Since fall, the West Kelowna Warriors have been marching to the beat of a new drummer.
In mid-October, the BCHL announced that it had purchased the struggling Warriors from former team owner Kim Dobranski. Three weeks later, in November, the team had been sold to businessman John Murphy and local resident Rod Hume.
Murphy says he was crystal clear in the team’s direction, stating “We want to re-establish a winning franchise.”
Winning, though, doesn’t just happen overnight — a junior hockey team is like a cruise ship in that it takes time to turn around.
“We spent the first 30 days evaluating what we have internally, and how that projects moving forward,” said Warriors president Chris Laurie.
Laurie’s first major step was to bring in interim head coach Simon Ferguson, who played junior hockey with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets and also coached the Okanagan Rockets of the B.C. Major Midget League.
Ferguson’s task was to lead a relatively inexperienced group of players out of the BCHL’s basement.
“We have good young players who are working hard, but we don’t have the experience like some of the top teams in the league,” said Ferguson.
“So from that standpoint, we’re just looking to come out, work hard every game and maybe steal a couple from those top teams.”
In order to do that, the Warriors made five deals involving nine players at the trade deadline.
“We thought we needed to establish a new culture,” said Laurie.
Since Ferguson’s hiring, the Warriors (14-29-5-3) are 7-6-0-1.
The Warriors are trying to walk the fine line between building for the future and staying competitive for this season’s playoffs. And according to Laurie, they’re looking “pretty secure” in making the post-season.
The Warriors are building at the box office as well. Last Saturday’s game against Prince George saw a season-high attendance of 1,300.
Fans seem to agree that the Warriors’ ship is heading in the right direction.
“Ever since the new ownership took over and made all the changes, they’re playing much better,” said one fan.
“They’ve needed some help, but they’re coming around; they’re going good now,” said another.
The Warriors have seven games left in the season, and if everything goes right, they can put the drama of the last year behind them and start focusing on the upcoming playoffs.