A Killer decision in the capital

I know, I know, another pun in the head

Although it had been rumoured for some time and it was reported as "likely" last night it's still a bit odd to report that Brian Kilrea is stepping down as head coach of the Ottawa 67s at the end of the year.

This is a guy that has been behind the bench longer than almost half the OHL teams have been in existence after all (technically some of the current OHL rookies parents could have been born after he started coaching in 1974. I said technically).

He's a throwback--it's unclear whether anyone as hard as Kilrea would get a shot in modern hockey (and maybe that's a good thing...?). But, there is no doubting his success. The 67s are arguably the most consistently successful OHL team over the past two decades.

It's not likely he'll go out on top. Oshawa and Belleville will likely battle it out for the top spot in the east again. And he, despite what you are bound to hear widely today, is not a saint (I'm sure that for every former player out there that that will claim that he "changed their life" there will be one that thinks he's an overrated hack that treated him like crap. That's the nature of coaching kids). He was just a hockey coach.

But, he was damn good at what he did. That should be enough to celebrate today.