Storm owners back Brooks
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury Guelph Storm president Rick Hoyle said the job of coach and general manager Jason Brooks is safe.
“We haven’t even viewed that as an option at the moment,” Hoyle said Thursday when asked if the owners had considered removing one or both of Brooks’ job titles.
Hoyle said it “wasn’t necessary” to give Brooks a vote of confidence because replacing him had not been considered.
“It’s not even worth commenting on,” he said.
The Storm currently sits tied with the Sarnia Sting for last place in the OHL’s Western Conference with 26 points. It has lost four games straight and won just two of its last 10.
The team hosts the Owen Sound Attack tonight, play in London Saturday and come home to play the Kingston Frontenacs Sunday afternoon.
Hoyle said everyone, including the owners, is frustrated with what’s been going on lately.
“But we still think the season is salvageable,” Hoyle said.
“We’ve felt all along that once this team gets healthy it’s capable of much more than it’s shown lately. Last Tuesday (in Kitchener) was the first game all year we’ve had a full lineup.”
Asked if firing the coach was a last resort, Hoyle answered “well, I guess it is, but we’re not even going down that path yet. We think Jason is an exceptional coach and we haven’t given up yet. That (firing the coach), in a way, is giving up.”
Hoyle said the organization is trying to be “very rational” during a tough stretch.
“The bottom line remains, we think we have very talented players and excellent coaches and we think we can make this work with what we have here,” he said.
The team had a short, hard and positive practice Thursday. Wednesday they didn’t practice. Instead they went bowling as a team-building exercise.
Storm overager Conor O’Donnell said everyone is feeling the pressure these days.
“I think you want to perform not only for your teammates, but for your coach too. We look up to him. He’s our leader,” O’Donnell said.
