Reports: Steve Konowalchuk to be named new Thunderbirds coach
Jun 15, 2011, 7:11 PM | Updated: 11:56 pm
According to reports, the Seattle Thunderbirds will announce Thursday afternoon that Steve Konowalchuk will be the new head coach taking over for Rob Sumner, who was let go after seven seasons as bench boss.
The Thunderbirds have been very hush hush as they just put out a press release today alerting the media that the new coach would be announced Thursday. However Gregg Drinnan (WHL blogger) the DenverPost.com, and Jim Riley of The Seattle Times have reported that Konowalchuk is the guy.
A little background on Konowalchuk. He started his semi-pro career as a Portland Winterhawk in 1990. He played with the Washington Capitals for 13 season before playing for the Colorado Avalanche for the final two years of his career as a forward. From 2009-2011 he was an Assistant Coach with Colorado. He was born in Salt Lake City Utah and is 38 years old. He was also selected in the 3rd round and 58th overall in the 1991 NHL draft by the Capitals.
There are still some questions that need to be answered regarding the rest of the coaching staff and who may be retained if anyone at all.
We hope to have an in depth interview with Konowalchuk and General Manager Russ Farwell in the coming days.
