Chad Leslie is now officially a full-time general manager in the Western Hockey League, but his journey started right here in southeastern Saskatchewan.

Leslie, a native of Elkhorn Man., began his coaching career in 2009 as an assistant with the Estevan Bruins. He took over as the head coach midway through the 2010-2011 season and actually coached in the last game ever played at the old Civic Auditorium.

"It was a playoff game and obviously we were being eliminated, so it was tough," Leslie recalled. "Our group did a really god job in that first round series with Melville, a lot of overtime games, a lot of triple overtime games. The guys were down in the series I believe and came back...resilient group of guys for sure. Obviously at the time when you're in it, it's not as as special as you remember it now for sure. Pretty neat to be on the bench for the last game for the Bruins there."

His Estevan ties run deeper than just coaching. He played for Estevan back in the 1997-1998 season, notching 64 points in 59 games. And he had family members who also wore the black and gold, including his uncle Gerry Leslie and his older brother Troy.

"It was a very comfortable situation getting moved over to Estevan and finishing out my career there," Leslie said. "Really enjoyed my time as a player in Estevan...I wish that I could have spent a few more years there. It was a little bit of a homecoming for sure."

Leslie has good perspective on Bruins fans, having been on both sides in his playing days, first as a Flin Flon Bomber and then as a Bruin.

"It was a tough place to play. I know when I was a young guy in the league coming into Estevan to play, they had some big teams early on. A lot of older guys, so it was never an easy task coming into play against Estevan for sure and the fans were a big part of that," he said.

"We had tremendous support, the Bruins always have good support...great fans in Estevan," he continued. "They support their team extremely well and they still do."

His coaching gig in Estevan was the first coaching opportunity of his career. He says it laid the foundation for years to come.

"It was a really great experience for me. It's certainly given me the opportunity to develop as a coach and as a hockey person in regards to what the next steps of my career were going to look like," he said. "The experiences I had in Estevan were certainly very beneficial to where I am now."

Where he is now is the general manager of the Western Hockey League's Swift Current Broncos. He had the interim tag removed last week.

"Doing it at the Junior A level certainly has given me some insight to the job I'm doing today. They are similar but this is on a larger scale for sure," Leslie said. "I have had a lot of GM’s reach out and offer support if needed which has been tremendous. These guys have been doing this for along time, they have been ultimate professionals and I have taken every chance I can to listen."

"Every day there are opportunities to learn, and I am certainly going to take advantage of that."