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Former Steinbach Pistons Head Coach Rich Gosselin

The 'Rich Gosselin' era with the Steinbach Pistons came to an abrupt end Thursday morning when the coach handed in his resignation.  It came as a surprise to some, but the man himself openly admits he's been thinking about leaving for a while now.

"I just felt for me it was time.  I've been working pretty hard for the past two and a half years and there was a lot going on.  I just felt it was time for me and for the team to get some new life.  I know that Paul (Dyck) is ready to take the program and I'm sure he's going to do a great job.  He knows the players very well and I think the team needed a little life going into Christmas.  I felt it was just the right time."

Gosselin is quick to add he was in no way pressured to resign and says he had a great relationship with owner Mel Sonnenberg.  

When asked about how he'll view his time with the Pistons, the St.Pierre product says he took the team as far as he could.

"I think that every season we had improved the team.  The first season was very difficult because we didn't know what we were getting into, we didn't know any of the players.  Obviously, that was a learning season for us.  The second season was a pretty decent season.  We got it up to 19 wins and we competed hard.  This year, there was high expectations at the beginning of the season and I think this was the best team we've had in the three seasons since we started up."

But, Gosselin admits this season had more challenges than he ever thought they would.  The injury bug hit them hard and a number of the team's top players quit on the club and had to be traded, the most recent being leading-scorer and captain Cole Brunet, who was shipped to Dauphin.  That left the team handicapped most nights on the ice and unable to attract top talent off of it.

When asked what's next, the former European star says it's time to rest and recharge.

"I'm going to take some time for myself and have a good Christmas with my family.  I'll re-assess the situation after Christmas.  I've got a little problem with a hip here that I may have to get taken care of in January.  After recuperating from the hip operation, I'll see where I might be going next or what I want to do.  I really don't know at this point.  I want to take some time to reflect before I see what my next move is."

Gosselin leaves the team having coached them to 43 wins and 113 losses - 8 of which came in overtime