The Brandon Wheat Kings continued an off-season revamp by hiring Dave Lowry as their new head coach. Lowry joins the Wheat Kings after spending the last two years as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings. He wasn’t retained by the Los Angelos team after they hired Todd McLellan as their head coach in April. He helped the Victoria Royals to a 209-124-27 record over the course of five seasons prior to jumping to the NHL and earned WHL Coach Of The Year honours on two occasions.
Lowry was Canada’s head coach during the 2016 world junior championship and was an assistant with the team a year prior when they won gold.
Brandon general manager Darren Ritchie, who was promoted by the organization last week, is believed to have said that hiring Lowry is a positive step for the organization.
Lowry played 19 seasons in the NHL with Vancouver, St. Louis, Florida, San Jose and Calgary. He scored 164 goals and 351 points in 1,084 career games while helping the Panthers advance to the Stanley Cup Final in 1995.
In a sweet ending to the article, the promotion to coach also brings Lowry closer to his son, Adam, who is a member of the Winnipeg Jets.