The World Juniors Coaches Q&A Series: Team Canada's Mike Dyck
E
EP Rinkside
The 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship is hours away from puck drop, and I had the opportunity to chat with Mike Dyck, assistant coach of Team Canada, as they look to defend their gold medal on home soil. What follows is an exclusive question and answer session with Dyck, as we continue a series of Q&A articles with some of the coaches participating in the World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton.
Why did you want to start your training/selection camp so much earlier than normal? Mike Dyck: The main reason was that the majority of our players haven’t played a game since March.
So even for us, it was great to get some face time and have that bit of social interaction with each other as well.
It was really all about staying active mentally and physically and I think we did a great job of that.
We were able to get in a couple of intra-squad games and that was helpful to see how they may have improved over the summer and since the last time we’ve seen them play.
How have you dealt with it and continue to put yourselves in a position to be successful over these next two weeks?
Why did you want to start your training/selection camp so much earlier than normal? Mike Dyck: The main reason was that the majority of our players haven’t played a game since March.
So even for us, it was great to get some face time and have that bit of social interaction with each other as well.
It was really all about staying active mentally and physically and I think we did a great job of that.
We were able to get in a couple of intra-squad games and that was helpful to see how they may have improved over the summer and since the last time we’ve seen them play.
How have you dealt with it and continue to put yourselves in a position to be successful over these next two weeks?