Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team have replaced their head coach Matt Soderstrom with Sheffield Steelers assistant coach Marc LeFebvre.
The move takes immediate effect after the Blaze board decided to make a change, due to some poor results this season.
LeFebvre, 31, was part of the Sheffield Steelers double-winning side of 2003/04 before joining the Blaze as a player for the 2005/06 season. His first foray into coaching was as head coach of the 1000 Islands Privateers in the FHL in North America in 2011/12 before leading the Dayton Demonz to the same league title the following year. After being named the league’s coach of the year, he opted to further his career by joining up with Doug Christiansen in Sheffield at the start of this season.
Blaze chairman Andy Buxton said to the Blaze website: "Marc is coming in as head coach until the end of the season. We wanted someone who knows the Elite League, knows the way the club works, knows the opposition teams and knows our players - someone who can hit the ground running. It’s not easy to make a coaching change mid-season but Marc is a very bright young coach who has already shown he knows how to run a professional team and knows how to win. He now has a chance to show us what he can do.
“We are extremely appreciative of the co-operation of the Steelers organisation in letting us talk to Marc and for agreeing to let him come to us straight away. They know it is a great opportunity for him and they have been first class about not standing in his way.
“We want to thank Matty for his time as head coach but we believed it was necessary for us to make this change now. The bottom line is we are an eighth-placed team delivering inconsistent performances and we believe that with the investment we have made in the team that shouldn’t be the case.
“We have made a huge commitment to the playing side of the business this year. The infrastructure and the support for the players is second to none. We have made every signing we’ve been asked to make and carried extra imports and housing to give us the best chance of success on the ice. We expect to see more of a return for that commitment than we have done.
“Marc will now have a couple of weeks to assess what he is inheriting and decide if he wishes to make adjustments to the team. The players all have to take a good look at themselves now as they will all be playing not only for potential contracts next season but also keeping their contracts until the end of this season. It’s up to them because we will be backing the new coach.
“We want to wish Matty all the best for everything he has done for this club. It’s a very tough thing to remove one of your own especially as no-one is more passionate about the club and no-one cares more. It’s sad it has not worked out better for Matt or the club but he will always be remembered as a true Blaze legend for his many years of tremendous service. His contribution to this club has been immense and built on great loyalty and for that we can never thank him enough.”