Nelson Leafs interim Head Coach, Gianni Mangone, is eager to showcase what his team can do as the Leafs head into a home double-header this weekend.
Mangone has stepped into the top job following Briar McNaney’s departure earlier this week.
“I am excited to be working with a very determined team. We have a very talented team, very hardworking team, and a willingness to win.” said Mangone.
“So, for me, it’s just kind of getting them back to enjoying hockey, first of all, wanting to be here and pushing for a good playoff run.”
“I think a lot of what we’ve done so far has worked. We started off really hot and the last month’s kind of been a bit of a slide, but there’s a lot of positives still that we’ve accomplished in this month.”
Mangone joined the Leafs coaching staff in August for the start of the season and is eager to take up this opportunity.
“Its good to see that there’s belief in me and the support, and I’m excited for what comes next.”
With half the KIJHL season behind them, Mangone says its time to knuckle down and get to work.
“In the last month, our power play was struggling a little bit, so that’s definitely going to be a focus of our special team,”
“In this league, power plays are very important. You can win or lose games regardless of the five-on-five action so we’re going to focus on power play as well as a little bit of the D zone.”
“We’ve allowed quite a few goals against lately, no fault to our goalies, it’s a team thing, so we’re definitely going to make some changes there but very confident in this group.”
“They’re willing to learn so the more I can teach them the better will be able to focus on ourselves, focus on our systems, and focus on our work ethic.”
“We’ve played Beaver Valley a few times this year obviously our last game was against them, and it didn’t go the way we wanted but there’s a lot of positives from that game that we can take away.”
The Leafs will host Beaver Valley Nitehawks this Friday from 7pm, followed by Princeton Posse on Saturday, and Mangone is encouraging the community to come out and continue to show their support for the team.
“The last game we had over 900 people come out, and in juniors that’s a lot, so come show your support for the team, they get way more excited when the rink is packed.”
“We’re going to make a nice, long playoff push and hopefully the community supports us along the way.”
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