Letowski, Garland, Diklich join Team Canada
Spits try to end losing streak
The Windsor Spitfires might look the same on the ice, but it will be a little different off the ice.
The Spitfires will be without three regulars Thursday when the club faces the Mississauga Steelheads at the WFCU Centre (7:05 p.m., cable 11, Twitter updates @ winstarparker). Associate coach Trevor Letowski, athletic therapist Joey Garland and team physician Dr. Roy Diklich have left the club to join Team Canada in Toronto in preparation for the world junior hockey championship in Finland.
“There’ll be a gap there for sure,” Spitfires head coach Rocky Thompson said. “They’re very good.”
On the bench, assistant coach Jerrod Smith will move to Thompson’s other side to handle the defence. Thompson will handle the forwards on his own.
“We know he’s going to a good job there and we’re going to miss him, without a doubt,” Thompson said of Letowski “It’s tough for all those (Team Canada) coaches leaving their teams. It’s not easy. There’s a little adjustment, but nothing we’ve never done before.”
Letowski was only offered an assistant coaching job with Team Canada in October. He was a player on Canada’s gold-medal winning junior team in Switzerland in 1997.
“It gives me excitement because I still remember it,” the 38-year-old Letowski said of that title.
“It’s the only time I’ve ever won anything of significance. I never won a (Stanley) Cup. I never won a Memorial Cup in junior. That was the one thing that I won and it’s probably the most memorable moment as a player, even with all the NHL games included. My first NHL game is right there, but that’s a moment I’ll never forget, winning that.
“Unless you’ve actually been there and feel it, you don’t understand it. I know how that feels and I get an opportunity to do it again and I feel fortunate for that opportunity. When I first got into coaching, it was something I almost strived to want to be a part of as a coach because I know the experience as a player was so great.”
The tough part for Letowski is leaving his wife Amy, who is sevenmonths pregnant with the couple’s second child, and six-year-old daughter Graci behind.
“That’s the only down part,” Letowski said.
As Canada’s third assistant, Letowski will hit the ground running as he’ll catch exhibition games and get the team ready for the tournament opener against the United States Dec. 26.
“I need to see U.S. play Sweden in exhibition before Canada plays Belarus,” said Letowski, who was part of Canada’s World Under-18 Hockey Championship staff in 2014. “That’s the biggest part of my job to get the video and the clips ready and present it to coaching staff and from that game plan.”
This is Garland’s second time with the national junior team in three years and fourth time working for Hockey Canada.
“It’s always tough to be away during Christmas from my wife (Amanda) and animals, but thankfully Amanda and my parents will be joining me over there for a week,” said Garland, who will have Kris Goodyear fill in for him with the Spitfires while he is away.
“It’s always an honour to be selected to represent your country regardless of the role so as hard as it is to be away I’ll be caught up in doing whatever I can do to support the players and make sure that they are operating at 100 per cent.”
Growing up in Newfoundland, Garland still has memories of watching the tournament on television. “I’ve always been a huge fan of the event,” he said. “I always turned it on Boxing Day and cheered to the TV.
“Being there amongst it all with thousands of Canadians surrounding you is kind of surreal.”
It’s also the second world junior tournament for Diklich, who was with Canada in 2003 when the team won a silver medal in Halifax.
“We’ll be fine,” said Thompson, who gets forward Cristiano DiGiacinto back from a five-game suspension Thursday. “We’ve got good people here still, but they’ll be missed.”