All the applicants have been pared down to one as the Humboldt Broncos have hired their new assistant coach for the 2019/2020 season.

The Humboldt Broncos announced on June 5th that Curtis Toneff will become the new assistant coach.

The 26-year-old Nanaimo, BC native has been the Head Coach for the Nanaimo Buccaneers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League for the last two seasons. He is no stranger to the SJHL, as back in 2011/12 he suited up for 33 games as a player for the Battlefords Northstars, before continuing his playing days in the BCHL, MJHL and AJHL.

"It's an honour to join the Humboldt Broncos organization and work with Head Coach, Scott Barney. Throughout the interview process, our conversations continually indicated that we share a lot of the same philosophies on the game. I look forward to meeting the players, personnel, and fans come August. In my role, I will be working closely with the teams' defence. I'm both excited and grateful for this opportunity to join the Humboldt Broncos organization," said Toneff in a statement released by the Broncos.

Head Coach Scott Barney has been on the lookout for a new assistant coach since the end of the 2018/19 season when Troy Smith departed to seek other opportunities.

"We are really happy to bring Curtis Toneff on board. Obviously, it was a long search and we had a lot of highly qualified applicants. In the end, every time I talked to Curtis we just seemed to be on the same page. He's a young guy that's motivated to become a head coach. He's a guy that's going to push me every day and in the end, make our players better. With the young guys coming in, we want to develop them and make them better for the future of the Broncos' organization," said Barney.

Barney and Toneff will have the reigns this upcoming season when the Broncos take the ice in September.