Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies are proud to announce that they have promoted Associate Coach & Director of Player Personnel Geoff Grimwood to the position of Head Coach and General Manager effective immediately on a multi-year contract.
Grimwood filled in admirably for previous head coach Rylan Ferster who took a leave from the team in Mid-March. The Grizzlies did not miss a beat as Grimwood helped guide them to the Coastal Conference Final where they ultimately fell in five games to the Chilliwack Chiefs.
“It is with a lot of excitement that I accept the GM/Head Coach position going forward with the Grizzlies,” said Geoff. “I would like to thank David Michaud and Jim Hartshorne for the opportunity. I don’t take the responsibility lightly and am humbled by the faith they have put in me. I would also like to thank Rylan Ferster for hiring me three years ago as his assistant coach. I am looking forward to building on all the work he has done here building the program.”
Grimwood has served as the Associate Coach of the Grizzlies for three years since joining the staff in the 2022-23 season. Before that, however, he was no stranger to the BCHL or Head Coaching.
Geoff began his coaching career as an assistant with the Victoria Cougars of the VIJHL from 2005-2009 (league champion in 2007 & 2009) before accepting the Head Coach position with the Peninsula Panthers (VIJHL) from 2009-10 where he brought them to the league final and snagged the championship.
Grimwood then made stops in Powell River (BCHL), Victoria (WHL) and Winkler (MJHL) as an assistant coach as well time with; Kindersley (SJHL), West Kelowna (BCHL), Swan Valley (MJHL), Cowichan (BCHL) and Kamloops (KIJHL) as head coach. His vast junior hockey coaching experience bodes well for the Grizzlies program.
“I’m really excited to have Geoff take over as our new head coach and general manager,” said Grizzlies president David Michaud. “I’ve known Geoff for many years and finally getting the opportunity to work with him this past season has been tremendous. Philosophically we share a similar vision for the direction of the Grizzlies, and I’ll do what I can to help support our goals of winning a BCHL Championship together.”
This hiring might mean just a bit more to Grimwood as he was born and raised in Victoria and came up through the minor hockey system. Grimwood even appeared in 29 games as a member of the Victoria Salsa in the 1998-99 season. “We have a really strong returning group of players who learned a lot during our playoff run this spring. We are looking forward to continuing our growth as a program,” Geoff closed with.
