Dan DaSilva has been promoted to head coach of the Saskatoon Blades with Brennan Sonne leaving to join the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League.
In whirlwind fashion, Dan DaSilva has been promoted to head coach of the Saskatoon Blades after it was announced Monday that Brennan Sonne had accepted a position with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League.
“It’s very special,” DaSilva said Monday. “I don’t even know if I can put into words, honestly. It’s a privilege and it’s an honour to be the head coach of the Blades, a team that I grew up watching coming to this arena. As a young kid sitting up in the rafters and watching some of my early hockey idols, such as Frank Banham, whose number went to the rafters last year, Norm Miracle, and to be sitting here is truly special. I want to make the city proud, being a Saskatoon boy born and raised. I want to make the community proud and I’m going to do my best to do that.”
The 39-year-old Saskatoon native DaSilva joined the Blades coaching staff prior to the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach. After two seasons, DaSilva earned the designation of associate coach alongside Sonne, where he helped lead the Blades to their fifth-ever Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the Western Hockey :League’s top team during the regular season.
“When we got the news about Brennan taking a job in the AHL, it was obvious to us that Dan was more than ready for this opportunity,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestne, whose team was a WHL Eastern Conference finalist the past two seasons. “It was a quick and easy decision for me to offer him the job as head coach. He has learned from one of the best coaches I’ve ever seen, over the last three years, and his respect and love from the players is universally shared.”
As a player, DaSilva spent three seasons with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and collected 151 points in 200 regular-season games. He went on to play 15 seasons as a pro with stops in the AHL, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland.
On the Blades bench, DaSIlva handled the team’s defensive corps and penalty kill.
“It was very important to us to keep the culture and family of the Blades intact and, while Dan will institute his own ideas, in general the day-to-day identity and vibe within our group will remain the same,” said Priestner.
(More to come later)
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.