Newmarket Hurricanes fans looking for an immediate turnaround in the
fortunes of their team may be in for a disappointment.
True, the appointment of Brian Perrin as head coach to replace Jim Wells
Jr., will provide a breath of fresh air into an atmosphere that had
obviously stagnated and hit a low in the past few weeks as the Hurricanes
piled one loss on top of another.
By all appearances, the players had simply quit playing for Wells. That is,
at least, the ones still with the team and not yet traded away.
But unless Perrin is some kind of worker of miracles, it’s going to take
time to clean up this mess of a hockey team.
Perrin, for his part, understands his second go at it in Newmarket is going
to require patience. He stated as much as he scanned over the remainder of
November. There’s no soft touches, he noted. That’s not an excuse, just the
way it is for last-place teams.
Right off the bat he is handcuffed by a lineup that has been ravaged by
suspensions from an internal discipline issue and compounded by injuries.
And there is the matter of selling players on his philosophies as the way to
proceed whether they like it or not.
What the Hurricanes can expect now is a hard-ass coach willing to
show his emotions, a sharp contrast to the easygoing Wells. They can expect
special teams play to improve drastically, if not in the short term,
certainly in the long, since this has been a characteristic of
Perrin-coached teams in the past.
Given the opportunity, Perrin will likely bring the Hurricanes back to
respectability, if not this season, certainly next.
One other thing, holdovers from the Wells-era should know they will have a
clean slate with which to work. Using it wisely would be a good idea.
Followers of the team, on the other hand, will have to exercise patience.
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