IT’S BEEN SAID THAT IF YOU WANT TO GET A JOB DONE, FIND A BUSY PERSON TO DO IT.
It also doesn’t hurt to find someone well-educated, loyal to the cause and experienced.
That’s probably why the Arborg Ice Dawgs reached out to former player Derric Gulay to take over as the Capital Region Junior Hockey League’s head coach for the 2023-24 season.
Without question, Gulay checks all the boxes. First of all, he’s busy – manager in a manufacturing company in Vidir, Man., and full-time farmer on his family’s 2,000-acre grain operation near Fisher Branch.
He has an education -- a degree in construction management plus his added professional memberships – and, when it comes to hockey, he definitely has experience and is loyal to the Arborg hockey club.
In fact, from the beginning of the 2013-14 season to the end of the 2018-19 campaign, he was a member of the Ice Dawgs and spent two seasons as captain. In 2021-22, he even spent a year in Iceland helping Skautafélag Akureyrar win the country’s national pro championship.
He just might have been the perfect candidate for the job.
“Hockey means a lot to me and the opportunity came up so, after thinking things through, I thought it was the right decision to make for myself and for the organization,” Gulay, 26, said. “Two seasons ago I won a championship in Iceland and prior to that I played for the Ice Dawgs for six years. That’s a long time. I’ve been around the game and especially this organization for a long time.”
Obviously, his current position away from hockey will also serve him well coaching young hockey players.
“I got my degree in construction management. I also have my PMP – project management professional credentials,” he explained. “Right now, I’m working as a manager here in Vidir in a local manufacturing company, Vidir Solutions. Our company is a manufacturer and worldwide supplier of vertical storage solutions. I manage part of the customer care department and also the quality control within the organization.”
Without question, his toughest assignment this season will be time management. On the upside, he has decided not to play hockey and instead devote his time toward coaching. He also admitted that unlike many other hockey players and farmers in the Interlake, he is not a golfer or a curler.
“I’m saving time there,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m going to have to prioritize how I spend my time. When winter comes, I’ll be able to prioritize hockey over the farm and find the happy balance.”
There are probably no two people closer to each other in Manitoba than Gulay and his dad, Ivan. They work together on the farm and it was Ivan who got Derric involved in hockey. Ivan, who had been a driving force with the Ice Dawgs since the club’s inception in 2006, retired as president of the team after the end of last season.
“That made it the right time for me to jump in,” Derric said. “I made it clear to my dad that it will be beneficial for me to have open conversations with him and get plenty of feedback. I want my dad’s input, that’s for sure. So, from the standpoint of the organization, there will be very clear lines of communication and that’s how I wanted to start as the coach. Our general manager this year is Lloyd Barylski, and I’m really looking forward to working with Lloyd.”
One of the most important aspects of Derric’s return to the Ice Dawgs has been a constant theme of the CRJHL – the number of players who age out of Jr. B hockey and yet come back to coach, either as head coaches or assistants. That commitment to give back to the game will be obvious on the Arborg bench this winter.
“Sports at any level can’t be sustained unless players give back,” Derric said. “I mean, besides me, we have Jack Einarson coming back as an assistant and he’s a big reason why I took the job. That’s a big part of it for me. I’ve been around this organization for a large part of my life and I know what it takes to coach in this organization. This is going to be a good challenge and I’m really looking forward to it.
“But most importantly, I want to thank the community for its continued support of this hockey club over the years. Without the community, things wouldn’t be the way they are. The fans, the sponsors and everyone else involved. We greatly value everyone’s involvement."
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