The president and general manager of the Saint John Sea Dogs has high hopes for the team’s new head coach.
Gordie Dwyer is a five-year veteran of the NHL with more than a decade of coaching experience in Canada and abroad.
Wednesday’s announcement came as the QMJHL team prepares its bid to host next year’s Memorial Cup.
Trevor Georgie said they began evaluating their hockey staff at the end of last season knowing it would be a big year.
“We thought if we were going to make a change, it would need to be significant in terms of the person’s communication skills, in terms of the person’s intensity, and in terms of the person’s drive to be all-in on a year like this,” Georgie told reporters after Wednesday’s announcement.
“Lots of folks were interested in the role but we thought that Gordie was the right move.”
Georgie said they spent a lot of time building rapport with Dwyer, a former coach of the Charlottetown Islanders, and getting to know him as a person.
He is hopeful that Dwyer can help clean up some of the team’s defensive woes once he gets a chance to assess the players and get a feel for the team.
“It’s not a matter of this group if they can, it’s a matter of if they’re willing,” said Georgie. “For us, with Gordie, his greatest impact, for me at least, is him getting them to a point where they’re willing.”
Dwyer will replace Greg Gilbert, who was named the team’s eighth head coach in June of last year. But Georgie said Gilbert will still be a part of the team going forward.
“Greg has a lot of great hockey knowledge and a lot of great experiences,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed working with Greg so Greg’s going to stay on with the team as an advisor. We’re going to work out those details over the coming weeks.”
“This is augmenting our hockey operations versus subtracting them.”
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