The Nick Deschenes Era Begins

It won't be easy for Nick Deschenes as his first appearance behind the Trail Smoke Eaters' bench follows the club's tenth straight loss.

Unfortunately for Nick, his arrival in the Silver City is not with much celebration.

Instead, his entire presence is based on the fact that the Smokies are not getting the job done this young season.

It was fifteen games into the season - after their fifth consecutive loss - that Bill Birks was shown the door.

Arguably an unfair exit for one man becomes certainly a tough situation for another.

Now a team that has just 4 wins in their first 20 games and just a single victory on home ice Trail hopes Deschenes - who is jumping up from the Grand Forks Border Bruins of the KIJHL - has an answer.

"I'm not going in there to reinvent the wheel," says Deschenes. That was his response when I asked him if he felt any pressure coming into a team with the current situation.

"Whenever you're in a situation you are spiraling downward, you have to halt and then it is baby steps back."

He says it is a process - one that seemed to turn around a team that was all too familiar with the KIJHL's basement.

Deschenes led the Border Bruins to 6-7-1 before leaving - a record that saw them win three in a row to start the season.

Grand Forks didn't win three games the entire 2011/2012 campaign. The earned just a single victory that year.

However in 2012/2013, Deschenes' first full outing with the team, they went on to win eight.

And they already have six this season.

"Basically he was running a college level program at a Junior B level. The structure that he put in and the team that he was able to recruit...you know...we are in very good shape here [now]," explains Grand Forks assistant coach and Vice President Matt Zamec.

Zamec says the organization also has a lot of connection in the hockey community now thanks to Nick.

He adds by no means is there any hard feelings between the players and their former coach.

"They're all in this for the same reason. They all want to move up and they see this is Nick's career and this was a step that he felt he had to take and everyone understands that."

Deschenes knows hockey. He's played a lot of it.

Deschenes worked away in the AJHL scoring 85 points for the Fort Saskatchewan Traders in 98-99 and earning a scholarship to the Yale University Bulldogs in NCAA Division 1 hockey. He went onto play in the AHL and ECHL before time overseas.

He hopes his experience can offers lessons to his players who he says will likely have a similar path as him.

"My primary purpose for getting into coaching was to give back to the game and provide the next generation with the opportunities I was fortunate enough to have," Nick admitted. "For me that is always going to be my focus."

"I think I have some strengths in building a team and with getting the players with the right mindset together and developing a team concept not only will we have success as individuals but also as a group."

With all the announcements and changes over the week, the fact of the matter is, Trail doesn't have a win in 10 games.

They host the Victoria Grizzlies Friday night - the first meeting between the two this season after the two sides split the season series last year with both earning a win in their own barn.

They two sides will meet again in Victoria Dec. 20th.

Friday's game gets underway 7:30PM at Cominco Arena.