In part one of a two part conversation with former MJHL coach Harry Mahesh, who is now an assistant coach with the AHL champions Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL, he talks about his time in the MJHL as a player and coach, re-discovering his love of the game and more.
Being called a champion is still taking some getting used to, according to Mahesh. "I mean, it really hasn't fully sunk in yet," he says from his home in British Columbia. "It's got a nice ring to it, though."
The assistant coach says it was a very long season but capping it off with a championship makes it all worth it. "You hear the term 'grind', you always hear about it and see it on tv, when you hear from people who won talking about what it takes, until you're in it, you really don't know," Mahesh says with a chuckle. "We had 61 days from the start of playoffs up to when we won. It feels like it went by fast now, but when you're in the middle of it, it's an every day thing. It's really hard to separate yourself from hockey a lot fo the time. You're really lucky when you're surrounded by a good staff and good players, it helps. Looking back at it after the fact, it was was a grind for sure. Just the fact that it's over, you're almost as relieved as you are excited."
Going back to his time in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League as a player and as a coach, Mahesh has fond memories of his time and says a couple of organizations helped him become the hockey person he is today. "When I first came into Manitoba as a player, I mean, my three years in Winkler were some of my best years playing, the three best years of my career. Made a lot of great friends, played for some great coaches. That second year, we had a really good team. Manitoba became a second home, even after I was done playing, I spent a lot of time there in summers, I still go back because some of my best friends are there. I love Manitoba. As a player, I couldn't ask for anything more."
Mahesh is candid when talking about the change from his playing experience to his coaching experience. "Now, on the coaching side, a little bit more of a different experience," he says with a little laugh. "I was a part of three teams kind of spread out before and during COVID. I was really fortunate that after my first couple of stints, I landed in Selkirk with Hudson Friesen, who I became really close with, he's still a really good friend to this day. It's funny, being a Flyer for three years and a proud alumni, I maybe associate myself with more of a Selkirk Steeler for everything they did for me to finish off my coaching stint in Manitoba. It's funny how things work out, between my stops with the Flyers and the (Winnipeg) Freeze, it was truly Selkirk and the group there that put that last little stamp on my time in the MJHL and I got to leave on a good note."
Looking back over his time in the league, Mahesh doesn't mince words when it comes to why Selkirk played such a big role in his re-discovering his love of the game, it's because the stop before that was so challenging and took a lot out of him. "The biggest thing I learned coaching through those stints, it comes down to the people you're surrounded by. My first stint in Winkler, I went into it with a lot of optimism, and then we got shut down through COVID after eight games, there was some restructuring of the board, decisions were made and you don't always like it, it's kind of out of your hands. You can complain but it's out of your hands, whatever happens happens. My time with the Freeze, and I've always been very candid about it, it was not a good experience. I don't really have any regrets saying that out loud. You're solo, doing 50 different jobs, trying to manage everything and you realize one of the things that makes hockey so special is the people you're working with and when you're not working with anyone, it makes it all very hard. After that, I went to Selkirk and that reinvigorated my spirit in coaching, being surrounded by such great people. That team that year, it was a dog fight to get into the playoffs, we made it on the very last day when Portage lost out to Virden. We were scoreboard watching for a week, that run with Hudson there, that showed me it was something I still wanted to do. To go from there to BC to the NHL, it's not a path I predicted but, it worked out in the end."
After his time in BC, Mahesh made the jump to the Toronto Maple Leafs as a Coaching Development Associate before eventually landing a job on the bench with the AHL's Abbotsford Canucks. He details his thoughts on the the adjustments moving up to the pro level. "Well, the biggest leap was, obviously the tactical side of the game, it doesn't change a lot but it's faster and the way the game is taught is different. You don't get a lot of practice time, so you get really good at showing video and communicating with the players in the time between game. The second part is the staff, when the staff size grows that much, it's massive. In junior hockey, a lot of jobs overlap, you wear a lot of hats, but at this level, you wear just one hat, you're a coach or a manager or trainer or medical, and they expect you to do your one job as best as you can. In junior, you spread yourself more thin and I found it was kind of nice to focus on just one thing, but then you realize how much detail goes into that one job. At the junior level, you're juggling a lot of things and you can find that you can't spend as much time on certain areas as you'd want, so you're never the best version of yourself in every area. Like if you're wanting to work on the power play but you're having to handle billet calls, somethings can slip somewhere. I really like the fact I can focus on one job but so much goes into that one job, it's just really great."
Tomorrow (Friday), in part two with former MJHL player and coach Harry Mahesh, he raves about the staff they have in Abbotsford and what it meant to win with that group, he also talks about his family and how big of a role they've played in his life.