Now that the Western Hockey League regular season is officially over, Mark Lamb has been getting to that list of those jobs around the house.
He's spending more time on cleaning projects, watching movies at home with his wife Tanya and their dogs, and going for runs and hikes in their neighbourhood.
Even in a non-playoff year, Lamb would have scouting trips lined up in each of the four Western Canadian provinces over the next month to get final looks at the top 15-year-old prospects available for the bantam draft.
The coronavirus crisis has changed all that and with the Cougars' office at CN Centre closed until further notice Lamb is staying put in Prince George.
He wasn't surprised when the league scrapped the rest of the season schedule and decided in a conference call Wednesday it will base its final standings on winning percentage. The Cougars played 62 of 68 games and finished with a 20-34-4-4 record and .387 winning percentage which ranks them 19th out of 22 teams.
"We all knew it was coming and it's the right thing to do for sure," said Lamb. "It's tough for everybody, for anybody in the (hockey) business and anybody in any business. The positive part is how we progressed, that's we have to look back at.
"This year had a lot of positives on how the team played and the progression of a lot of players. We just went to work every day with that positive mind and I think we changed a lot of things with how we play and what direction we're going, especially the attitude change and doing the right things to try to get better and try to win."
The Cougars' preparations for the May 7 WHL bantam draft have changed now that the four provinces have canceled their annual spring bantam showcase tournaments, but Lamb says his scouting staff already had a solid grasp on what will be available.
"Our scouts have been watching these players all year long," said Lamb. "It's nice to see the provincial tournaments at the end where the best players are playing each other but we've always said it's the full book, not just the end-of-the-year book and you have to put everything into perspective."
Lamb said this is considered one of the best bantam talent crops in years and three players available in the draft have applied for exceptional status which could make them eligible to begin their junior careers next season as full-time 15-year-old players in the WHL. The Cougars have three first-round picks, a second-round pick and two third-rounders in the draft.
Connor Bedard, a centre for the West Vancouver Academy Warriors midget prep team, and two members of the Saskatoon Contacts triple-A midget squad - centre Brayden Yager and defenceman Riley Heidt, are considered the consensus top three players available and have applied to the Canadian Hockey League for the exception.
Lamb said depending on the pandemic situation, the date of the draft could change.
The Cougars gave their fans a scintillating sendoff with three straight wins at home, which kept their slim playoff hopes alive heading into those final six games, all of which were to be played on the road in a nine-day span. In their final weekend they thrilled the crowds at CN Centre with back-to-back one-goal wins over their B.C. Division rivals, the Vancouver Giants, ending with a 4-3 overtime victory a week ago Saturday capped by Cole Moberg's rink-length rush.
As it turned out, that game marked the end of the WHL careers of the Cougars' 20-year-olds - forwards Josh Maser and Vladislav Mikhalchuk and defenceman Ryan Schoettler. The Cougars left for Victoria a few days later and the bus had made it as far as Cache Creek when the COVID-19 outbreak put a halt to their trip.
"The 20-year-olds are the glue of your team, not just ours, and that's one area that's sad to see, that we're not being able to say goodbye the right way," said Lamb. "But the thing that we're doing, having everybody leave and the season being out on hold, is the right thing.
"Nobody's seen what we're seeing right now in the world. It's absolutely crazy. It's affecting everybody in the world."
