New Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Is 34-Year-Old From Idaho

The Kelowna Rockets are digging into the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) for their newest head coach.

Kelowna Rockets President/GM Bruce Hamilton announced Tuesday that the organization’s newest head coach is Brad Ralph. Ralph has been Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations of the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads for the last three seasons and has been signed to a three-year contract with the Rockets.

New Rockets Head Coach Brad Ralph shakes hands with President/GM Bruce Hamilton. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

The Rockets’ newest coach is only 34 years old and will become the ninth Head Coach in Rockets’ history.

“He understands that we don’t want to make a big culture change here,” said Hamilton. “We just need somebody to come in and take over from where we were and continue on the path this hockey team has been on for the last number of years, of winning and having a chance to win a league championship.”

Ralph beat out about 100 applicants for the coveted position. “The expectations are high,” said Ralph. “Bruce told me right from day one that he expects to win here. Certainly my expectation every year is to attain first place and win the championship, so that doesn’t change here in Kelowna. I hold myself and my players to a very high standard.”

Ralph said that he's excited to get to know the players and guide them through a new season. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Though at 34 years old, Ralph is a relatively young Head Coach, both he and Hamilton talked to the positive benefit of Ralph being able to better relate to the younger players of the WHL. Hamilton said that though Ralph’s young, he was very impressed with how Ralph went right from playing to coaching and how he had success with it right away. This young coach already has five years of experience coaching professional hockey.

Hamilton said that the biggest thing to stick out from Ralph’s application was his winning percentage. Over his coaching career, Ralph has posted a 203-98-27 record. Before his three years in Idaho, Ralph had two years in Augusta (SPHL) where he was the 2011 SPHL Coach of the Year. He was also a finalist for ECHL Coach of the Year last season after a 48-18-6 record and the Steelheads winning the ECHL Pacific Division.

Ralph’s upscale, offensive play is expected to be a smooth transition from last season. Hamilton wanted someone from the outside this time to mentor the assistant coaches, and he expects Ralph to work well with them. “He’s going to be open-minded and get them involved as fast as he can. He’s going to need them because they’re going to deliver a lot of information to him on their team.”

Hamilton said that the club feels Ralph is an excellent fit for the Rockets. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

The Rockets were the WHL Champions last season and lost by only one point in the Memorial Cup finals. “Usually after a team has success, it dips down. That’s not going to be the case here in my mind,” said Hamilton. “Our expectation is that this team is going to be another one of the top teams in the Western Hockey League again this year. That was another reason why we took some time to find the right person for this job because we weren’t getting somebody who was just going to be starting out and understanding the process, or learning how to win. I wanted somebody that knows how to win coming in.”

For his part, Ralph is excited to be in a winning organization and thinks that the experience the returning players had last season will propel them this year. “We all want to be in the big moments, so to be a part of an organization like this is a great honour. I relish the opportunity to have high expectations and be challenged from the teams night in, night out.”

Ralph and Hamilton taking questions from the media. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Ralph is a native of Richmond, Ontario and played junior hockey for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. In the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Ralph was drafted in the second round by the Phoenix Coyotes. He had an eight-year professional career, playing over 450 professional games in North America and Europe and acting as team captain on four of his nine teams.

The new Rockets Head Coach will join current Assistant Coaches Kris Mallette and Travis Crickard this coming season. He’ll be flying back to Boise, Idaho to join his wife Wendy, seven-year-old daughter Riley, and one-month-old son Decker as they prepare to pack up and move to Kelowna.