Blazers fire Clark

The Kamloops Blazers have fired GM/head coach Dean Clark. An interim head coach and a director of hockey operations have yet to be named.

— Gregg Drinnan, Taking Note

I'm afraid I don't follow the day-to-day happenings in junior hockey like I used to, but I do try to take note of what happens with the Blazers. It hasn't been difficult this season, what with all of the unrest among fans so far, and every call to the folks back home comes with an update.

Kamloops was supposed to be a contender this season, the first under new ownership (a group that consists of several notable NHL players), but they're off to a 6-9-1-1 start and that meant the end for Clark, who had been with the team since 2003.

Last season's 40-26-4-2 campaign was the best he managed in a little more than four seasons with the Blazers, who have been lost in the wilderness now for quite some time. I don't believe the team's won a playoff round since 1998-99, closing in on nine years ago, which is tough to do in the almost-everyone-gets-in format in junior hockey.

I wouldn't have believed 10 years ago that the city would ever give up on the team, but it sounds as though there are, again, plenty of empty seats at whatever they're calling the Riverside Coliseum these days.