End of a great season
Petes coach Jody Hull reflects on the playoffs and looks ahead to what the team can accomplish next year.
Jody Hull bleeds maroon and white, so it’s been a difficult decade for him to see an organization he cares so much about struggle.
There have been sleepless nights, hours of work, endless conversations with staff and players and moments of self-reflection as he’s tried to do his part in the role of head coach to get the team back to the level he was accustomed to as a player under Dick Todd and his first two years as an assistant coach when the team last won championships and reached conference finals.
So 48 hours after being eliminated from the playoffs in a fashion he didn’t anticipate, a decisive four-game dismantling by the MIssissauga Steelheads, Hull is still digesting what just happened. Weighing the pride and satisfaction of the club’s first first-place finish and furthest playoff run in 11 years against that disappointment of the very end not being what he expected.
“That’s the taste that is left in your mouth,” Hull said Friday, of the bitter disappointment. “It’s unfortunate because of the amount of work the players put into this season and the coaches and entire organization. We go into every year expecting we’re going to win and have a deep playoff run.”
Though no one’s fault, Hull says, he thinks it’s possible the players didn’t anticipate how much the level of play was going to rise in the conference final.
“We let our guard down a little bit,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a reflection of how we prepared or what the players put into it. I think it was more the time between series for us. Again, another week off before we played another game. It almost felt routine-ish as opposed to let’s just keep playing.”
It took a little bit of edge off, but they couldn’t get back to the level that Mississauga displayed.
“That can happen when you’re off for extended periods of time, especially as you go deeper into the playoffs because the competition does get harder,” he said.
Yet, Hull has to remind himself of how much was accomplished this season. Without question, it was the club’s best since 2006.
“It’s been 10 or 11 years where the Petes haven’t been very good and I was part of the last time we won an OHL championship. It’s been a long road but the biggest thing for me this year is when you get the buy-in from the players. Regardless of whether it’s practice stuff, office stuff, little things like curfew, meeting times, all that stuff, we got that this year. Any coach will tell you when you get buy-in from the players you’re going to have success or eventually you’re going to have success.”
Early in his tenure as head coach there were some well publicized off-ice issues. One of his biggest focuses was on changing that culture and cultivating better leadership. Hull said strides were taken last year under the leadership of Eric Cornel and his assistants and this year it went even further with Brandon Prophet and his assistants. It’s laid a groundwork, Hull believes, that can perpetuate itself going forward.
“It was one of the tighter groups I’ve been around. Regardless of whether you were an OA player or a first-year player at 16, it didn’t matter, all the guys hung out and did things together as a group. That means a lot.”
While they’ll lose some key players like overagers Prophet, Steve Lorentz and Kyle Jenkins, and Nikita Korostelev and Matt Spencer are anticipated to turn pro, the Petes have a strong returning class. The 1998 group led by Dylan Wells, Matt Timms, Jonathan Ang and Adam Timleck are all entering their fourth year. Chris Paquette, acquired from Niagara, is in that age group. They have up to 10 forwards and four defencemen eligible to return when overage players are factored in.
Players born in 1999 like Zach Gallant, Cole Fraser, Nick Isaacson, Matyas Svoboda and 2000s Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Pavel Gogolev, Declan Chisholm will take on bigger roles and appear capable of doing so.
Chad Denault, Matt McNamara and Hunter Jones, who travelled with the team through the playoffs, are ready to step in next season.
Overage candidates include Logan DeNoble, Alex Black, both of whom have expressed a desire to return, Josh Coyle and Tyler Rollo.
The experience gained this playoffs will only help, says Hull.
“We had a lot of guys who were inexperienced. We’ve been in the playoffs but we hadn’t won any rounds. Winning a couple of rounds is going to be huge for them. I thought (Wednesday), because of the score, we were able to play some of those younger guys a little more and get a feel and a taste for what it’s going to be like.
“I like where we’re heading. I like the depth and the players who are currently on our roster now who are going to be returning.”
Hull believes the Petes can sustain this year’s success and restore the Petes’ pride. It’s not just his job, it’s a mission.
“This is the organization that gave me an opportunity. Peterborough is home for me. It’s been a home pretty much since I came to play junior here. It’s where my family came back in the summers during my NHL career. I’ve been trying to do everything possible to get it back to what people are accustomed to. That’s a consistent team year-after-year that’s going to be in the playoffs every year and a team that is expected to be there every year. That’s the goal.”