Abbotsford Heat

This is Playfair’s second stint as a head coach in the American Hockey League. Playfair was appointed head coach of the Saint John Flames on August 10, 2000 - he spent three seasons in that position. During the 2000-01 season, his first behind the bench in Saint John, Playfair led Saint John to their first American Hockey League Calder Cup championship and was named the Minor League Professional Coach of the year by The Hockey News. Over the course of his tenure in Saint John, Playfair posted a record featuring 83 wins 77 regulation losses, 22 ties and 10 overtime losses.
Prior to joining the Saint John organization, Playfair was the head coach of the Michigan K-Wings of the International Hockey League. He served as an assistant coach with the K-Wings for three seasons before being named head coach on January 25, 2000. The balance of Playfair’s head coaching experience includes three seasons as bench boss of the Dayton Bombers of the East Coast Hockey League.
The 45-year old native of Fort St. James, British Columbia played nine seasons of professional hockey including 21 games in the National Hockey League with the Edmonton Oilers and the Chicago Blackhawks. Playfair was selected as Edmonton’s first choice, 20th overall, in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. He captained the Indianapolis Ice (IHL) to the 1990 Turner Cup championship but was forced to retire from playing due to an eye injury suffered during the 1991-92 campaign. As a junior, Playfair played with the Portland Winterhawks for two seasons where he captured a Memorial Cup in 1983.

The 36 year old is in his 14th season with the organization having helped the Stingrays win the Kelly Cup in 1997 and 2001. The defenseman had 95 points and ranks fifth among Stingrays players with 794 regular season penalty minutes while his 279 regular games are seventh. He played nine seasons in the ECHL and had 173 points and 1,210 penalty minutes in 434 regular season games and 17 points and 157 penalty minutes in 56 postseason games with South Carolina and Huntington. He also played parts of three seasons in the American Hockey League and the original International Hockey League where he had 26 points and 420 penalty minutes in 148 games. Bednar and his wife Susan have a son, Kruz, and a daughter, Savega.

STEVE O'ROURKE - Assistant Coach

Steve O’Rourke comes to the Abbotsford Heat from the Okanagan Hockey School where he was the Operations Manager. O’Rourke has a wide range of coaching experience, from the KIJHL, to Major Midget in the Okanagan, to the B.C. Cup. His playing career concluded with three seasons in the UHL with Quad City, Muskegon, and Adirondack. O’Rourke also spent time playing with Mississippi and Louisiana (ECHL), Bracknell (BISL), University of Lethbridge (CWUAA), Pentiction (BCHL) and Tri-City and Moose Jaw (WHL). He was drafted in the seventh round (159th overall) by the New York Islanders in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft.

DJ AMADIO – Athletic Trainer

SHAWN ‘STIXY’ SMITH – Equipment Manager

SCOTT STARRAK – Assistant Equipment Manager