North Bay native Mike Yeo will become the Head Coach of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues.
The team made the announcement today and says current Head Coach Ken Hitchcock will retire following the upcoming season.
Yeo will be an associate coach for now and take over the bench for the 2017-18 season. Yeo had previously been the Head Coach of the Minnesota Wild. In a five year span he coached that club to a 173-132-44 record and three playoff appearances. Yeo and the Wild reached the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in both 2014 and 2015.
Yeo spent 10 season in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, four as an assistant coach, before getting the top job with the Wild.
Yeo is coming off a gold medal performance with Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships in May. He was an assistant coach for the team which defeated Finland 2-0 in the finals in Moscow.
He is the first North Bayite to win gold at the tournament since Craig Rivet did it as well for Canada back in 2003.
Yeo will also be partnering with the Coach4Food program this summer in his hometown. He will give a talk to area coaches that have participated in the Coach4Food program this past hockey season.
