Memorial Cup a ‘hair-raising’ experience for a couple of Rangers coaches
Posted May 28, 2026 04:01:57 AM.
Last Updated May 28, 2026 03:39:06 PM.
A deal is a deal.
That’s what Kitchener Rangers associate coach and assistant general manager Jeff Kyrzakos says with a shrug.
His once salt-and-pepper hair is now much darker thanks to a promise he made with fellow coach Jordan DeKort. When Jussi Ahokas was hired as the head coach three years ago, and this team of coaches was assembled, Kyrzakos told DeKort that if the Rangers won an OHL championship, he’d dye the grey out of his hair.
In return, Dekort — ten years Kyrzakos’ junior — would dye his dark hair grey.
“I look ridiculous,” Kyrzakos sighs. “I’m used to looking in the mirror and seeing a lighter tone. But if you didn’t know me, you’d have no idea I dyed my hair.”
When his mom, Patti, arrived in Kelowna last Friday, Kyrzakos greeted her wearing a baseball cap. Though Patti had heard about the dye job, Kyrzakos was keeping her in suspense a while longer. Of course, when he was behind the bench for the Rangers’ first game of the Memorial Cup round robin, there was no more hiding under a hat.
Kyrzakos says the new ‘do gave his mom a good laugh, but the players are a different story.
“All the players think it looks good and wonder if I’m going to keep it,” Kyrzakos shares. “Not a chance.”
The younger DeKort, meanwhile, seems to be embracing as opposed to resisting his new look.
“After we won Game 4 in Barrie, the appointment was booked,” explains the Rangers goaltender and video coach. “We followed through; now we’re in Kelowna, and he has black hair, and I have white hair. So, everything is right in the world.”
While the darker-haired Kyrzakos got a laugh out of his mom, DeKort’s shock of white hair has been a hit.
“It’s honestly been rave reviews for the most part,” he confessed. “I’ve been trying some new styles, too. Put it up, put it down, so we’re really playing around with it in Kelowna. I think it’s the right place to play around with it, too.”
A three-year-old deal, in exchange for a championship, something neither coach would change for the world. DeKort says this staff — along with Kyrzakos and Ahokas, fellow assistant coaches Brad Flynn and Brandon Merli included — combines to create a special group.
“It really is family. It’s a little bit cliché to say, but we spend so much time together, and there’s no four other people I’d rather spend that time with,” DeKort says. “We’re so tight, and it’s been such a fun journey, these three years together, building all of this. And, hopefully, we can cap it off with something pretty special for the city.”
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