Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets fire head coach Jason Smith

KELOWNA, B.C. — The Kelowna Rockets have fired head coach Jason Smith.

The Western Hockey League team announced the move Monday on its website.

The Rockets went 88-44-10-2 overall and twice reached the conference final in Smith’s first two seasons behind the bench. Kelowna opened this season 4-10-0-0.

“Any time you let someone go that is the quality of Jason Smith it’s very tough,” Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton said.

“However, the success of our hockey club ultimately falls with myself and I feel at this time we need to go in a different direction.”

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Smith played 1,008 games during a 15-year NHL career in which the defenceman was captain of both the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers.

The 44-year-old Calgarian was an assistant coach of the Ottawa Senators for two seasons before he was hired by Kelowna in 2016.

Kelowna did not indicate in its announcement who Smith’s successor will be.

The Canadian Press