The first place Walkerton Hawks released head coach Paul Roberts last week.
“I’m sure (the move) would catch a few people by surprise but it had to be done,” general manager Steve Barrett told The WHT Monday morning.
Barrett, who will share  head coaching duties with assistant GM Jon Biesenthal and assistant coach Paul Pegelo, said there were a few things missing from the team, including discipline. “The players were screaming out,” he said, “I wanted to see some things happen and they didn’t. You can’t replace 20 plus players, so Paul had to be the fall guy.”
While he’ll be behind the bench for the foreseeable future, Barrett said he does have a couple of candidates in mind including one who has a resume “three city blocks long with lots of success at the Junior B level”.
Barrett was behind the bench for Friday’s 7-2 win over the Hanover Barons to gain sole possession of first place.
“We never were out of first because we have so many games at hand,” Barrett said.
“Our record shows that we’ve got a very good team. We’ve only lost one game in regulation and one in OT,” Barrett said.
The Hawks stand alone in first with 25 points with four games at hand over second place Barons who have 23 points.