The following is a press release from the Tri-City Storm:

KEARNEY - The Tri-City Storm is pleased to announce the hiring of Drew Schoneck (pronounced Shen-ick) as the new head coach of the Tri-City Storm. Schoneck, 35, from Abbey, Saskatchewan has been involved in hockey his whole life playing at the Junior, College and Minor League level as a defensemen. In 1998 Schoneck began coaching as an assistant at the junior level in the WHL.

Owner Kirk Brooks met Schoneck in 2004 as an assistant of the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. Schoneck, the former coach-of-the-year in the Manitoba Junior League and a one-time head coach of the BCHL's Powell River Kings, is expected to bring stability and consistency to the Storm. Coach Schoneck will bring his defensive experience to bear on the Storm organization stating, "Our major emphasis will be on defense. I've always believed that we build from the back forward starting with the goalies to create a team that will compete night after night. This is a long season and goal scorers will get hot and cold. During the cold times we need to limit the opposition to be able to win in this league (USHL)." Schoneck was most recently the head coach of the Prince George Cougars of the WHL.

Schoneck will assume the position of General Manager and Head Coach immediately as the USHL draft is less than 30 days away. The USHL will also be holding their showcases for future draft choices this month that need to be scouted.

Brooks wanted to get someone in place right away to move the franchise forward. "The Storm has many good prospects on their future list that need to be contacted and convinced to come play for the Storm. This will not be an easy task but I have the utmost confidence that Drew can get the job done," Brooks stated. Brooks wanted to make sure that he brought in someone who had both youthful vision and a basis in the core fundamentals needed to win - "The Storm's main problem has not been offense, it's been keeping the opponents off the scoreboard. With the return of veteran forwards Anthony DeCenzo, Josh Berge and Radoslav Illo along with future prospects like Beau Bennett and Jaden Schwartz, we shouldn't have problems putting some goals on the board. Coach Schoneck's defensive strength should be what we need to turn things around." Drew is married to Lindsay and they have a three-year-old son Conner.