The Greater Vancouver Canadians will have a new head coach next season.
The B.C. Major Midget Hockey League club announced Leland Mack is stepping down after four seasons at the helm. He has accepted a position to run the Burnaby Winter Club's U16 academy team.
Under Mack, the Canadians have been one of the league's top teams - reaching the provincial semi-finals each season before falling to eventual champion Vancouver Northwest Giants. His replacement will be determined through the league's annual coaching selection process, which is overseen by B.C. Hockey.
All BCMMHL coaching assignments are volunteer positions and Mack will be paid to be part of the BWC Academy staff. However, that's not the reason behind his decision. The Port Moody resident wanted to make life easier after the long commute to practices and games at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
"It was fun working with some great talent and having the opportunity to develop these guys for the next step of their careers," said Mack who has worked with the likes of current WHL scoring champion Nic Petan. "I had full intentions of coming back until recently when I was making the trip out to Richmond for player exit inter-views. The drive just got to me.
"It's actually going to be a step down from being a major midget head coach but it presents a different challenge for me as well. More importantly, my life is going to become a little easier."
Mack leaves the Canadians with some unfinished business and that was the heart-break of not getting past the Giants in four consecutive playoff series with each going the distance. This season's encounter might have been the most painful of all as Greater Vancouver took the series opener and had a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes in game two, only to allow the Giants to rally back. The Canadians also had a 3-1 advantage in the deciding game before surrendering four unanswered goals.
"It's funny because you think the progression would be finally breaking through after knocking on the door so many times," reflected Mack. "I really thought this was going to be the year.
"The best chance was definitely game two. In hindsight, I thought we sat back too much in the third period and it cost us. We might have had a two goal lead in game three but we hadn't played well up until that point.
Mack still will be heading to the other side of the Fraser as a part-time coach with the South Delta secondary school hockey academy. He will also continue as a scout with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
