Local Sports
Mark Lamb named WHL Coach of the Year
Former Swift Current Broncos head coach and general manager Mark Lamb has been named the winner of the Western Hockey League’s Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the league's Coach of the Year. The Cadillac product is in his fifth season with the Prince George Cougars and led the team to a Western Conference-leading 49-15-1-3 record in the 2023-24 regular season, their best finish since the franchise moved to the northern B.C. city 30 years ago. “I’m very honoured to receive the Dunc McCallum Coach of the Year Award,” Lamb said in a video for WHL.ca. “It’s totally a team award. It just means that you have a really good team, a lot of good players and you have a great coaching staff. With the addition of Jim Playfair and Carter Rigby, Taylor Dakers, our goalie coach, we have a really, really tight group and they all have a lot to say.” Lamb served as coach and GM of the Broncos for seven seasons from 2009 to 2016. In 432 games behind the Broncos' bench, he posted a record of 221-237-17-29 and the team made playoff appearances in four seasons. Last season's winner, Brendan Sonne of the Saskatoon Blades, was named the East Division's Coach of the Year finalist while Willie Desjardins of the Medicine Hat Tigers was the Central Division nominee and Mike Johnston of the Portland Winterhawks was the finalist out of the U.S. Division.