The golden hand shake doesn’t always mean it’s a long term commitment for any organization, especially when it comes to sport and now one teams win, is a loss for the opposition teams coach.

Locally the Vancouver Giants continue to add points in the standings with a recent home ice win at the Langley Events Centre by a 3-1 decision over the visiting Kelowna Rockets that saw Nanaimo’s Owen Hardy collecting a pair of goals.

The win see’s the Giants are 10-2-2-0 while the Rockets drop in the standing with a record of 4-10 record on the season.

Giants “tender” Trent Miner stopped 28 of 29 shots he faced while Justin Sourdif notched a goal as D-man Bowen Byram collected two assists in the contest.

Both clubs were playing for the third game in as many days and ironically neither team showed any sign of fatigue in the first 20 minutes.

Both teams had several scoring chances in the opening that saw both Giants “tender” Trent Miner and Rockets starter Roman Basran face quality shots only to have them turned aside.

While the victory has the Giants increase their BC Division lead to six (6) points over the Royals, they do however remain first overall in the Western Conference through 14 games.

They also manage to have a goal differential of +16 which is also tops in the West and in their seven-game (10-day stretch) they have finished with a record of 4-1-2-0 grabbing 10 of 14 possible points.

The other side of the coin saw Coaching changes with the Rockets the day following the loss to the Giants as GM Bruce Smith relieved bench boss Jason Smith of his Coaching duties in search of a new candidate.

He (Smith) told the media that “it was not a decision he made in haste, but rather was the result of concerns that were on his mind for the last few weeks.”

He continued “he felt a decision needed to be made and it was better to make it early in the season while there is still a chance of a turn around for the team.”

Adding new personal to the coaching roster at present simply do not appear to be either of the two current assistant coaches.

Assistant coaches Kris Mallette or Travis Crickard will remain with the Rockets but their long-term future depends on the new head coach.

Bruce Smith, Rockets GM stated “he has felt for the last few seasons the culture his team developed over the previous years that visitors to Prospera Place has not been there, and that was a concern.”

Smith mentioned that blame should not directly be placed on Smith mentioning “he felt he had to shoulder a large part because it’s his job to bring in the right players for the team.

They organization feels that there is some sense of urgency to hire a new head coach but also in turning around as they host the 2020 Memorial Cup tournament held at Prospera Centre May 22-31,2020.