Nelson's Cam Keith picked to lead BCHL Trail Smokies
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Trail Smoke Eaters dipped into the professional leagues to hire Cam Keith as the new coach of the BC Hockey League franchise.
Tom Gawryletz, president of the Trail Smoke Eaters, made the announcement Friday.
“I am deeply honored to be selected as the Head Coach for the Trail Smoke Eaters and look forward to giving back to a community that gave me so much,” the former Nelson native said on the Smokies website.
Keith, who played for the Smokies during his time in the BCHL during the 1999-2000 season, played 54 games with Trail, scoring 28 goals and 30 assists for 58 points.
Keith also played for Victoria Salsa from 1997-1999.
Keith comes to the Silver City after spending time as an assistant coach with Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League.
The Cyclones are affiliated with Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League, with is the minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
Keith began coach after a 10-year playing career, spanning three leagues as well as overseas.
In 146 games in the AHL with Hartford, St. John’s and Peoria he amassed 36 points, (14 goals, 22 assists). In 213 regular season games in the ECHL he scored 54 goals along with 98 assists for a total of 152 points.
In the ECHL he played for the Pensecola Ice Pilots and the Alaska Aces winning the Kelly Cup with the Aces in 2006.
The Partrick J. Kelly Cup is awarded annually to the playoff champions of the ECHL.
In that playoff year he finished seventh overall on the Aces with 12 points (6 goals and 6 assists) in 17 games and was instrumental in helping his team capture the cup.
In post season contests, playing for the Kelly Cup, Cam was nearly a point-per-game player stockpiling 43 points (13 goals, 30 assists) in 49 games.
During his tenure in collegiate hockey, playing for University of Alaska-Fairbanks. he accrued 100 points with 41 goals and 59 assists in 144 games. He finished in the Nanooks top six in scoring during each of his four seasons.
“My past experience in Trail and my roots in the Kootenays have drawn me back to Trail hockey and the BCHL,” Keith said.
“My history with the Trail community gives me the confidence and pride to recruit the character players that best exemplifies Trail Smoke Eater Hockey.”
Gawryletz said the Smoke Eaters are also confident that Keith will bring those same attributes to our organization.
Keith, the 14th coach in Smokies history, replaces Nick Deschenes, who was relieved of his duties as GM/Head Coach of the Trail Smoke Eaters in February.
The Smokies finished the 2015-16 season in sixth spot in the Interior Division of the BCHL with a 23-33-2-0 record.
Trail hosts a Summer Identification Camp July 8-10 in Couer d’ Alene, Idaho.
