WEST VALLEY CITY -- If they had their druthers, the Utah Grizzlies would love Butch Goring to stay here and coach until he trades in his hockey stick for a cane.
Bob Bourne, on the other hand, has been counting the days until Goring leaves Utah."I've been waiting for Butch to leave for about three years now," Bourne joked.
The quip drew a huge chuckle from the crowd at the press conference announcing his hiring as Utah's new head coach Monday afternoon at the E Center. Bourne, of course, replaces Goring who is returning to New York to coach their former NHL team, the Islanders.
Though they're losing the only coach the franchise has ever known, the Grizzlies are optimistic the hiring of Bourne will help soften the blow. Bourne impressed players and the front office while he was with Utah two years ago as Goring's assistant, and he finished fourth in balloting for IHL coach of the year with Las Vegas this past season.
"I don't think they made a mistake," Bourne said, referring to his new bosses, Grizz owner David Elmore and president Tim Mouser, who both expressed confidence in him at the conference. "I'm confident in building a team No. 1. And I'm confident in being able to coach them."
The Grizz players are also confident Utah made a wise choice.
"I know everyone that's here right now is excited to have him. A lot of guys will be excited to come here because he's here," said defenseman Rod Miller, who's under contract with the Grizz for another year. "He's going to have no problem earning everybody's respect a lot like Butch had. I think it's going to be fun playing for him."
It will be fun for Bourne if they're winning, and that's what he plans on doing immediately with the Grizzlies.
"I see no reason why we can't win (the championship) this year," he said. "My whole thing is to win. I played for 14 years, and I only won four (Stanley Cups). The other 10 years were unsuccessful."
Winning is nothing new to the Grizzlies, but it might look a bit different with Bourne. He wants to make the Grizz bigger, tougher and more physical. He will also shy away from trapping and Goring's finesse style, and he'd like to be an offensive machine.
"I like a more high-scoring team," he said. "I like a more wide-open style of hockey. I think it's a lot more entertaining."
Bourne has two top priorities as coach and general manager -- secure a partial affiliation with an NHL team (he mentioned Montreal, Detroit, Vancouver and Phoenix as possibilities) and get a top-notch goalie who will be with the team for most of the year. Last season, the Grizz used a whopping 10 different netminders. It's likely, however, that none of them will be back with Utah. Rather, Bourne would prefer to acquire an NHL team's third goalie.
"It's just been proven time and time again if you don't have a goalie you can't win at this level," he said.
Bourne comes into Utah with two years of head-coaching experience under his belt. Along with his stint with the now-defunct Thunder, he coached the Central Texas Stampede to the best regular-season record in the Western Professional Hockey League in 1996-97.
But he calls this one the "cream of the crop."
"I feel special standing up here, because there are many, many people that were looking for this job and would love to come to Utah," he said. "It's a first-class organization, a first-class city, a first-class building and first-class ownership. . . . It reminds me so much of a National Hockey League franchise."
Though the Grizzlies barely introduced Bourne as their second-ever coach, the former stock broker pretty much knew he was headed here shortly after Goring accepted the position on the Isle earlier this month.
"The process didn't take very long. I had an awful lot of support here and I made a lot of friends. That really helped me out," he said. "I just hope it works out now."