Dave Chyzowski was fired as general manager and coach of the Merritt Centennials on Wednesday and replaced by Curtis Toneff, who was an assistant coach with the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
“We had our evaluation meeting with the Board of Directors and it was decided to relieve Dave of his duties and move in a different direction, and that’s what we’ve done,” said Centennials President Kelly Bartch.
Chyzowski went 1-20-1 in his lone season with the Centennials after being signed to a two-year contract through 2022-23 this past June to replace Derek Sweet-Coulter, who was fired on May 12. Now the Cents are onto their fourth coach in the last two-and-a-half seasons.
Assistant coaches Paul Barnes and Levi Stuart remain with the Centennials.
After GM and coach Barry Wolff made his debut with Merritt at the beginning of the 2019-20 season, his successor Sweet-Coulter was in that spot to open 2020-21. The Centennials sputtered to a 3-17-0 record during the pod season, at which time the team’s Board of Directors decided against renewing Sweet-Coulter’s contract.
This season, the Cents are currently riding a seven game losing streak, including back-to-back-to-back defeats in Wenatchee heading into the Christmas break. Merritt was outscored 16-4 in the trio of games in Eastern Washington. It opened the season with a 14-game losing streak and it was 13 games before the Cents garnered their first point in a 4-3 overtime win against the Wild at home on Dec. 3.
Now the Centennials look to turn things around under Toneff, who was in his third season with the Broncos, having signed a one-year extension with them on Dec. 10. Humboldt was tops in the SJHL entering the holiday break.
“He’s got playing and coaching experience in the BCHL and (had) some very good success coaching at the junior B level,” said Bartch.
“We think Curtis will be a good fit (with the organization) and he’s going to fit into the community. He’s going to reside here (in Merritt) and we look forward to having him on board,” Bartch added.
Prior to joining the Broncos, Toneff spent two seasons as GM and coach of Nanaimo of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. He led the Buccaneers to a 63-27-2-4 record and advanced to the division semifinals in each season.
He has previously coached in Trail in the BC Hockey League as an assistant to Nick Deschenes in 2015-16 and Cam Keith in 2016-17. Toneff retired as an active player following the 2013-14 season and was hired as an assistant coach for the VIJHL’s Campbell River Storm in 2014-15.
During the 2013-14 season, Toneff’s playing rights were actually acquired by the Centennials from the Trail Smoke Eaters but he chose not to report to Merritt and was subsequently dealt to Spruce Grove of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The 28-year-old from Nanaimo finished his junior A career with nine goals and 56 points in 148 career games over the course of four seasons split between the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, BCHL, AJHL, and SJHL.
