By Earl Seitz

Don Hay: ‘coaching is in my blood’

May 11, 2018 | 3:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — On the day that owner Tom Gaglardi brought out the 6-gallon Shop-Vac and cleaned house at the top end of the Blazers hockey operations, Don Hay was sandbagging!

His property on the Shuswap – and then in Salmon Arm to watch his granddaughters in a track and field meet.

Back in Kamloops today, Hay addressed his departure as head coach of the Kamloops Blazers.

A move that triggered more sweeping changes, with Stu MacGregor out as general manager and Assistant Coach Mike Needham and Director of Player Personnel Matt Recchi not offered contract extensions.

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 “You know good people lost their jobs,” says Don Hay. “It’s very hard to be part of. It was a disappointing year for us last year – I take ownership in that, it’s on me, I’m the head coach, I’m the leader.”

Hay says the decision to step away was made in conversation with team President Don Moores, after Hay returned from coaching Canada’s team at last month’s World Under-18 Hockey Championship in Russia. 

“You know I came back and had a talk with Don – we just got together one day and met,” says Hay.”I just think maybe it’s time to step away for a year and just re-evaluate things….coaching is in my blood. It’s like one of you guys taking a step back – you might think you’re ready to take a step back, and things might change…..you never know how retirement might go, so I don’t want to close those doors, I don’t want to file those papers right now.”

With a 2020 Memorial Cup host berth on the table, Hay says to be coach of that is now just a “Disney story.”

“That would be great – obviously to walk away being a Memorial Cup champion and not having any type of regrets. When I came here four years ago that was my dream. To help the Kamloops Blazers become a competitive organization and have success – it didn’t happen.”

When asked if cleaning house was the right way to go, this was Hay’s response.

 “Well I don’t know if that’s a good question to ask for somebody who just got let go, or made a decision to go into a different role, that’s a question for somebody else to be asked.”

If Hay does get back into coaching, it may not be in the coming season. For now the legendary coach just plans to spend more time with his family.

“I went to a track meet yesterday, I saw the smiles on my granddaughters faces as they came over the finish line – whether it’s first or 41st, they were pretty happy about it. I’ll have to try to get out and run a little bit with them now.”