When Glen Hanlon stepped down from being general manager for the Vancouver Giants, the team was sent looking for someone to fill the shoes of Hanlon who is a well respected hockey mind.
Turns out there was someone with a plethora of experience who was more than ready to fill those shoes and finally take on the role of WHL general manager after working in and around the league since the 1980’s.
That someone was 48-year-old Barclay Parneta, who first worked for a WHL team back in the late 1980’s.
“I never played as an overage in Junior. I was playing in the B.C. Hockey League. I had some experience with the Seattle Thunderbirds – I played six games as a 16-year-old. I had the itch and I really thought that I’d be interested in it. I actually started with the Tri-City Americans when Ron Dixon ran the team and the following year I went to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
That itch turned into a fever and Parneta has been scouting hockey in some form ever since. That is 30 years of experience.
His time in Medicine Hat was his introduction and his recollection of players he scouted way back then is still strong.
“This would have been when David Cooper, Sonny Mignacca Mike Rathje were play, way back when. I was there for a couple of years and then Scott Bonner got the head scouting job in Tri-City and brought be back in the mix. He gave me some opportunities and helped me get where I am today.”
Bonner is a constant in his career. He scouted for a long time with Parneta in Tri-City and was the only other general manager in the history of the Giants besides Hanlon and Barclay.
Another person who played the roles of friend and mentor for him is Tri-City Americans governor and general manager Bob Tory. Parneta served as Tory’s assistant general manager for the past three seasons, prior to his moving up and taking the head job with Vancouver.
“You always want to strive to move up just like the players. Whether it is different levels or larger positions with more responsibilities. Vancouver – being my hometown it is is my dream job. Bob was really a mentor of mine and helped me navigate through some of the G.M. things I may not have known about and included me in on a lot. It was really instrumental in me being able to become a G.M. when the time came.”
While his WHL resume would be enough alone to make him qualified, Parneta also has some NHL scouting experience.
“I spent eight years in the NHL. Five years in St Louis, two years in what was then the Phoenix Coyotes and I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to be there when they went bankrupt.
NHL scouting is a different art. NHL guys are a little older so it is not as difficult as watching a 14-year-old and trying to project but ti still has it’s own difficulties and idiosyncrasies.”
One thing that he has picked up in those many years in hockey is the importance of keeping in touch with your former players.
“I’m always going to stay in touch. A lot of the guys from Tri-City saw when I got the job in Vancouver and reached out to me and said congrats. Even in Vancouver, building an alumni and making sure that those people are part of the history of the Giants and what we are doing there. Bob is really good at that down in Tri-City and that is something I want to do in Vancouver. even though those guys weren’t my guys previously.”
While the job was daunting enough for a first-time G.M, even with his experience, it was made tougher by his having to hire a new coaching staff.
He ended up hiring Michael Dyck, formerly of the Lethbridge Hurricanes Midget AAA team, as his new head coach.
“I wanted people that I had familiarity with and people I trusted and knew the way they coached and taught the younger generation of kids. The guys that I brought in fit that mold.”
That mold has been a successful one so far in 2018-19 for Parneta, Dyck and the Giants.
Their 21-6-2-0 record through 29 games has them with 44 points, 12 ahead of the Kelowna Rockets for first place in the B.C. Division.
For a franchise that has not had 40 wins since 2011-12 and has not made it out of the first round since 2009-10, the start of the Parneta era with Vancouver has been an extremely promising one.
