Kisio resigns from Hurricanes, lands job with Silver Knights

By Lethbridge Herald on August 10, 2023.

Lethbridge Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio watches the play from the bench in November of last season. Herald file photo by Justin Seward

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes longest serving and most winningest head coach, Brent Kisio, resigned from the club on Thursday after eight years to pursue a professional opportunity.

Kisio accepted the job to become an assistant coach with the American Hockey League’s Henderson Silver Knights, who are the top affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights.

“Yeah, it happened quick,” said Kisio.

“Obviously, we’re pretty close to camp and I was getting excited for the season here, and getting ready for it ,and just got a phone call from Henderson. You know an opportunity opened up there to go there and coach in Vegas, and be a part of the Henderson Silver Knights. And to get  an organization like that, and to be a part of a team that just won the (Stanley) Cup, it’s exciting. It’s obviously bitter sweet leaving Lethbridge, a place that my family’s grown to know as home. We love it here. My family will stay here, I’ll go there my first year by myself, but this is home to us. So leaving here and leaving great people is always hard.  But in coaching, you got to try to push yourself, you’ve got to try and move up and this will be another step in my career.”

Kisio says it going to be a challenge.

“It’s going to be a challenge to get working with pros but one I’m excited for, and I just think I’m an enthusiastic coach that wants to develop players,” he said.

Kisio felt for a little while that he was ready for the next step in his career.

“It’s hard,” said Kisio.

“It’s hard in coaching. There’s a lot of good coaches out there and not a lot of these opportunities come along. You know, when you’re in a great spot it makes it harder to go to other spots as well. You want to find the right fit. So this came out and this was an option and after talking to my family and talking to Peter (Anholt), we just thought it was the right fit at the right time.”

Kisio said it was incredible, when asked about his time with the Hurricanes.

“It’s just a class organization,” said Kisio.

“The way Peter Anholt runs it (and) Terry Huisman. Obviously, the players that we’ve had here and the players that I’ve coached (and) you know very fortunate to have coached such great players. The players are the ones on the ice that make us look good and I’ve been lucky to have a lot of great ones.”

Great memories include Tyler Wong’s Game 7 overtime goal to beat Medicine Hat in the 2017 playoffs, other overtime wins at home and a fight night against Moose Jaw  and winning World Junior gold earlier this year.

Canes general manager Peter Anholt spoke about Kisio’s legacy.

“Yeah, for me, he’s a slam dunk for the Wall of Honour at some point,” said Anholt.

“You know, he came here to an organization that was floundering and he put a stamp on this team right off the bat with the way we played, and how hard we played and how we were prepared to play and you know I think that’s his legacy as much as anything. We talk about with our players leaving the jersey in a better spot when you leave than when you first showed up and he most certainly had done that.”

Anholt is hopeful to have Kisio’s replacement in place by next week.

“You know, we’re only three weeks away from being on the ice,” said Anholt.

“But today’s about Brent Kisio and what he’s done for our organization and we’ll get somebody in place. And I believe your coach hire is your most important hire and we did a pretty good job of that eight years ago and I think we’ll do a good job this time around too.”

Kisio had a record of 267-176-44 in 484 regular season games coached.

In 59 postseason games, he had a record of 23-36 and has represented Canada at various U17, U18 and U20 tournaments, where he won gold as head coach at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky tournament.