Written by Gary Moskalyk
New Dryden head coach Jake Gushue takes over the reins in Dryden after a two year apprenticeship as assistant GM/coach under former Ice Dogs HC/GM Kurt Walsten.
Gushue, a 28-year-old native of Maple Ridge B.C., inherits a fourth place team that finished 31-16-2 in the 2023-24 season, before bowing out in five games to Red Lake in the quarterfinals. Dryden was +39 on the year, with a 23.6% powerplay and 81.7 % penalty kill.
A charter member of the SI, Dryden has had just one sub.500 record in its entire history, winning the Bill Salonen Cup two consecutive seasons in 2017 and 2018 under Walsten. Gushue was part of the 2017 championship team as a hard-nosed defenceman. The plan in 2024-25 is simple: turn a consistently good club into a champion.
“It’s a really good opportunity for me. At the end of the day it was something I was hoping to progress into. The fact that I get to do it in Dryden makes me super excited and super honoured. So far it’s been pretty good. Couldn’t have started any better in my opinion. I’m really fortunate I have a really good support staff around me. Organization has opened up their arms to help me any way I need it.”
Max Roby (29-22-51), Eli Antoine (16-26-42), McLaren Paulsen (25-17-42), Carson Devine 16-22-38) headline a strong returning core-four. Veterans Adam Zimmerman (44 games, 5G-9A-14pts 90 PIMs), McKale Paul (35G 4-4-8 109 PIMs) buoy the defence.
Eligible forward Sean Smith played in all 49 regular season games producing 36 points last year, but is pursuing school.
Lost to age are forwards Ryland Maier (15-16-31), Bryce Benfield (13-16-29 in 22 games). Defencemen Sebastiano Biagi and Geoff Bjarnason–94 and 104 penalty minutes respectively with good offensive numbers–are gone. James Hooton who returned from injury late last season to provide point-a-game offense in his 14 games, is also gone.
Goaltender Ewan Soutar, who carried much of the load in net last year (27 games, 14-9-1, 2.61 GAA .918 SV%), has signed on with Briercrest College (Gushue’s old school) of the ACAC in Alberta. Christian Lynch joined the Georgetown Raiders of the OJHL after posting an 8-0-0 regular season log with a 1.94/.933 GAA/SV% split with the ‘Dogs last season.
Braxton Castagno, who let in a lone goal in his one-game audition, is back. Aiden Biswanger had a 16-11-2 record with the NCN Flames of the KJHL last year, with a 4.37 GAA and .884 SV%. Kellan Mooney was 11-21-0 with the Lake Cowichan Kraken of the VIJHL. with a 3.87 goals against average and .898 save percentage.
Despite the player losses, Gushue likes what he has. It looks as though Dryden will forge a new identity this year, favouring skill over their trademark toughness.
“We’re looking good. We have a good blend of guys on our roster right now. We’re really happy with it,” said Gushue. “It’s definitely a new dynamic for us. We have a lot more skill and speed than in previous years. We’re happy with how things are progressing and what our roster is looking like.”
The new Dryden Ice Dogs will be tested early in the year.
“As a coaching staff and an organization we’re exciting to get going here. We’re going to go in there and try to make a bang. We have two games on the road against Kam River at the start and two games against Sioux Lookout at home after that,” said Gushue.
“Personally, I wouldn’t want to start any other way,” he continued. “We’ll dive head first into the water. . . There’s new energy around the club. We’re excited to showcase what we have this year.”