Just over 15 months ago Manny Viveiros was coaching the Swift Current Broncos in Everett against the Silvertips. Earlier today he returned to Everett and stood behind the bench as his new team, the Spokane Chiefs, prepared to take on the Portland Winterhawks at the Everett preseason tournament in the Chiefs first preseason game.
In the span of those 15 months, Viveiros went from winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Broncos to being an assistant coach in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers.
After a disappointing season for the Oilers, Viveiros found himself free to coach again. As soon as he found out the Chiefs were interested, Manny was intrigued.
“We looked at if we were going to come back to the Western Hockey League Spokane was certainly a place we would certainly consider. When I was finished up in Edmonton they called and it was something we said we should seriously consider. We were really happy and we made a good choice. We are looking forward to a strong season this year,” Viveiros said.
Viveiros coached two seasons in the WHL with the then East Division’s Broncos, winning 87 regular season games and the league’s top prize. He also took home the Dunc McCallum trophy as the WHL’s coach of the year. Now he prepares to coach the Chiefs in the Western Conference’s U.S. Division.
“It’s exciting. The U.S. Division is a really good division. Obviously really nice cities. We are really excited to come back to the WHL and be with a great organization like Spokane.”
The man who hired him, Spokane general manager Scott Carter was someone who Viveiros was familiar with when he was working in the director of player personnel role with the Broncos and was looking at adding key players for a long postseason run.
“I talked to him some as part of my GM duties with Swift Current. We talked when we were asking about players. That part was really good so we had an opportunity to build that relationship. It’s been a pretty seamless transition as far as getting going.”
Spokane kicked off their preseason play with a 6-5 loss to the Winterhawks. Viveiros was excited to see his new team in their first game situation under him.
“It was good. We’ve only had two games to really get working on what we want to work on as a team. Everything else right from penalty kill to power play in a game situation we have not really practiced until we got here today. I was happy with the kid’s efforts. Like anything we just need to work on getting rid of those summer habits. As far as kids playing summer hockey and now they get into structured hockey.”
Having been there before with a different organization, Viveiros is well aware of the long journey a WHL season is overall. This preseason game and training camp are just the first steps for the 2019-20 Spokane Chiefs.
The Chiefs have to feel good about having a guy who knows exactly what it takes standing behind their bench.
