Coaches

Head Coach Ryan Huska

The 2012-13 WHL season is Ryan Huska's sixth season as head coach of the Kelowna Rockets. In his time in Kelowna, he has risen to be one of the top young coaches in Canada. 

In his five seasons, the Rockets have won a WHL championship and a 2nd place finish at the 2009 Memorial Cup. His team's have not finished below .500.

Huska is one of the most decorated amateur hockey men in Canada with four Memorial Cup championship rings to his name. The past two seasons he won a bronze and silver medal as an assistant coach with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

As a player Huska was a centre with the dynasty teams in Kamloops where he won three Memorial Cup championships. He would play 247 career WHL regular season games and 155 playoff games with the Blazers. As a pro he played in the IHL, AHL and also played one game in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks.

After retiring as a player, Huska climbed through the coaching ranks with the Rockets beginning in 2002-03 as an assistant coach before becoming the Rockets seventh head coach in history in 2007.

In 2004 in Kelowna, he earned his fourth Memorial Cup and first as a coach when he was an assistant to Marc Habscheid when the Rockets won the Memorial Cup.In 2008-09 he guided the Rockets to a WHL banner and a Memorial Cup appearance as a head coach.

Born in Cranbrook, he and his wife Denise have two daughters and a son.

Assistant Coach Dan Lambert

Dan Lambert enters his fourth season as a Kelowna Rockets assistant coach. A former professional defenceman, Lambert works with the Rockets defencemen, passing on 19 years of playing experience in North America and in Europe's top-rated league in Germany.

This past summer, Lambert and the rest of the 1989 Memorial Cup champion Swift Current Broncos were inducted into the Saskatchwan Hockey Hall of Fame. The team is also in the Swift Current Broncos Hall of Fame. 

A highly-skilled defenceman, Lambert had over 100 points as a WHL blueliner in one season. He was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the sixth round. He had 6-9-15 in 29 career games for the Nordiques. Lambert played 10 years in German's DEL, considered Europe's top league.

He lives in Kelowna with his wife Melanie and their three daughters.

Assistant Coach Kim Dillabaugh

A Rockets alumni in both Tacoma and Kelowna, goaltender coach Kim Dillabaugh has been with the Rockets since the 2003-04 season.

Dillabaugh is the proud owner of a Stanley Cup ring as one of two LA Kings goaltender coaches. He works with former Oilers goalie Bill Ranford and is in charge of goalie development and spent much of the spring with the Kings as they marched to the Stanley Cup.

During his time in Kelowna he has helped many Rockets goaltenders enjoy success.

Kim lives in Kelowna with his wife Bonnie and they continue to enjoy young daughter Ellie. 

Skills Coach Kim Gellert

Orginally from Ontario, Rockets skills coach Kim Gellert has a decorated hockey resume from being a high scoring import in Europe, to a minor hockey skills coach in Kelowna and a full-time scout with the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. Gellert first joined the Rockets as a skills instructor 2005-06.

After playing junior in his native Ontario and later at Lake Superior State, Gellert went on to a successful playing career in Italy, scoring more than 700 goals and winning six scoring titles over 16 seasons.

He has lived with his wife and kids in Kelowna since 1995.

Athletic Therapist Jeff Thorburn

A native of Dalhousie, New Brunswick, athletic therapist Jeff Thorburn has extensive international experience and has been with the Kelowna Rockets since the 2006-07 Western Hockey League season.

Thorburn has been to two World Junior Championships and has worked with Hockey Canada at the Subway Super Series as well as as the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

He lives in Kelowna with his wife and baby girls Erica and Emma.

 Skating Coach Aaron Konecsni