Rewarding experience
Dwyer heading back to Croatia for second season coaching in KHL
So you think the bus drive from Val-d’Or to Charlottetown is long?
Former Charlottetown Islanders head coach Gordie Dwyer has that one beat – hands down.
He coached the past season with HC Medvescak in Zagreb, Croatia, in the KHL. HC Medvescak is the league’s farthest west team, and one of the few European squads in the circuit, leading to some long travel to get to the far east of Russia.
“From Zagreb, it’s a 15-hour flight and an 11-hour time change,” Dwyer said.
Due to the travel teams don’t play back-to-back games. For example, they could hit the road and play games on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Monday.
“The amount of travel is significant in that league,” Dwyer said.
The Dalhousie, N.B., native enjoyed his time in Croatia, and the feeling of management must have been mutual as the two sides recently signed a oneyear contract for the Charlottetown resident to return for a second season.
“I look forward to the challenge of returning and coaching again in that league,” Dwyer said. “I think the experience I acquire over there, coaching at that level, is going to help me throughout my career.”
The Islanders fired Dwyer during the 2015 off-season after four seasons with the franchise.
The Medvescak position opened up and an agent Dwyer had worked with in the past approached him to gauge his interest.
Dwyer, who played two seasons in Sweden and another in Germany at the end of his playing career, was open-minded.
He spoke with Islander Mark A quick look at the KHL: The league started in 2008. HC Medvescak in Zagreb, Croatia, joined the KHL in 2013.
HC Kunlun Red Star is an expansion team this season playing out of China. Skype interviews before going to Croatia in June to spend some time with the team’s manager and president.
Dwyer, who also previously coached the Summerside Western Capitals, said the chance to coach professionally for the first time in the second-best league in the world was a great opportunity.
It does come with some challenges. His family remains engrained in the Charlottetown community. With the season starting in August they were able to go to Croatia for training camp and visited again during the holidays.
On the hockey side, the team went 25-26-5-4 and finished out of the playoffs.
“I want to continue to progress and continue to improve as a coach,” said Dwyer. “The amount of experience that I was able to acquire in that season in the KHL was certainly exceptional.”
Medvescak’s roster had a few familiar names, including former Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick Gilbert Brule, Boston Bruins prospects Milan Jurcina and Shaone Morrisonn and former Rouyn-Noranda Huskie and Vancouver Canuck Alexandre Bolduc.
“We had players from 13 different countries on our club to start the season,” Dwyer said. “Our focus was developing our team identity, really focusing on how we had to play collectively, regardless of our backgrounds, to be successful every night in that league.”
Dwyer coaches in English and has a fulltime translator for news conferences with the Russian media.
Dwyer said Zagreb manager Aaron Fox, a young American and a former player, has done a great job of identifying talent and guys seeking opportunity to prove themselves in the KHL.
One of the league’s powerhouses, the SKA St. Petersburg, has signed former Detroit Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk to a lineup that includes guys like Vadim Shipachyov, Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Voynov and Evgeny Dadonov.
The Montreal Canadiens recently signed Alexander Radulov, who played the past four seasons in Moscow.
“The league is exceptionally talented and not just the Kovalchuks and the Radulovs or the Datsyuks everybody hears about,” Dwyer said. “There’s a new game plan every game in trying to contain some of these top offensive players over there.” It’s rare for a pitcher to win an MVP award. For the same pitcher to win it twice is almost unheard of. If the season ended now, Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers would have a good chance to do just that. With an 11-2 record and a 1.79 ERA, the left-hander is putting up numbers awfully similar to those of his MVP campaign in 2014. The big question now is how quickly he can come back from a back injury that landed him on the disabled list. In 2014, Kershaw became the first pitcher to win the National League MVP since Bob Gibson in 1968.