A new coaching staff will be behind the Eastman bench when the Selects start the 2023 portion of their Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League season next month.

Head coach Dwight Hirst resigned Thursday morning just one day after Eastman dropped a 7-3 decision to the Winnipeg Bruins at the Sun Gro Centre in Beausejour.

Assistants Cory D’Ottavio and Mark Woloshyn are also leaving the team.

“My time and energy with my own family, is what is required right now,” noted Hirst in his resignation letter to the Eastman Minor Hockey Association. “Thank you for the opportunities this position has provided me with during my tenure at U-18 AAA and will forever by grateful for the steppingstones it’s provided for me moving forward, in my coaching pathways.”

The Selects have a 13-14-0-1 record and occupy the eighth and final playoff spot at the Christmas break.

The team suffered a season high eight-game losing skid that started in late October and then reeled off five straight wins.

Eastman lost three of four including a pair of games to the defending champion Winnipeg Wild before the break.

Hirst joined the Selects as a co-coach with Darren Wong in late November of 2019. Hirst, Wong and D’Ottavio replaced Chris MacKinnon, Jordan Wohlgemuth and Nic Plett seven weeks into the 2019-2020 season.

Hirst became head coach of the team in the fall of 2020.

The Selects return to the ice on January 6th & 7th at the Sun Gro Centre when they face the Norman Northstars.