Matt Hughes (L) is the new coach for the Nanaimo Buccaneers and Rick Hannibal (R) has taken over the general manager duties for the Oceanside Generals. (Kaicee Trott/Oceanside Generals)

By Dan Marshall

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NANAIMO — Off season changes for the Nanaimo Buccaneers and Oceanside Generals have brought new faces to some key positions.

Matt Hughes is the new coach of the Buccaneers while Rick Hannibal has taken the reigns as the general manager of the Generals.

Hughes has an extensive coaching resume which includes one season as the bench boss of the BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs in 2017-18. He had taken on some work outside the game but his passion for hockey brought him back to coaching at the junior level.

“Getting back into coaching was a neat opportunity obviously those are few and far between. I want my teams to be fast, I want to be competitive and fun to watch.”

Hughes wants to have players across the age spectrum of 15-20 years old with a hunger to get better.

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It’s his goal to have the Bucs program prepare players, especially local athletes, for the next level whether that be BCHL, WHL or university hockey.

“There’s a lot of kids who have left town to play elsewhere and we want to give them a home to come back to. But we want to have a competitive balance. If we find the right type of players from out of town, we’re open to that.”

For Rick Hannibal taking over as general manager for the Generals seemed like a logical progression.

He had been serving on the team’s board and when the position became available.

“I’d been helping the GM’s in the past do some recruiting and scouting so this seemed like the next natural step. I’m looking forward to working with (head coach) Dan Lemmon to get our players to the next level.”

Hannibal is optimistic an ID camp scheduled for June 4-6 will be able to go head but if health restrictions don’t allow it contingencies are in the works for later in the summer.

Oceanside will consist mainly of Vancouver Island players but Hannibal admits he has talked to some kids from Northern BC and Alberta about donning a Generals jersey in the fall.

“We may have as many as ten spots to fill in. We’ve got a couple of our guys who could go to Junior A and there’s still talk of maybe allowing 21-year olds. If those older players are allowed we’ll make some adjustments as we go.”

Nanaimo’s Junior A team made a coaching announcement as well.

Just two days after the completion of the BCHL season the Clippers signed both head coach and general manager Darren Naylor and associate coach Colin Birkas to two year contact extensions.

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–with files from Kyle Ireland

info@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @NanaimoNewsNOW