Brown Bears name Keenan Kelly as new Head Coach

The Kenai River Brown Bears, proud members of the North American Hockey League, have announced that they have named Keenan Kelly the new Head Coach for the 2021-22 season.

“We are excited to have Keenan Kelly join the Brown Bears as our new Head Coach,” said General Manager Chris Hedlund.  “His NAHL experience, passion, and overall drive are going to be great assets to our organization.  Keenan brings valuable tenure within our league, with proven coaching success, and overall knowledge of the NAHL that will ensure a smooth transition into the head coaching role for us.” 

The NAHL is widely recognized as the “League of Opportunity”, and Keenan is another shining example of success in its Ladder of Development. Kelly, a native of Boise, ID spent the 2020-21 season with the Wichita Falls Warriors as the Asst GM/Associate Head Coach. 

In their inaugural season, Kelly was instrumental in the success the team achieved on and off the ice as the Warriors qualified for the playoffs.  In 2019-20 Kelly held the same role for the New Mexico Ice Wolves in their inaugural season in the NAHL. Prior to that, he spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Austin Bruins of the NAHL. 

Kelly will begin immediately focusing on the upcoming draft and the pre-draft camps scheduled for June 24-26 at Janesville WI, July 1-3 at Prior Lake MN and July 7-9 at Sylvania OH.  Kelly will be building on the Brown Bears recent playoff success.

Dubinsky promoted to Associate Head Coach

Following a historic playoff run, the Brown Bears are proud to announce the promotion of Josh Dubinsky to Associate Head Coach.  Dubinsky took the helm just prior to playoffs and guided the Brown Bears to within one goal of the Robertson Cup finals.  Losing in Game 5 of the Midwest Division finals to the Minnesota Magicians, the Bears made franchise history wining the opening round of playoffs over the Janesville Jets. “Josh was great in the final push to our season,” Stated GM Chris Hedlund.  “He was calm and poised throughout the playoff run and did a great job in bench management.  We look forward to his second season with the Brown Bears and his continued growth.”