small crowds at the John Rhodes? However, the owners are making a terrible mistake, but only a few hundred people care about the Thunderbirds. I can see this team folding or relocating elsewhere after the 2016-17 season.
Lastly, the Beavers are going to end up with all the coaching staff and scouts from the Thunderbirds, and Blind River will be more dominant then they ever were.