STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO -- Kenny Simmons is the new head coach of the Steamboat Wranglers. An assistant with the team, Simmons was promoted after former head coach Ryan Dingle took over as Director of Hockey Operations for the Steamboat Stampede Youth Hockey Association.

Simmons said the season working with Dingle prepared him for this opportunity.

“I couldn’t have come into this job without being a coach last year,” Simmons said. “Being an assistant to Ryan was super helpful. I learned so much from him. The help he’s pushed my way and the help he continues to provide is huge. I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”

The Wranglers have a camp scheduled for the second weekend in June and (8-9) and Simmons is excited about the opportunity to see potential new players on the team.

Simmons said he’s looking to build a team that has players willing to give great effort day in and day out and be all in with the team.

“We want guys who want to be there rather than just come to practice to be somewhere,” Simmons said. “We want guys who will show up every day and battle for spots, who are going to be physical and go into the corners and win battles.”

Steamboat won eight games a year ago in its first season in the Western States Hockey League but is aiming to be a much different team during the 2019-20 campaign. Simmons is looking forward to leading the team to new heights.

“We want to have a team full of guys who want to win a championship and move on to play college hockey,” Simmons said. “The league is a great one. There’s a lot of good teams in it, and our division is tough, but we’re looking forward to putting guys out there who can compete and hopefully we can make a run at a championship.”