The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Yorkton Terriers may be in the market for a new Head Coach/General Manager. Don Chesney announced, at a press conference Monday morning, that he is stepping aside for personal reasons and will assume full-time duties back on his ranch and cattle farm. In the meantime, Assistant Eddie Zawatsky is taking over the club on an interim basis. "It came as a bit of a shock to me when Don told me on Friday that he was stepping down and I want to thank him for bringing me aboard," said Zawatsky. "I applied for the job two years ago, so maybe this opens a door for me. When the season ended, we set a plan for recruiting and ran a successful spring camp. I talked with Glen Kozak (Terrier President) and showed him what was in place. I felt I was a pretty important piece of that. We have brought some kids in that will be expecting me to be a part of the organization. May will be a busy month for me when the registration cards come out as I hit the road and meet the kids and sell them on the program. It's a chance for me to show what I can do and hopefully get that interim tag removed." "I talked to most of the players last night except for Kevin Dziaduck, who is in Kindersley right now. They were responsive and pretty receptive. I think in initial talks they were saddened by Don leaving, but seemed excited by me taking over too." As for Chesney, his track record for motivating players has been excellent. He knows that and admits to feeling varying amounts of pressure at different stages of his two year tenure. "You come in with a lot of expectations that Don Chesney is going to pull out a gun and shoot the right things to get us into first place and win it. I had confidence that I could turn things around. We had some tragedies with Josh Campbell and just to get the team back on track with different things did take its toll on me." "We had 25 playoff games in two years and were able to fill the rink and ended up first in attendance in the league and that makes me feel good that the two years here were successful and its important to step back on a relative high. You know the fans can be either with you or against you depending on the success of the team." Chesney says his job is over and does not anticipate lending a guiding hand to Zawatsky. "I'm done and back to the ranch. Eddie and Dano (McKay) are great friends of mine and if I can help with insight, fine. They've watched me on every move I've made and I'm sure at times they bit their lip wondering what I was doing, but I think they both know enough what to do and this is their show and I have all the faith in them. I feel they have to do what is in their interests and not looking over their shoulder if I'm around." Chesney says recharging after his squad was eliminated from the playoffs was near impossible. "I probably felt like a windsheild in an old truck. Through the years you get the odd stone chip in the window and I thought at this point in time in my life I'm getting too many chips in the window." See 'Really' P.# Con't from P.# "At the end of season I was really tired and I thought I could rebound, but it's best to sort everything out on the table and step away. It's a trying day for me today personally, I know it's best for me in the long run." "We'll continue ranching. I've been gone for ten years and it's time for my son to do some things he wants to do. I have to give him credit for staying there all these years while I was bouncing around. He, along with my mom, let me live the dream." "The money I've made has been spent fast and furious. The trophies and coach of the year plaques are just collecting dust at the ranch. I'm going to miss the fans. I have a lot of fans that have followed me and it was like a domino effect everywhere I went. That is my strength and that is what made me tick all these years is that I had so many fans following my coaching career."
