The 2014-2015 season ended for the Cochrane Crunch a little over two weeks ago with a loss to the Soo Thunderbirds in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League championship series.
With a rather-successful first season in Cochrane just over, Crunch owner-general manager-coach Ryan Leonard is already on the road, recruiting players for the 2015-2016 campaign.
Known as a tireless and relentless recruiter, Leonard is all the way out west in British Columbia this week, looking to bring players to Cochrane for the 2015-2016 season.
To be sure, Leonard has a lot to build on in Cochrane.
Not only did the Crunch make it all the way to the NOJHL finals before losing to the Soo, it finished third in attendance among what was a nine-team league with a per-game average of 466.
A high-energy, high-strung individual with a pepper-pot personality that matches his motor mouth, Leonard has a coaching style that can confound and confuse those coaches who run more regimented and rigid systems.
As one impartial NOJHL observer recently said when we were talking about Leonard: “He’s effective, he’s unorthodox and he’s good at what he does. What you see is what you get with Lenny.”
