THE CANADIAN PRESS

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -- Marc Habscheid, who led the Kelowna Rockets to the 2004 Memorial Cup championship, has been in contact with the Western Hockey League's Prince George Cougars about their head coaching position.

But it seems the Cougars and Habscheid, who won gold and silver with Canada's national junior squad and has been an associate coach with the Boston Bruins, aren't a fit for the same reason Habscheid reportedly hasn't been for other vacant WHL jobs. Habscheid has had discussions recently with Portland, Regina, Kamloops, Moose Jaw and Lethbridge and his wish has been to cover the dual roles of coach and GM, not to mention gain a piece of team ownership.

And that's not open for negotiation in Prince George.

"We've had interest from guys like Marc Habscheid down to Junior B coaches," Cougars GM Dallas Thompson told the Prince George Citizen. "We've talked to Marc, and where that goes, I don't know.

"I don't think that will be a fit for us, but maybe it will. He wants a lot of things that I doubt many teams would be willing to give up. I could be wrong, but I don't think so on this one.

"We've talked to a lot of people and we're going to continue to do that."

The Cougars fired head coach Drew Schoneck a week ago. Prince George is fourth in the B.C. Division of the WHL's Western Conference with a 12-18-0-1 record heading into its home game Wednesday night against Swift Current.

Thompson said Wade Klippenstein, who assumed the head coaching duties after Schoneck was dismissed, will remain on the job until season's end.

"This is not a great time to find a guy, and we might try to find him some help (in the form of an assistant coach)," said Thompson. "Wade has some good ideas, he's been a head coach (in the WHL) and he's seen a lot of different parts of the game in different leagues.

"I thought he brought a lot of things together last week, and he had some fresh ideas that the players were excited to see. Drew had his own ideas, and for whatever reason things were getting stale."

.The decision to keep Klippenstein behind the bench is a popular one with the players.

"Things weren't going well and it's been nice to have the change," said captain Dana Tyrell. "We see a little bit of a different side (of Klippenstein) as a head coach.

"He has different systems, different ways he wants us to play, and he's forcing us to work harder."