Hurricanes Name Viper Alumni Kisio New Head Coach:

The Western Hockey League (WHL) Lethbridge Hurricanes have named
former Vernon Vipers forward Brent Kisio their new Head Coach.

Kisio was an Assistant, Associate Coach & Assistant General Manager in eight seasons with the Western Hockey League (WHL) Calgary Hitmen.  Kisio played one season in Vernon (2002-2003) in 59 regular season games with the Vipers Kisio collected (20-goals-46-assists-66-points).

Brent Kisio's Player-Coaches Profile:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=78357

This is posted on the Hurricanes website:

Brent Kisio Named Hurricanes Head Coach

Jun 04, 2015

Lethbridge, AB - The Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club announced Thursday that Brent Kisio has been named the 14th Head Coach in franchise history agreeing to a three-year contract.

Kisio, 32, has spent the past eight seasons from 2007 until 2015 as an assistant coach of the Calgary Hitmen where he won the Western Hockey League Championship in 2010. During his tenure with the Hitmen, Kisio appeared in two WHL Finals and five Eastern Conference Finals while only missing the playoffs once.

The Calgary, Alberta, native says he’s thrilled about the opportunity, “I’m very excited to be here. I think it’s a great opportunity and I can already see the passion here and how much people want a winning team here. Myself and my family are very happy to be here.”

“It’s a great honour. It’s a league that has some great coaches and it’s a privilege and an honour to be one of them,” added Kisio. “It’s a great roster shaping up for next year. There has been some great building blocks added on by Pete already and we’re proud that some guys have signed on. You can see where it’s heading right now, I think Pete has a lot of guys believing in the direction that he’s building and we just want to continue off that momentum.”

Hurricanes General Manager Peter Anholt say’s Kisio was the guy he wanted, “I shortlisted three or four guys and went through the process. We had some real quality people, I just felt Brent really fit here better than any. I like his hockey pedigree, born and raised in the hockey world and being involved in the hockey business.”

“He’s worked with a strong winning organization for the last eight years with the Calgary Hitmen with three good quality head coaches; Dave Lowry, Mike Williamson and Mark French most recently. He’s had some really good training and he’s been a part of the development of the Hitmen over the eight years he’s been there, which was very important to me,” added Anholt. “I like that he’s a young and up and coming coach, I think we are in the business of developing coaches. He’s going to bring in some new coaching ideas and new thoughts. I also like his philosophy on coaching and how he’d like his team to play with pressure and making it hard for teams to come in here and play against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.”

Kisio says he wants to bring in an up tempo style of game, “I think our team is going to play some fast hockey and is going to work hard. We will be prepared. We’ll be held accountable to the players and coaches as well. We want to be an exciting team. Everyone’s goal is to make the playoffs, we’ll be no different. We want to make the playoffs and we will work towards that.”

This is posted on the Hitmen website:

Hitmen congratulate Brent Kisio on being named head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes

Jun 04, 2015

The Calgary Hitmen Hockey Club would like to congratulate Brent Kisio on being named head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Lethbridge Hurricanes.

“We are extremely excited for Brent for this coaching achievement,” said Hitmen General Manager and Vice President of Business Operations Mike Moore. “Brent has been an important part of our organization.  The success we have had as a team has certainly been influenced by the work and contributions he has made to the Calgary Hitmen.”

Kisio recently completed his eighth season with the Hitmen.  He joined the franchise in August 2007 as video coach and assistant coach after four successful years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha where he played for the Mavericks (NCAA) and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminology.  Following the 2007-08 season, Kisio moved exclusively into the role of assistant coach.  In October 2012, he was appointed associate coach and prior to Calgary’s 20th anniversary season, he added the role of assistant general manager to his duties.

During his eight-year tenure, Kisio helped guide the Hitmen to four Central Division titles and their second Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL Champions in 2010.

The Hitmen organization will now begin the process of identifying candidates for the assistant coach vacancy.