Current weather:  45° F   light rain

sponsored by:

Sauter steps up as new Chiefs coach

Club to hold press conference Friday

Jessica Brown
Staff writer
August 9, 2008

The defending Memorial Cup champion Spokane Chiefs announced Hardy Sauter as their new head coach today, The Spokesman-Review learned Thursday.

The Chiefs held a press conference this afternoon at the Arena to officially name Sauter, who served as an assistant coach to Bill Peters last season for the franchise’s run to its second Western Hockey League and Canadian Hockey League championships.

Peters stepped down last week after he accepted a job last week with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League – a Chicago Blackhawks affiliate.

Sauter could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Sauter was a defenseman from 1991-92, the year after Spokane won its first Memorial Cup. He scored 13 goals and 61 points in 66 games for the Chiefs after an early season trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings, where he spent the majority of his junior career.

“Hardy has been around the game his whole life and has an outstanding hockey foundation,” general manager Tim Speltz said in a release last summer when Sauter was named assistant coach for the Chiefs. “It is an added bonus that he is a former Chief player.”

In three seasons in the WHL, Sauter played 211 career games and recorded 36 goals, 123 assists and 159 points. Sauter came to Spokane after spending two years as the general manager and head coach of the Nipawin Hawks in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Under Sauter, the Hawks were 74-29-6-4. In 2006 he was named the league’s Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the award in 2007.

After Spokane, the Maryfield, Saskatchewan native played two years at the University of Regina where he was named the Male Athlete of the Year in 1993-94. Sauter also played 10 seasons in the pro leagues, nine with the CHL’s Oklahoma City Blazers. He was named the Central Hockey League Defenseman of the Year (1996-97 and 97-98).

back to top