The saying used to be “Go West” to seek your fortune and opportunity. But if you’re already as far west as you can get, perhaps the saying is now “Go East”.
That’s what the Northern Manitoba Blizzard’s new head coach is doing. Coming off a championship season that saw their coaching staff depart for a new opportunity, the Blizzard have hired Ty Valin to lead what was a very young, but talented hockey club.
Valin has deep ties to hockey in Alberta and British Columbia, contacts and experience he hopes to parlay into a successful move to the MJHL. A native of Peace River, Alta., and Valin played his junior hockey with the Grande Prairie Storm and the Bow Valley Eagles of the AJHL, as well as the Vernon Vipers and Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL. He won a Centennial Cup in 1999 as a defenseman with the Vernon Vipers, proving he knows what it takes to win a championship. He also played college hockey at a pair of Alberta secondary schools before transitioning to coaching, last guiding the Fernie Ghostriders of the KIJHL two seasons ago.