The new owners of the Nanaimo Clippers are emphasizing that they want the same things as the fans.
Kelly Hrudey and David Moir, two of the new partners in the team’s ownership group, stopped by the Harbour City on Sunday for the first time since purchasing a stake in the B.C. Hockey League club two weeks ago.
Before watching the Clippers lose 6-5 to the Cowichan Valley Capitals at Frank Crane Arena, Hrudey, Moir and team governor Ken Wagner held a press conference in the arena lobby.
Fans were most interested in hearing the owners give coach Bill Bestwick a vote of confidence.
“Bill is going to be on the bench next year. If he chooses not to, then we can’t control that…” Wagner said. “We have no intention of removing Billy or asking him to remove himself from the position.”
The owners stopped by the Clippers office Sunday before the press conference, but didn’t schedule any substantial meeting with Bestwick.
“We’re going to sit down at the end of the season with Bill and see what he wants to do,” Wagner said.
The owners were also asked if they had grander plans of seeking a Western Hockey League team.
Wagner said the WHL is unrealistic without a multiplex arena and Hrudey also addressed the question.
“I joined this group based on buying the Nanaimo Clippers in the B.C. Hockey League because that was my goal…” he said. “I believe in the Clippers and what it means to the community … I’m happy to be a Clipper guy and I’m not chasing any other goal right now.”
The objectives, Hrudey said, are to put a winning franchise on the ice and help players achieve their own goals in hockey and education.
The owners think they can start to make an impact right away. Wagner said he recently woke up at 2 a.m. in his Calgary home thinking about Nanaimo Clippers business.
“I’ve got a new sense of energy here with the new partners,” he said.
Hrudey said he and Moir met last week with a player who could become a Clippers recruit.
“We are trying hard. Don’t think that we’re going to be absentee owners in the sense that, hey, we bought a little bit of this team and we’re just going to leave it to others,” Hrudey said. “We want to really affect this team in a positive way.”
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