The Humboldt Broncos junior A hockey team are welcoming former Estevan Bruins assistant coach Darcy Haugan to the club as their new head coach and general manager.
Haugan took over the responsibilities with the Broncos Tuesday after arriving in town from his home in Peace River, Alberta. He replaces 2014/15 head coach and general manager Ryan Smith, who accepted an assistant coaching position with the Western Hockey League's (WHL) Swift Current Broncos.
“One of the previous coaches (in Humboldt), Dean Brockman, is a guy I looked up to immensely and prior to that it was Bob Beatty,” said Haugan. “It was one of those franchises where you hope and dream that someday you might be able to coach if you do get back in the saddle at the junior A level, so it was pretty exciting and (I'm) pretty honoured to be named the new head coach.”
Haugan last served as head coach and general manager of the North West Junior B Hockey League's (NWJHL) North Peace Navigators, which he had guided since leaving the Bruins in 2003. Over that span, Haugan amassed a regular season record of 326 wins, 83 losses and 15 overtime losses. He also coached the Navigators to NWJHL championship victories in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2014 and 2015 and won the coach of the year award in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Before North Peace, Haugan handled the Bruins assistant coaching duties from 2001 to 2003 under coaches Nick Sereggela and Kelly Lovering and co-coached with Doug Trapp. Haugan said he owes Sereggela a “huge debt of gratitude” for giving him his start in coaching after his playing career wrapped up at the turn of the century and it will be a special moment for him when the Broncos first skate onto Estevan ice Nov. 17 in their first matchup at Affinity Place during the season.
“I played there in my 20-year-old year and then I got the privilege of being an assistant coach there,” he said, noting the Bruins played at the Civic Auditorium during his time in Estevan. “It holds a special place. You got a great coach there with Chris (Lewgood) and it's an exciting year for the Bruins hosting the Western Canada Cup. (I) look forward to coming down there and seeing some old friends and faces.”
Despite the excitement of moving on to Humboldt, Haugan said it was a difficult decision to accept the position because Peace River is actually his hometown and many roots are laid down there. However, the opportunity to guide a junior A team was just too good to pass up and he plans to hit the ground running this week as they prepare to open fall camp on the Labour Day weekend.
“A lot of (my first duties) is just going to be get to know people, see who we got coming in,” he said. “I'm not going in there to turn everything upside down. The assistant coach there, Brayden Klimosko, has done a fantastic job, from what I could tell, (in) getting everything else done and it's going to make the transition really easy. (I'll) obviously talk to a lot of people, get their feelings on things and get ready for training camp and just take it a day at a time and try to get better every day that we come to the rink.”
