Winston-Salem T-Birds Make Coaching Change
February 11, 2004 - South East Hockey League (SEHL)
Winston-Salem T-Birds News Release
Winston-Salem T-Birds Team President John Baker today announced that long-time
Winston-Salem hockey player, Randy Irving, has been named the team's new Head Coach & Director of Hockey Operations. Irving, 43, replaces Mike LaZazzera who had led the T-Birds to a record of 16 wins and 23 losses. However, since January 1st, the team has struggled posting a record of only 2 wins and 15 losses. The team is currently riding a five game losing streak and the T-Birds are in third place in the four team South East Hockey League.
This is the first professional head coaching position for Randy Irving, a native of Burnaby, British Columbia. He played ten years professionally in the IHL, CHL, AHL, original ACHL, and in the ECHL. Most notably, Randy played nine years for the "Carolina" Thunderbirds, where he was a part of an amazing organization that won 5 regular season championships and 4 playoff championships. Irving, a defenseman by trade, still holds the franchise record for games played with 357. He is also among the original Thunderbirds leaders in penalty minutes (847), assists (236), and total points (286).
"The T-Birds organization is still fighting for an SEHL playoff spot," said Team President John Baker. "Considering the team's struggles during the past month and a half, we felt that a coaching change was needed at this time. We thank Mike LaZazzera for his commitment to the T-Birds and look forward to turning things around with Randy Irving."
Randy Irving will be behind the T-Birds bench this coming Friday night (13th), when the T-Birds host the Cape Fear Fire Antz at 7:30PM at the Joel Coliseum Annex.
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