The Aberdeen Wings have fired their coach.
Pete Sauer was fired Monday from his duties as head coach and general manager of the North American Hockey League team.
"Naturally, I am heartbroken over this decision, but I understand it," Sauer said. "There are only 24 coaches in this league, and it is what happens when you coach at this level. You have to have thick skin, perform and accept responsibility."
The Wings have won eight and lost 19, including two overtime games, this season. Sauer has been head coach and GM with the Wings since they started playing in the NAHL as an expansion team in 2010.
"Wings ownership met today and they came to the conclusion that, in the best interest of the team, a major change was needed," the Aberdeen team said in a release.
The Wings have lost five straight and have slipped into last place in the six-team Central Division after being swept by Coulee Region over the weekend in Wisconsin.
Assistant coach Garrett Strot will serve as the interim head coach until the end of the 2012-13 season.
Sauer thanked the team's owners, the Oddes, for the opportunity to coach the Wings and thanked the team's sponsors, fans and players.
"The way this whole community has rallied around this team has been just unbelievable," Sauer said. "We have a great group of young men on this team who are doing their best. They are just a little young, but they won't quit, and they will turn the corner. Plus, Coach Strot is a really good coach who will do a good job with them."
Sauer said he had the opportunity to resign, but he declined.
"I constantly tell my players that you don't quit on your family and teammates, so there was no way I was going to quit on them and this team," he said. "And I want everyone in Aberdeen to continue to support the players, the Wings and Coach Strot. They work hard and deserve your support."
Strot, of Brooklyn Park, Minn., was hired as a Wings assistant earlier this year. He coached hockey at Osseo High School in Minnesota and in the NAHL with the North Iowa Outlaws and Coulee Region Chill. In March, he was fired as the Chill's head coach after four years with that franchise.
The Wings said a decision on who will coach the Wings for 2013-2014 season will be made at the end of this current season.
The Aberdeen Wings are in their third season of play in the NAHL, a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier II Junior A league. Players are age 16 to 20. They are amateurs who do not get paid, but instead play to earn college scholarships or advance in the amateur leagues.
On Feb. 4, 2010, owner Greg Odde of Aberdeen introduced his family's new team to Aberdeen and Sauer as the Wings' coach and general manager.
Under Sauer, the Wings won 58 games and lost 91, including 13 in overtime. The Wings made the NAHL playoffs last season. They were eliminated by Bismarck, N.D., in the first round, three games to one.
As they have from their start, the Wings have remained in or near the top 10 for attendance in the NAHL. So far this year, they are 12th in attendance in the 24-team league as the Wings have averaged 1,218 fans per home game in the 1,600-seat Odde Ice Center.
Sauer, a Minnesota native, had coached hockey for 11 years before arriving in Aberdeen. He coached the Northern Lakes High School team in Minnesota and the St. Paul-based Granite City Lumberjacks of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League.
He also played for the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League.
The Wings also recently blocked off the south side of the Odde Ice Center for their planned addition. In the release, the Wings said, "We expect that our new training facility with locker room, which will be ready for next season, will help our boys become the best hockey players they can be."