Wenatchee Wild Announce Clark Elects to Depart Coaching Duties, Move into Full-Time Administrative & Management Role

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WHL Wenatchee Wild

Wenatchee Wild Announce Clark Elects to Depart Coaching Duties, Move into Full-Time Administrative & Management Role

March 27, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release


Wenatchee Wild associate head coach Chris Clark
Wenatchee Wild associate head coach Chris Clark
(Wenatchee Wild, Credit: Paige Bednorz/Kelowna Rockets)

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The Wenatchee Wild, proud members of the Western Hockey League (WHL), have announced today that associate head coach and assistant general manager Chris Clark has elected to step back from coaching duties with the club following the 2024-25 season. He will continue with the organization in a full-time management and administrative role, continuing to serve as the team's assistant general manager while also taking on the duties of the club's Director of Hockey Operations.

"I am extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to stand behind the bench here in Wenatchee since 2008," said Clark. "I am very thankful for all the great coaches and players that I got to work with and alongside during that time, and I am excited for this next chapter and the new challenges ahead. I would like to thank the White family and Bliss for this opportunity and all they do for me and my family."

Clark has been with the Wenatchee organization from its founding in 2008, serving first as a goaltending coach and then as an assistant coach, before taking over head coaching duties from December 2019 to the end of the 2022-23 season. He has remained with the club during the past two seasons as its associate head coach and assistant general manager after the team's transition to the WHL. Clark has become a mainstay for the Wild behind the bench, coaching more than 1,100 regular season and postseason games with Wenatchee.

"The Wild thank Chris for his 17 years on the bench for our club," said Wild general manager Bliss Littler. "He has been a huge reason for the on-ice success that the Wild have enjoyed. Chris has a great analytical mind that makes him a no-brainer to move into a full-time role in management. He will have a larger role in the building of the Wild team and looking after the day-to-day hockey operations of the Wild. I have spent a lot of time with Chris over the last 13 years, and respect Chris as a very good hockey man as well as an outstanding person, family man, and friend. Nobody puts the Wenatchee Wild first more than Chris Clark."

During his time with the Wild, Clark has helped to oversee the team's rise on not just the American junior hockey scene, but also in the Canadian ranks. He has been a part of three division championship runs, and earned two regular-season league titles and a 2018 British Columbia Hockey League crown as part of his 17-year run behind the bench in Wenatchee.

He entered the coaching ranks from a four-year NCAA Division I playing career at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota, and a two-year stint in the British Columbia Hockey League. As a goaltender, he helped to lead the Victoria Salsa to a 2001 BCHL Fred Page Cup championship, before winning another Fred Page Cup 17 years later as an assistant coach for the Wild.

A search is currently underway for a second assistant coach for the Wild.

The Wenatchee Wild sincerely thank Chris Clark for all of his contributions behind the bench over the last 17 years, and wish him continued success in his new role with the club moving forward.

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Images from this story

Wenatchee Wild associate head coach Chris Clark
Wenatchee Wild associate head coach Chris Clark
(Paige Bednorz/Kelowna Rockets)		   

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