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<p>For six years Jay Leach didn&#8217;t achieve his goal.</p><p>After wrapping up his playing career at Providence College in 2001, Leach turned pro and spent the next six seasons bouncing between the AHL and ECHL, suiting up for a total of seven different teams before finally earning his first trip to the NHL.</p><p>If any of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin players feel the road to the NHL is a hard one, they have a head coach in Leach who can relate.</p><p>&#8220;I had to figure out how to get to each level, and it wasn&#8217;t the quickest process,&#8221; Leach said. &#8220;I hope I can help them understand how to get there.&#8221;</p><p>While reaching the NHL was a long learning process for Leach, adjusting to his new role as interim head coach hasn&#8217;t been quite as arduous. He won his first two games behind the Penguins bench - both by shutout, while dealing with an organizational shakeup, call-ups of several key players and injuries.</p><p>While the players are quick to emphasize the respect they had for outgoing head coach Mike Sullivan is just as strong for Leach, it may be for different reasons.</p><p>In Sullivan, the players had a coach who enjoyed a long NHL career, coached for a while in the NHL and had an authoritative presence. When Sullivan spoke, the players paid full attention.</p><p>While Leach has pledged not to change the structure that Sullivan had in place before he left, his presence is a bit different. While Leach served as assistant coach under Sullivan, he was a liaison between the coaching staff and players. At 36 years old, Leach is several months younger than team captain Tom Kostopoulos. And unlike Sullivan, whose pro career ended in 2002, Leach played up until 2013.</p><p>His youth and recent playing career presents a somewhat different perspective for the players, even if Sullivan&#8217;s successful structure remains the backbone of the team.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s not much older than a lot of guys in here and he&#8217;s an easy guy to talk to,&#8221; center Kael Mouillierat said. &#8220;He&#8217;s definitely gone through what we&#8217;re going through right now.&#8221;</p><p>Because Leach was an ear for the players while Sullivan was head coach, he now finds himself in the unique position of transitioning from &#8220;buddy&#8221; to someone who will hold his players accountable.</p><p>It&#8217;s a delicate balance.</p><p>&#8220;That will be a learning process for me. I&#8217;m a young coach and that&#8217;s probably going to be one of my biggest challenges,&#8221; Leach said. &#8220;I have to go with my instincts.&#8221;</p><p>Pittsburgh player development coach Mark Recchi, who has been helping Leach behind the bench, didn&#8217;t think it would be a tough adjustment for Leach to make.</p><p>The makeup of the Penguins roster, Recchi said, will help make Leach&#8217;s transition from &#8220;player&#8217;s coach&#8221; to &#8220;head coach&#8221; seamless.</p><p>&#8220;The players get it. He&#8217;s the head coach now and this is who we&#8217;re going to listen to,&#8221; Recchi said. &#8220;When he has to put the hammer down, he&#8217;s going to put the hammer down on them. The players respect that.&#8221;</p><p>And they also respect the fact that no matter what they encounter in their careers, Leach has already been through it and can relate.</p><p>Especially when it comes doing whatever is necessary to make it to the next level.</p><p>&#8220;The biggest thing is identifying who you are at the next level so when you do get that chance to go up, the coach feels comfortable enough to put you in those situations,&#8221; Leach said. &#8220;That&#8217;s how you stick.&#8221;</p><p>In Leach&#8217;s case, advancing through the pro ranks meant he had to alter his game a bit. He said being a defensive-minded defenseman is something that was ingrained in him at an early age.</p><p>When it came to being a pro, however, Leach was told to become a physical defenseman as well.</p><p>&#8220;I was a college kid, and American kid, and didn&#8217;t really know anything about fighting, confrontation or being hard to play against,&#8221; Leach said. &#8220;That was one thing I had to learn my first few years as a pro.</p><p>&#8220;That was my ticket. I got there a little late.&#8221;</p><p>Now, as the man behind the Penguins bench, Leach is ready to help his players develop so they spend less time bouncing around the minor leagues than he did.</p><p>&#8220;He just knows the game well, has the NHL experience and has seen it all,&#8221; Mouillierat said. &#8220;He knows what a player needs to do to reach that next level.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jay Leach played for 18 teams during his pro career, gaining valuable experience that helps him as a head coach. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Leach1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jay Leach played for 18 teams during his pro career, gaining valuable experience that helps him as a head coach. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams|for Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Interim head coach&#8217;s pro journey strikes chord with Penguins</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin players relate to interim head coach Jay Leach’s hockey path