The Humboldt Broncos have signed head coach and general manager Scott Barney, 40, to a three-year contract.
The Ontario native completed a 19-year professional hockey career, including 27 games in the NHL, before being hired as Humboldt’s assistant coach at the start of the 2018-19 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season.
He was named interim head coach and general manager after Nathan Oystrick stepped down from the position in December 2018.
“I’d like to thank the Humboldt Broncos organization for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. I am ready and eager for the challenge ahead to work with the club,” Barney said in a press release.
“I look forward to moving my family to the community and starting this new chapter in our lives.”
The 2017-18 Broncos’ team bus collided with a semi-truck on April 6, 2018, on the way to a playoff game in Nipawin. Sixteen people died, including players and team staff. Thirteen others were injured.
Darcy Haugan was in his third season as head coach of the team when he passed away in the crash.
The rebuilt Broncos team earned a quarter-final berth in this year’s playoffs. Humboldt was eliminated by the Estevan Bruins in overtime during Game 7 at Affinity Place on March 26.