Dauphin names Berry as new coach, GM

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This article was published 01/04/2016 (3655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been less than two years since the Dauphin Kings were in the RBC Cup semifinals.

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League franchise lost the national junior A championship tournament game 5-3 to the Carleton Place Canadians.

Marc Berry was behind the Kings’ bench as an assistant coach for that contest in Vernon, B.C. Now Berry has been tapped as the man to lead the Kings back to the upper echelon of Canadian junior A hockey.

On Thursday, the 41-year-old Birtle product was officially introduced as the team’s new head coach and general manager. He assumed the interim role of both positions after Marlin Murray stepped down on Dec. 12, leaving as the winningest head coach in Kings history.

“It’s something that I’ve always pushed for right from getting into Dauphin,” Berry said. “I didn’t realize I’d get the opportunity here, but it’s something that I set a goal for that I wanted to be a head coach and GM in this league and I’m real excited to get the opportunity to do so in Dauphin.”

In 31 games to close out the regular season, Berry guided Dauphin to a 10-17-4 record. The Kings then lost their best-of-three first-round playoff series 2-0 to the Selkirk Steelers. Dauphin finished with a 21-33-6 overall record during the regular season.

“It was exciting and a bit eye-opening,” Berry said of getting to guide his own junior A team for the first time. “I think being able to get a read on what you’d want to change or what you want to do differently from what’s been done before you was very key for me.

“Coaching with Marlin Murray for five-and-a-half years you learn a lot. We’ve gone to an RBC Cup together, we’ve coached at the Western Canada Cup together, we went to the league final three times, so we got to play some high-level hockey. I felt very comfortable getting into the head coaching role.”

In his youth, Berry played with the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League’s Yellowhead Chiefs before going overseas and playing a year in Norway. He returned to North America and entered into coaching. Berry spent nine years in Spokane, Wash., coaching a variety of minor hockey levels as well as at junior B.

He returned to Westman and spent four years with the Chiefs as an assistant coach to Garth Mitchell. That was his last stop before heading to Dauphin.

Kings’ president and governor Randy Daley said they got their man.

“The selection committee had a tough task ahead of them in choosing a new leader for this team,” Daley stated in a news release. “We had many strong, qualified candidates but Marc put forward an impressive application and blew us away with his preparedness, as well as with his contacts, plans, and passion for the Kings. It was a unanimous decision and we are confident that Marc can lead and develop this team.”

Berry wants his team be quick, gritty and diligent at getting pucks to the net. After two tough years, however, he cautions transforming the Kings into a winner isn’t going to be instantaneous.

“People have to realize it’s not something that’s going to change overnight. There’s a type of player and a type of personality that we want to be bringing in here,” he said. “We want to be hard-working, we want to be a good, honest team that puts out an effort every night and we want to compete every night and the biggest thing, I think, is we want to be pushing on these players to be better every day and that’s where we are going to start.”

Meanwhile, the Kings are in the process of hiring a full-time marketing director.

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