The Steinbach Pistons want to congratulate their Head Coach and General Manager Paul Dyck. Dyck was appointed Tuesday as the head coach of Hockey Canada’s Team West at the upcoming CJHL Prospects Game January 20th in Oakville, Ontario.
I’m honoured and grateful to have been given this opportunity,” said Paul Dyck, who was asked to fill the opening on Christmas Eve. “I’m truly excited to be a part of the CJHL Prospects Game and to be working with some of the elite Junior ‘A’ players in our country,”
The CJHL Prospects game was created to showcase 40 of the top NHL prospects in the CJHL. The game features players from the CJHL’s five western leagues competing against the players from the CJHL’s five eastern leagues. The winner of the game will raise the President’s Cup, which is awarded annually to the winning team.
Dyck has attracted a lot of attention around the country in the past two and half seasons in his position with the Pistons. It all started when he helped guide a Steinbach squad that never came close to making the playoffs to a fifth place regular season finish and then eventually an MJHL championship.
That success garnered him invitations last season and most recently this season to Team West’s selection process, which was the same event Pistons’ defenseman James Shearer was invited to at the beginning of December.
What may have been a surprise for Dyck and Steinbach back in 2012/2013 has now turned into a new culture of winning. That become evident in 2013/2014 when the winning continued with the Pistons finishing 2nd in the regular season only to get kicked out in the MJHL semi-finals.
And now this year, the Pistons currently have the second best winning-percentage in the MJHL and are currently ranked 18th in the CJHL top 20 national standings.
The Steinbach native has used the experience he has gained over his lengthy professional resume as a player to help him reach the successes he has seen as a coach. As a pro player, he won championships in the IHL and across the Atlantic playing in Germany.
Dyck attended several NHL training camps and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins organization that consisted of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr at the time.
The Pistons will be without their Head Coach for only a three-day stint when he travels to the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, Ontario January 20th. Despite the Pistons busy January schedule, it looks like Dyck won’t miss a game with his home squad as they get into their final push for another MJHL Championship.