The Grand Rapids Griffins announced yesterday that they had hired Kootenay Ice athletic trainer Brad Shaw to be their medical therapist.

Within a couple of hours of signing on with the Detroit Red Wings’ top affiliate last week, Shaw said he was getting congratulatory texts from folks throughout the hockey world. Last Saturday he sent out a Facebook message so his friends would find out what media reports would soon confirm: that he would be moving up to the American Hockey League.

Shaw said it’s been difficult to say goodbye to friends and colleagues of the past three years, but it was especially tough breaking the news to the recently promoted Ice head coach Kris Knoblauch.

“That was probably one of the hardest phone calls that I had to make to tell somebody was to Knobber, because the last of his staff was jumping ship on him,” said Shaw. “He said he was happy for me and glad for the opportunity. But in the same sense it’s hard to leave people behind.”

Shaw and Knoblauch joined the Kootenay staff in the summer of 2007, alongside then-head coach Mark Holick.

“It is kind of weird,” said Knoblauch. “The three of us came together. Now I’m the only one who’s still around. We’re going to miss Brad. He’s so important in the room.”

The coach said it would have been nice to have Shaw along for the transition to a new coaching staff, but has faith that his recently hired replacement Marty Palechuk will do a wonderful job.

The first to go this off-season, Holick took the head coaching position with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch; they won’t play the Griffins as they are in different conferences.

Shaw’s sadness at having to leave the city and organization that welcomed him and his now-wife Cori with open arms will be overshadowed by the opportunity he is getting in the pro ranks.

“It’s obviously very exciting: you can’t really pick a much better organization than the Red Wings. I kind of fluked that one out pretty good,” he said.

“Everyone in Grand Rapids has been more than easy to deal with. They understand the timing is not great for anybody, and they’re bending over backwards to help make the transition as smooth as possible.”

The position became available because the Griffins’ previous therapist took a job with a medical supply company late in the summer, wanting to spend more time with his young family.

Shaw’s previous employer, the Manitoba Moose put his name up for the position before he even knew it was open. He found out on a particularly lucky Friday the 13th.

“It was: send a resume in, and a whirlwind later I was hired,” he said.

Shaw had applied for a couple of other positions this summer but hadn’t heard anything and was settling in for another Cranbrook winter.

“That was the hardest thing for me,” he said. “You’re getting excited for your training camp, looking forward to the season, the outdoor game, and then it’s like the rug gets pulled out from underneath you — but in a good way.”

Shaw got to know the Griffins when he was the visiting room attendant for the Moose, and Grand Rapids’ equipment manager put in a good word for him.

Shaw is currently waiting for immigration issues to be ironed out; he wants to be down by the middle of next week, and ready to open Wings’ rookie camp on Sept. 10 in Traverse City, Mich.

“That will give me time to at least see the rink in Grand Rapids and kind of get to know the city a little bit and see where you want to live, if you want to buy or rent.”

Cori will stay behind to tie up loose ends, and will join Shaw once their house is sold.

“In the meantime, I’ll be living the bachelor life in Grand Rapids, just trying to get my bearings, get used to the American lifestyle,” he said, laughing at the mention of cheap beer available in grocery stores Stateside.

“Those are the good things about it. It’s tough to leave Canada behind too, but it’ll always be home.”

Kootenay general manager Jeff Chynoweth said trainers like Shaw seldom get the credit they deserve as the hardest-working employees on a team.

“They’re the buffer between the coaching staff and the players, and that’s a fine line. Very few trainers can do it as well as Brad Shaw has over the last three years,” said Chynoweth.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s moved on. We’re very proud of him. As you know, we’re an organization that takes a lot of pride moving our coaches, managers and training staff onto bigger and better things. That’s, to me, what the Western Hockey League is about.”