Mark Lamb (photo from scbroncos.com)

An at times emotional Mark Lamb bid farewell to the Swift Current Broncos yesterday.

After seven years as coach and general manager, Lamb accepted a position as head coach of the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners. He's leaving on good terms.

"Not very often in hockey and probably a high percentage of time when someone leaves it's really negative," Lamb noted. "Change in sports happens a lot where you get fired and you start blaming people. This is the exact opposite. It's something that I'm very proud of and I can talk with the next person in here how things are run."

The feeling is mutual from the Broncos.

"We're parting on fantastic terms," said Broncos chairman Liam Choo-Foo. "We're happy for Mark and the opportunity he has ahead. We know he'll be a great ambassador for the Swift Current Broncos inside and outside hockey circles."

As much as Lamb clearly will have a hard time letting go of the Broncos organization he has spent that long helping build, the former NHL player is now one step closer to achieving his goal to become an NHL head coach.

"It's been in the back of my mind since I was 18-years-old," Lamb said. "After I was done playing I wanted to be part of an NHL team which I've done. Now I've got this experience, I've got the tools and I've gained so much here. There's no course for this. You don't go to school for it. It's on the job learning which is more than I've ever asked for. Coaching in the AHL is a great honour, to do anything with the NHL is a huge honour and hopefully that's where I end up."

Lamb's ties to Arizona's NHL head coach Dave Tippett also made the opportunity in Tucson attractive. He played for Tippett in the IHL and was his assistant coach with the Dallas Stars.

"The prospect of working with him again and working with an organization that kind of looks like the Swift Current Broncos in a different way (was attractive)," Lamb said. "They're a small budget team that's got a lot of young prospects. They're trying to build right from the ground like what I was trying to do here. The opportunity to go there and have great communication with the coach and GM there... I'm not going to say it was a no brainer it took a lot of thought, but if I wasn't going to be here I couldn't pass up that opportunity."

As Lamb leaves the Broncos he is confident his replacement will have a lot to work with.

"In my seven years here this is the most comfortable I've been with the prospects, where the team is, the prospects that we got coming," Lamb said. "I think the team is in a great situation moving forward."

Swift Current made two first round picks in the most recent bantam draft and has two more in next year's draft. They also can return their entire blue line from 2015-16 and feel there is strong depth in the prospect pool. Only the future will offer true evidence of whether he's right about the state of the organization or not.

Lamb touched often on his perceived lack of on-ice success. The Broncos made the playoffs in four of his seven seasons, but never managed to win a playoff series or put together a run.

"I've been asked a lot about how you do have success in Swift Current or at the junior level," Lamb said. "You want to win. I want to win as bad as anybody. I've had a taste of winning in a couple different leagues and that was my ultimate goal when I got here was to try to build a winner... build a championship. To build a championship takes a lot of doing. Things have changes in hockey over the last four or five years. The reality of building a team in Swift Current takes a little bit more hard work. Being the smallest market I'm not saying you're never going to win but you have to do things the right way. That's what I tried to do and put a plan (in place)."

Another way to measure success for a junior coach is how well you develop players. Arizona sited his ability to develop young players and it's something that stuck with the board as well.

"We as a board got a chance to see the unsurpassed work ethic this man has and the dedication he has to the organization," Choo-Foo said. "As a result we have increased credibility in the hockey community and we are seen as a premier franchise for player development. Over the course of Mark's time here we've gone... to (a franchise) that has improved their finances each year. We also believe that our team, our prospects and our depth are better than at any time in recent history."

Swift Current is one of only a few teams left in the WHL operated by a member-based board of directors. Lamb didn't find them intrusive or difficult to navigate.

"You hear a lot of different stories about working for a board," Lamb said. "This board has been excellent. They've given me the opportunity to really grow, to be strategic, to make the trades, to hire the right staff and to do the things I wanted to do. Working in this community for the board has been nothing but great things and is certainly going to be a part of my life that moving on I'm really going to cherish."

Lamb is from Cadillac and played his minor hockey in Swift Current. Coaching here gave him a chance to bring his young family to his home during a key time in their lives.

"My daughter graduated here," Lamb said. "They really enjoyed their time here. Arizona is nice place to live but we've really grown here. My wife is from Edmonton from the big city. Coming back to a small city raising our kids here was something she has really enjoyed."

Perhaps the most talked about moment in Lamb's media conference was his plea for sober second thought from fans thinking of criticizing teenage players on social media.

"The young players you really have to remember that they're teenage players going through a lot of emotions," Lamb said. "Things are changing. They're wired different. The expectations are so high on these players that sometimes it turns into a negative. Social media is a huge problem. I don't follow it a lot because sometimes it can drive people crazy the negativity out there. I'll tell you one thing the players are on social media. They read it and they follow it. When they're getting criticized on social media for going out and not giving their best and not performing up to the standards of some of the people... not most of the people. I think the fans really have to realize when you're writing something about these kids look back and go maybe that could be my kid. Maybe you change your mind a little bit."

That kind of empathy and emotion wasn't always the first thing people thought about Mark Lamb during his time in Swift Current. Maybe it will be his legacy.