The past month has been a tumultuous one in the history of midget AAA hockey in Moose Jaw.

The Moose Jaw Generals' season ended under a cloud of controversy after the firing of head coach Ray Wareham by the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey Association. An appeal to the Saskatchewan Hockey Association has seen the long-time coach reinstated and all parties involved are focused on turning the corner to move forward.

“I was caught very off-guard,” said Wareham in an interview this week with DiscoverMooseJaw.com. “I had no idea that anything like this was going to happen, it was a shock for sure.”

The situation started at the end of the regular season for the Generals as Moose Jaw Minor Hockey decided to fire Wareham after 16 seasons at the helm of the midget AAA hockey program. Cortney Lacelle, vice-president of the M.J.M.H.A. board, said the decision stemmed from some issues that had come up over the past season in regards to former players. Lacelle declined to get into what the exact issues were.

“We had put together a small group to investigate these concerns and it led to us believing that some of these concerns were an issue and it was something that we needed to address,” said Lacelle.

Moose Jaw Minor Hockey interviewed former players regarding the issues and decided to remove Wareham as coach of the Generals, while also clearing house on the Generals' board.

“We probably had five or six players that came to us and then in the investigation, there was probably another 10-12 players that we've been in contact with,” said Lacelle. “Some were on the complainant end, some not willing to speak with us and others that just wanted to leave the past in the past and move on.”

Wareham was initially fired before the final weekend of the regular season, but he was brought back for the final two games before being let go again after the season wrapped up.

He filed for an appeal with the S.H.A. on grounds that the proper procedures weren't followed on the firing. Wareham won the appeal, which has led to him being reinstated.

“SHA looked at our process of how we removed Ray and the board and they felt our process wasn't followed as well as it should of been, so with that, the complainants have the option of reissuing their complaints or let it go,” said Lacelle.

Both sides are now ready to move forward and are focused on working together for the best of the program.

“We've already met with the Generals and we've got a few more meetings in the next couple of weeks to iron out some details on the future with Ray and the Generals,” said Lacelle.

Wareham added, “We're just excited to move forward, we have a great group of people with our AAA board, my staff and all that. We enjoy the age group, we love the game of hockey, we're in it for the kids and we're looking forward to building a stronger relationship with minor hockey.”

Last season saw the Generals miss the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs for the first time since Wareham's first season in 2002-03. However, the young team showed a lot of progress. Wareham said he's ready to get back to focusing on hockey and building off the work they did over the course of the season.

“Of course everything was kind of up in the air at the end of the year and some had asked for their release because of the unknown, but we're getting everybody back,” said Wareham. “We lost Ethan Hein due to the circumstances, but the rest of them are all coming to spring camp and we're excited and looking forward to it.”

The situation seems to have been resolved by the two sides.

The Generals will be back on the ice on the weekend of Apr. 7-8 for their annual Spring Camp at Mosaic Place.