It can be considered as, “out of the blue,” both figuratively, and literally.

The Kitchener Rangers have announced they’ve accepted the resignation of Head Coach Mike Van Ryn after only one season.

He is one of three finalists for the Matt Leyden Trophy as OHL Coach of the Year.

Rangers General Manager Murray Hiebert got the call from Van Ryn today.

“He was probably as shaken up as I was,” said Hiebert. “It wasn’t an early decision he came to. When you make theses decisions, based on a whole bunch of circumstances, first and foremost family decisions, I don’t think they’re ever easy.”

“I know Mike truly loved it here, but he made the decision and I just reaffirmed it, somethings in life are more important than hockey, and putting family first is never a bad thing.”

“It was tough to come to terms with this decision, but it was the right one for my family,” said Van Ryn in a release.

“I’m extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity I did in Kitchener, and enjoyed watching our players grow and develop over the past three seasons.”

Many people think Van Ryn could be ready to take his skills to the professional level. If that’s the case, he didn’t show his cards to Hiebert.

“He said he doesn’t have anything in line right now. Whether that comes about, [we’ll] have to stay tuned to find out if there is something in the pipeline,” said Hiebert. “I kind of had the feeling that he didn’t have anything at this moment, no.”

As for Hiebert and the Blueshirts, it’s the second summer in a row they’ll be looking for a new bench boss.

“We will certainly have a meeting tomorrow when Steve Bienkowski, Mike McKenzie and myself sit down and we’ll look at what our options are.”

You can listen to our Chris Pope speak with Kitchener Rangers’ GM Murray Hiebert below.