As we know, the search for a replacement for the man to the left is underway in the Manitoba capital. That's Mike Sirant, the newly-retired head coach of the Manitoba Bisons men's hockey team, and his departure left a hole on the bench that would need to be filled by someone who brings a renewed vigor and philosophy to a team that last won a playoff game - not a series, but a single game - in 2017. The last time that the Bisons men's hockey program played beyond the quarterfinal round in Canada West was in 2014, so things are going to have to change from top to bottom if the Bisons want to chart a new course in Canada West. The question that needs to be answered is who is coach with the vision to do so?
From the information that I've collected, it seems that the Bisons won't be revolutionary in naming their new head coach as all three finalists, from what I've been told, are men. It would have been a major step forward in being a progressive institution if one of the finalists was a woman, but that's not happening at the University of Manitoba. For anyone hoping for the next
Kori Cheverie, it won't be in Winnipeg as a head coach for the upcoming Canada West season.
The final three candidates bring all sorts of different backgrounds to the table in their playing and coaching careers, and all three men are Canadians who have ties to playing university hockey - two in U SPORTS and one in the NCHA. While their paths to reaching this point haven't crossed yet, the resumés of two men are certainly more decated than the third man. Where he may have an advantage, though, is familiarity.
From what I've been told, let's pull back the curtain and take a look at the three candidates whose resumés sit in front of the Athletic Director and whose visions for the Bisons may earn one of them a shot at standing behind the bench in Canada West in October.
Gordon Burnett
The first of the three candidates we'll review here on HBIC is Gordon Burnett. Burnett's playing career saw him move through the SJHL with the Melville Millionaires before landing in the NCHA with St. Scholastica College in Duluth, Minnesota. The Regina-born defenceman played 104 games at the NCAA Division-III level, scoring 12 goals and 24 assists in his four-year span in Duluth. That led to an opportunity with the Utah Grizzlies in the ECHL in 2006-07 before bouncing around the CHL and ECHL where he finished with 200 ECHL games and 87 CHL games to his name that saw him rack up 874 PIMs in seven professional seasons. Burnett earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business, Management, and Marketing in 2005 at St. Scholastica before adding a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Development. In 2021, Burnett earned a diploma from the University of New Brunswick in University Teaching and Education. Yes, there's a lack of U SPORTS experience in Burnett's past, but his connections to other leagues could be the "in" he needs.
For the lack of U SPORTS experience that Burnett brings, he does bring a strong tie to the WHL thanks to his seven seasons as an assistant coach with the Kootenay Ice and the Moose Jaw Warriors. From 2015-16 until 2018-19, Burnett worked alongside Luke Pierce and James Patrick behind the Ice bench in trying to build a Memorial Cup team, but the team ended up in the basement of the WHL's Central Division in three of those four years. In 2020-21, he joined a considerably better Moose Jaw Warriors team where he's been coaching as Mark O'Leary's assistant coach.
Burnett's dabble in Manitoba hockey saw him take the head coaching position of the MJHL's Winnipeg Blues in 2019-20 after the Kootenay Ice became the Winnipeg Ice, and he led them to a 24-29-7 record in his lone head coaching stint. The Blues made the playoffs, but were dispatched in the opening round before the playoffs were cancelled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, Burnett brings a wealth of experience in terms of both his playing and coaching days, and his efforts with Hockey Canada likely means he has good ties across the country when it comes to sourcing players. As we know, a lot of WHL players end up in U SPORTS, so having ties to both the Ice and the Warriors means he may be able to attract some undrafted WHL talent to the Bisons. The only drawback that I can find on Burnett is that he has a lack of head coaching experience, but he's worked with some great coaches and players at the WHL level where he's likely learned a lot.
Jason O'Leary
The second of the three candidates is Jason O'Leary. O'Leary's career on skates started in his hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick where the defenceman skated for the Fredericton Canadians U18 AAA. After two seasons in the Quebec Provincial Junior Hockey League where he played just 29 games and one in the Maritime Hockey League where he played 36 games, O'Leary landed at St. Thomas University in the AUS in 1998-99 where he skated for four seasons. In 94 games at the school, O'Leary scored one goal and eight assists, but posted a whopping 200 PIMs as a member of the Tommies. In 2001, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Literature, and he followed that up by earning his Bachelor of Education degree in 2002. It's been 22 years since he last skated in U SPORTS, and he hasn't crossed into Canada West at any time, but his coaching experiences might make him the best candidate of the three finalists.
In 2018, O'Leary landed in Austria where he earned the head coaching job for the Lower Austria Stars U20 team while coaching both the Austrian U18 team at the World Division-1B Championship and the Austrian U20 team at the World Division-1A Championship. His two seasons in Austria didnt see him make the playoffs, but Switzerland's SC Langenthal liked him enough to hire him as an assistant coach for the senior and U17 teams and as a head coach for the U15 team.
In 2014-15, O'Leary was promoted to the head coaching position for SC Langenthal, and by 2016-17 he had captured a National League "B" title with Langenthal for just the second time in the team's history. That victory put O'Leary on the coaching map, and he was hired by the National League's Genève-Servette HC for the 2017-18 season as an assistant coach before joining EVZ Academy as a head coach in 2018-19. One season later, he was the head coach for the DEL's Iserlohn Roosters before being fired in 2021. Another short stint the SCL Tigers in the National League ended with O'Leary's dismissal in 2022, and he moved on to coaching the Ducs d'Angers in the Ligue Magnus in France where he's still behind the bench.
It seems clear that O'Leary has a passion for coaching, and his work with younger players likely means that he's able to adapt and find strategies that work at a variety of levels. Coaching in four different countries over eight years also means he's been exposed to a number of coaching styles, tactics, and systems used on the ice. I do question why he was dismissed in both Iserlohn and Langnau im Emmental in two consecutives seasons, but his varied coaching background outside of North American hockey makes him an intriguing candidate for the Bisons' head coaching position.
Jon Rempel
The third candidate really needs no introduction if you're a Bisons hockey fan as he's been behind the bench for the women's program for a long time. Jon Rempel is the third coach being considered for the head coaching position of the Bisons men's hockey program, and it's a bit of a head-scratcher as to how he made it this far in the competition when comparing his coaching experiences to the other two candidates. It makes sense if one is to believe that the University of Manitoba is adhering to the expression "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know," but I'm the certain the university is giving Rempel a long look as he's the only man to have brought a National Championship hockey banner - men's or women's - to the school. He's a tenured educator at the school already and will be back in a classroom this year, so this may be a candidate of convenience more than anything else. In the interest of impartiality, though, let's look at Jon's qualifications.
Jon spent time in the MJHL with the Selkirk Steelers for three seasons that also saw him make a brief cameo with the SJHL's Melville Millionaires. He played three seasons under Mike Sirant for the Manitoba Bisons where his eleven goals and 24 assists were eclipsed by his 205 PIMs. His play earned him parts of three seasons on the blue line with the ECHL's Baton Rouge Kingfish along with a two-game appearance in the AHL with the Portland Pirates where he recorded an assist. His playing career would finish in the British National League in 1998-99 with the Slough Jets where he'd help the team win the BNL championship. It should be noted that Rempel earned his Bachelor of Recreation Studies in 1999 from the University of Manitoba after returning to the school.
After earning his degree, Rempel worked as an assistant coach for the MJHL's Winnipeg South Blues, and spent a year as an assistant coach with the University of Manitoba Women's Hockey Team. In 2004-05, Rempel took over the head coaching duties for the women's hockey program at the University of Manitoba. In 16 seasons behind the bench, Rempel has guided the Bisons to six CIS/U SPORTS National Championships, returning home with three bronze medals (2005, '07, and '08) and a gold medal ('18). He's been voted as the Canada West women's hockey Coach of the Year five times ('05, '07, '15, '17, and '18) and U SPORTS' Coach of the Year once ('18) while compiling a 247-141-32 record in-conference and 377-229-41 record overall.
If you're noting the years above, most of Jon's success with the women's program came prior to the 2018-19 season where he took a sabbatical. Since returning, he's rebuilt the program with exceptional talent, but his squads have made the playoffs just once in three seasons, and haven't won a playoff game under his direction since 2018. Rempel knows success - the pinnacle coming with the National Championship banner in 2018 - and his current employment and tenure with the university would make him the easy choice to replace Sirant, but there should be a "what have you done for me lately" question asked of him. For a team that may mark ten years without winning a playoff round next season, Rempel's past performances don't necessarily guarantee future successes.
Who Gets Picked?
I can't answer that. I'm not the Athletic Director at Bisons Sports, but I'm sure this won't be an easy decision in any direction. There's a coach with solid WHL ties which is vital for any U SPORTS men's hockey program, there's a coach who has a ton of international experience and head coaching experience who has worked with players of all ages, and there's a coach whose trail of success with the women's program and whose commitment to the university can't be questioned.
While all three men bring unique qualifications to the program, all three also have Grand Canyon-sized limitations on their resumés. One has to wonder if there were calls made by the administration to find coaches who may attract players to the program on reputation alone - Tony Granato, Marc Savard, or Josh Green, for example - but I also know there's a teaching component that the University of Manitoba wants that will eliminate a number of coaches such as the three listed above. This might be the biggest hurdle for any coach who had thoughts about taking over the reins for the Bisons: one has to hold a teaching degree.
Since you asked, though, I do believe that both Burnett and O'Leary would bring a new perspective and new philosophies to the men's hockey program that have been sorely missing for the better part of a decade, and their enthusiasm in gaining the job to coach the Bisons should perpetuate through the players as they look to start their own eras in Winnipeg.
What I suspect, however, is that Jon Rempel will likely get job since he's already completely integrated into Bisons Sports, and the only change that would be needed would be for him to grab the men's schedule and walk down the hall to the men's dressing room. He already is well-versed in Canada West life, he's accustomed to the travel and work schedules, and he likely has been talking to Sirant about the team. It's seems almost too easy for Bisons Sports to appoint Rempel, but they do need to do their due diligence on both Burnett and O'Leary.
I guess what I'm saying is don't expect me to be surprised when the announcement is made. My experiences with Bisons Sports lead me to believe that if they can take the easy way out, they will. In other words, it's business as usual when it comes to the only men's university hockey program in the province.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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