Out of hundreds of applications, Josh Dixon has been selected as the new head coach of the Sea Dogs following the departure of Danny Flynn.
Josh Dixon is a 34-year-old from Oakville, Ontario whose coaching experience includes four seasons spent coaching in the Western Hockey League, he was also the head coach of Team Saskatchewan at the 2015 Canada Winter Games and most recently, spent the last two years as the director of player development for Creative Artists Agency.
He says the Sea Dogs had tremendous success last season, winning the 2017 QMJHL President Cup and making it to the semifinals of the MasterCard Memorial Cup, and their job is to once again build a group capable of doing what the team accomplished last year.
“The expectation should be that the team competes, the team works hard every single night, we play with passion, we play with heart and we don’t back down,” says Dixon. “That’s what we’re looking to make sure that that happens on a consistent basis, and ultimately understand that this is a growth and a building process. We’re looking to build a skyscraper here, we’re not worried about the elevator going to the hundreth floor, we’re worried about the foundation.”
Josh Dixon at the podium
Dixon was asked about his on-ice philosophy and he says he wants to be aggressive:
“We will need to be a high pace, high tempo team. We wanna make sure we pressure the puck, we wanna look to try to keep possession of the puck, and to make plays, allow the players to have freedom to make plays with the puck. We want to see them compete every night and work hard,” says Dixon. “But ultimately in terms of style of play we wanna try to keep possession, we want to be a team that can attack off the rush.”
Dixon begins his new job next week.
The Sea Dogs have also announced that assistant coach with the Sea Dogs for four years, Jeff Cowan, who has also led the team through training camp this year, has been promoted to associate coach.
