Scott Wray won’t be staying in Rapid City after all.

The Rush team captain had previously announced that last season would be his final one as a player. Expectations since then — although nothing was ever announced — had been that he would become an assistant coach for the Rush under head coach and general manager Joe Ferras.

But an opportunity to be a head coach in the junior hockey ranks in his native Ontario has prompted Wray to announce his departure from Rapid City later this summer.

Wray will become the first head coach of the Powassan Voodoos, a Tier 2, Junior A team of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Wray had applied to be a coach of his former junior team, in North Bay, Ontario, but was offered and accepted the head coaching job at North Bay’s farm club, the Voodoos.

Driving the decision for Wray and his family is the chance to return home.

“We’ve been gone for 15 years, my entire adulthood,” Wray said on Tuesday.

“I’m excited about it. It’s a good chance for my kids to meet some cousins and family they haven’t been able to meet over the years,” he said. “We’re just excited to go home to do what we love.”

Wray spent the final five years of his 16-year professional career with the Rush, scoring Rapid City’s game- and championship-winning goal in Game 6 of the CHL Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals in 2010.

He retired as the Rush’s career leader in games played (314), goals (106) and total points (236). Wray is second in career assists (130), and penalty minutes (359).

Wray also spent the past three seasons as a member of the Professional Hockey Players’ Association Executive Committee, where he was elected to the post to represent fellow CHL players at the bargaining table.