'READY FOR THIS CHALLENGE'

The waiting game.

Where minutes feel like hours and hours feel like days.

After concluding his final interview for the Flames head coaching role, Ryan Huska was anxiously awaiting the final word.

Yes or no.

"After you go through your second interview, you are always hoping you hear something sooner or later, whether it's a yay or a nay" Huska said. "It was quiet for a day and then another day and so I found myself on the third day power washing my stones in the backyard for six hours.

"I don't have a weed in my yard right now."

And then the call came from Flames general manager Craig Conroy, but it wasn't the call he was expecting.

"We actually went to see Charley Kobelka (Flames' head coach physiotherapist Kent Kobelka's daughter) sing," Conroy explained. "Ryan and I were there and there were a lot of people there so I didn't want to say anything which was probably a little awkward, I could feel the tension to be honest, there was a lot of tenson. When the concert was over, and we were there a while longer and I texted him later saying 'Could you meet me at the 'Dome tomorrow at 9,' and he quickly got back to me right away that he would be there."

"I jumped in the car afterwards like that's it we're done," Huska laughed about the encounter. "But I loved getting that message later and was probably the first guy here in the morning."

Huska becomes the 24th head coach in Flames history, and it comes after he served as an assistant coach for the past five seasons and has been with the organization for nine years, dating back to his head coaching days with the then Adirondack Flames and Stockton Heat.

And when it came down to it, he checked off all the boxes.

"We wanted to make sure we did all the work behind the scenes to get the right person," Conroy said. "The importance of what I was looking for in a coach, a communicator, a leader, one that could inspire the group, play sound defensive hockey with structure, and the offensive side I want our guys to be creative and take it to the next level. You want to have them have that free reign and do what they do best.

"As we narrowed the search down it became more and more clear to me that Ryan and I had the same vision."

Since his time with the Rockets, Huska has pride himself on being a coach that listens and communicates, and emphasized on building trust with the players is his primary focus.

Sure, being with the club he already has built relationships but now as the bench boss, he's looking to take it even further.

"Not a lot of coaches get the opportunity to move up within the same organization like I'm getting here today," Huska said. "I was told you have two eyes and two ears for a reason and with my coaching I remembered that.

"With my time here in Calgary, I've been fortunate enough to work with some very good coaches. All coaches have had different philosophies, different means of communication, different ways they look at the game and because of that with that experience I have had within this organization, I am 100% confident I am ready for this challenge."

A challenge that begins today, with the next step rounding out the coaching staff for the upcoming season.

Although it's only June, there already is a sense of excitement in the city in what could be, as the Flames look to bounce back after an unfavorable 2022-23 campaign.

The work starts now.

"There's always unhappiness when you don't win," Huska said. "That's the one beauty of all this, the players that had good years last year and the players in their own minds who didn't have years they wanted to, it is a fresh start.

"That is something that is cool because there's different energy around the rink there's a different level of optimism and when you have that and have good relationships with people coming in there's an excitement and buzz.

"You want a group of guys that are coming back fired up and ready to go and from there we are going to work with them every day and we are going to connect them as a team."

All in all, this has been a true dream come true.

"You could probably tell by the smile on my face how excited I am to be here," he said. "I am so proud to be the head coach of this team. I know this role comes with a lot of responsibility to the organization, to our players, and of course to our fans.

"It's something that I'm going to work my absolute hardest to create an environment that's going to allow our players and staff to succeed."