Former Cents coach cut loose by Canucks

Various national sports sources are reporting that assistant coach Mike Kelly has been fired by the Vancouver Canucks.

The last North Bay Centennials head coach was in his second season as an assistant coach with the Canucks.

He was fired on Wednesday along with other assistant Barry Smith.

On Thursday morning, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they have agreed to terms on an extension with head coach Alain Vigneault that keeps him under contract through the 2009-10 season.

Kelly joined the Canucks after working with the Canucks AHL affiliate and Vigneault, in Manitoba.

He collected 96 wins in his four seasons behind the bench with the Centennials from 1998 to 2002.

The Shamrock, PEI native joined the Centennials after guiding the University of New Brunswick to a Canadian University Hockey Championship in the spring of 1998.

With Kelly's experience at the University level and his connection to North Bay, perhaps he is an ideal candidate for the head coaching position with the Nipissing Lakers hockey program which is tentatively set to hit the ice for the fall of 2009.