Former Trail Smoke Eaters head coach and general manager Tim Fragle has joined the Everett Silvertips of the WHL.
Fragle, 45, will be an assistant coach with the club after five years with the Smokies. Trail qualified for the playoffs each of the four eligible seasons under Fragle’s direction (excluding the bubble season of 2021).
The Smoke Eaters posted a 35-13-3-1 record last season, their best campaign since 2019-20 and fourth-best in franchise history dating back to 1995. He was named the Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy winner for BCHL Coach of the Year and helped lead the Smoke Eaters to a franchise-record 15-game win streak over the course of the 2024-25 season.
He departed the Smoke Eaters as the franchise’s all-time winningest head coach with 112 victories. As a junior head coach, he has amassed 427 total wins.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be joining the Everett Silvertips organization,” Fragle said in a news release. “I’m definitely looking forward to working with the entire staff.”
Prior to his time with the Trail Smoke Eaters, Fragle was the head coach of his alma mater Northern Alberta Institute of Technology for four seasons. The Ooks finished first in all four seasons with a combined record of 95-21-9-2 in 127 games, and Fragle earned Coach of the Year honors in three separate seasons at NAIT (2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20).
He also served as general manager/head coach of the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders for six seasons. He has coached with Hockey Canada twice in the World Junior-A Championship, both as an assistant in 2015 and winning gold as a head coach in 2016.
“Tim has a tremendous coaching resume and a proven track record of on-ice success,” Silvertips general manager Mike Fraser said in the release. “He has developed players everywhere he’s been. He fits in well with our style of play and brings a lot of intangibles with him to Everett.”
As a player, Fragle was a captain in the BCHL with the Trail Smoke Eaters in 1999-00, before rounding out his junior career in the AJHL with the Sherwood Park Crusaders in 2000-01. He attended Northern Alberta Institute of Technology for three years thereafter, graduating with 73 games played and 39 total points at the ACAC level.
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyKootenayNow News Alerts.
