This past weekend, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Winnipeg Blues announced two new names to its coaching staff for the upcoming 2020-21 season. Serving alongside video coach Dan Gregovski will be new head coach Taras McEwan and assistant coach Zach Heisinger.
McEwan, who has recently been serving the role of general manager within the organization, will add head coaching duties to his plate for 2020-21. He previously worked on the bench for Team Saskatchewan, the SJHL’s Notre Dame Hounds and Fort Knox, before moving to Manitoba and beginning his work in 2016.
“I am extremely excited to step into the position as head coach,” McEwen said in a team-issued press release. “It’s a great opportunity to work hand-in-hand with a young group of players who want to make it to the next level. I am also excited to have Zach join our staff. Zach has a passion for the game and will be a great fit for our program.”
In early July, the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors announced the signing of Gord Burnett for the coming season. The 39-year-old Regina, SK. product accepted the position to serve on the Warriors’ bench alongside head coach Mark O’Leary and fellow assistant coach Scott King.
Burnett spent the 2019-20 season as the head coach of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Winnipeg Blues. Prior to that he spent four years as an assistant with the former Kootenay ICE, who shifted him to the head coaching role within their farm club after relocating to Winnipeg last year. With the Blues, Burnett went 24-29-7, narrowly clinching a berth in the 2020 postseason prior to the league-wide COVID-19 shutdown.
“This is an opportunity for Gord to move to the next level and we are very excited for him,” McEwan said in a past release. “Anytime a player, coach, or member of your staff is able to move to the next level it is something that we are excited to celebrate as an organization… We will take some time to evaluate the current position and be patient with the process of naming a new head coach.”
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