You can take off the interim tag.
The Prince Albert Raiders named Ryan McDonald the 16th head coach in franchise history, the team announced in a social media post on Tuesday afternoon.
In an interview with the Daily Herald, Raider general manager Curtis Hunt says McDonald has quickly climbed up the coaching ranks.
“I think Ryan’s been a climber since we were reacquainted. I guess that was before the COVID year when he came as an interim coach during training camp. That’s kind of when the relationship started, I watched his career in Warman. He joined us in the bubble.”
McDonald had two terms as the interim head coach for the Raiders last season. The first came after the Christmas break as Jeff Truitt took a medical leave of absence after undergoing eye surgery. McDonald posted a 10-4-0-1 record during that stretch.
His second term as interim head coach began on March 10 after the Raiders relieved Truitt of his duties as the team’s bench boss. McDonald led the team to a 5-1-0-0 record which helped the Raiders capture the East Division title with a pair of wins over Saskatoon on the final weekend.
Hunt says McDoanld did a tremendous job during his time with the interim tag.
“He’s unique in the fact that he’s bled in the jersey. Just watching him this year, I put him in a tough situation. When we made the change, I thought he handled it remarkably. I thought he had our club prepared and ready to play. I liked the process. I liked his bench management. I liked the breakdown as we discussed our team play and individual play post game. Picking kids back up and getting us ready to play and it just made sense from a lot of different pieces that seem to come together.”
McDonald is the second head coach to be hired during Hunt’s tenure as general manager. Just like his predecessor in Jeff Truitt, McDonald was promoted from within the Raider coaching ranks.
Hunt says the promotion of McDonald should provide a smooth transition for the players.
“I think it’s really hard on the players when you have too much turnover and too much change and there’s always a different language. I think there’s some familiarity there with our returning players and that leads to comfort and confidence, which allows them to be their best. There’s not a process for us to get to know each other. We speak just about every day right now in the summer. He’s planning for a season and we’re preparing for imports and just looking at different roster decisions and ideas. I think it’s going to be a great fit for a club with where we are now with a young team and some high expectations and a young coach with an incredible passion and work ethic.”
In total, McDonald led the Raiders to a 15-5-0-1 record in 21 regular season games last season. During the playoffs, McDonald led the Raiders to erasing a 3-1 series deficit against the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round. Prince Albert would bow out to the eventual WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in round two.
“I thought the team really responded.” Hunt explained. “I think he created an inclusive environment. I think he gave some responsibility to guys and they responded very well. I thought he managed the bench extremely well which was a positive for him and our group. He engineered the never quit mentality especially when we got down 3-1 (to Edmonton). If you look at that series as a defining moment, that’s a pretty special thing to do. During the end there, when it got a little dicey, he put us in a position to win that pennant last weekend as well.”
Hunt indicated that the team plans to make an announcement to complete the coaching staff in the coming months.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
