Burnaby Express interim head coach Dacry Rota has announced that Bill Zaharia and Tyler Kuntz have joined the Express as Assistant Coaches for the remainder of the 2009/10 season.
Both Bill and Tyler have long time ties with Darcy. Bill was an assistant coach for Rota in the inaugural 1998/99 Burnaby Bulldogs season. Tyler was a 20 years old defenseman/forward who Rota acquired for the Bulldogs from the Saskatchewan Junior A Hockey League.
Bill has a long history of coaching in BC, as he has coached teams from Atom levels through to Junior A. He is well respected with the BC High Performance Programs as a coach, mentor, and evaluator. Bill has extensive scouting experience in the Western Hockey League with Spokane and Prince Albert.
In Tyler's only year with the Burnaby Bulldogs he was an alternate team captain and helped the Bulldogs make the playoffs in their first season. He then played five seasons for the UBC Hockey Team. In his third and fourth year Tyler was an alternate captain and in his final year was their team captain. Kuntz was a recipient of the highly regarded Vancouver Canucks Alumni Scholarship and graduated with a degree in Human Kinetics. After graduation Tyler played pro hockey or coached in Germany, the Central Hockey League and Japan. He has also been involved with the UBC Men's Hockey Program as a full time assistant coach and was currently assisting their team this season.
“I welcome both Bill and Tyler to the Express organization and look forward to working with them,” says Rota, “I know both of the very well and feel we will make a good coaching team for our Express players and for the rest of the season. I would also like to thank both Dan Cioffi and Jason Fothergill for their contribuitions as Assistant Coaches for the past three seasons”
Both Bill and Tyler were on the bench for their first game last Friday vs. the Langley Chiefs. The Express won 5-3 and are 2-0-1 with the new coaching staff.
Up next is a 3 game home-away-home matchup vs the Surrey Eagles starting Wednesday January 27 at Bill Copeland Arena. Puck drop at 7:00pm
