Darren Rumble and Jim McTaggart have been hired as assistant coaches by the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team.
General manager Russ Farwell announced the hirings Tuesday. Seattle hired Steve Konowalchuk as the new head coach June 16 for the T-Birds, who play at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
Rumble was an associate coach with the Lewiston Maineiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season. The team has since been disbanded.
“I am excited to come west to the WHL”, said Rumble in a T-Birds media release. “Steve, Jim and I are going to be a real good fit and work well together. The Thunderbirds have a great history and the new location and facility provides a great hockey environment and an opportunity I could not pass up. I am looking forward to joining the organization and immersing myself and my family in the Kent community.”
McTaggart was an assistant coach with the T-Birds for the last seven seasons under former head coach Rob Sumner. He was also an assistant coach with the T-Birds from 1994 to 1996.
“I am excited for the opportunity to work with Steve and Darren and to continue my relationship with a quality organization,” said McTaggart.
Farwell looks forward to the new hire of Rumble.
“We are excited to add Darren to our coaching staff,” said Farwell. “Steve met with him last week and felt he brought the perfect complement of experiences to round out our staff. We have a number of very good young defensemen coming up and Rumble is the ideal guy to help them develop.”
McTagart gives the team a connection to the past.
“Jim has been a very solid contributor to our coaching staff over the years,” Farwell said. “Jim gives us some continuity from the past, and his input and hockey insight is valuable in all areas.”
Rumble played 193 NHL games as a defenseman with the Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning. In the NHL, he amassed 36 points and had 10 goals and 26 assists with 216 penalty minutes.
Rumble was a member of the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning team that won the Stanley Cup.
In 2007, Rumble joined the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League as an assistant coach. The Admirals are the top minor league affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was promoted to head coach of the Admirals in July of 2008. Rumble was with the Admirals until January of 2010.
Upon retiring from professional hockey in the 2004-05 season, Rumble became an assistant coach with the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League. He was an assistant with the Falcons until taking the position with the Admirals as an assistant coach.
Rumble was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round, 20th overall, in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He and his wife, Jennifer, and their children Chris, Brandon, Alexa and Graeson will be moving to Kent in mid-to-late July.
Meanwhile, Turner Stevenson has elected to pursue coaching opportunities at the American Hockey League level for next season and will not be returning to the Thunderbirds coaching staff.
“Turner was a great source of knowledge and experience for our players over the last four years,” Farwell said. “We wish him luck as he moves on to further his coaching career.”
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