Matvichuk out as Cougars Head Coach

The Prince George Cougars confirmed today they have fired head coach Richard Matvichuk.

The news first broke this morning from Gregg Drinnan’s Taking Note Blog.

Matvichuk was in the final season of a three-year contract after being hired by former General Manager Todd Harkins in July of 2016 after spending two seasons as the director of hockey operations and head coach of the ECHL’s Missouri Mavericks.

General Manager Mark Lamb will take over as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.

In an interview with My PG Now this morning, Lamb states the decision was anything but easy, confirming the pressure of the winless skid was starting to mount on the entire front office staff along with the coaches.

“You play this game to win. When you go through a stretch like this one it really affects everybody and I didn’t just see it on the players,  I see it in the office staff when I come in during the morning and I feel it myself. When you’re an organization, you win and lose as an organization, this was starting to wear on a lot of people.”

The Cougars were 85-89-22 under Matvichuk, including 45-21-6 in his first season, when they finished first in the B.C. Division. 

Last season, the Cougars finished 24-38-10 and missed the playoffs.

The Cougars, are 0-8-3 in their last 11 games and are also 16-30-6, eight points out of a playoff spot with 16 games remaining.

Prince George’s last win was on January 12th when they defeated the Kelowna Rockets 4-2.

Development Coach Nick Drazenovic has been promoted to an Assistant Coach and will join Lamb and Steve O’Rourke behind the Cougars bench.

Prince George’s next game is tomorrow in Kelowna.