Q and A with IceDogs owner Darren DeDobbelaer, part two
Niagara IceDogs owner/general manager Darren DeDobbelaer sat down with BPSN in July for a question and answer session in the early days of his ownership. https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/q-a-with-icedogs-owner-darren-dedobbelaer/
Six months later, DeDobbelaer agreed to another Q & A with BPSN as the IceDogs approach the Christmas holiday break at the halfway point of the Ontario Hockey League season in last place with a 7-16-3-1 record after 27 games.
BPSN: Your general thoughts on where you are near the halfway point of your first year?
DD: “Wes (assistant general manager Wes Consorti) and I have brought in some really good players. For some reason or another, they have not meshed properly so it’s not the start that we expected but we believe we are going to continue to pick up steam and get better. We’ve brought in a very good and professional coach (Ryan Kuwabara) who’s going to help this team mesh and bring it to the next level.”
BPSN: What’s been the most difficult thing to deal with?
DD: “I would say the win/loss record definitely. We have, on paper, a very good team but paper can’t play. Just trying to get the kids to mesh and play for each other and not for themselves is the biggest challenge.”
BPSN: What go think your chances are regarding your Memorial Cup bid?
DD: “I feel confident. What they did the Canada Summer Games and the (World) Rowing Championships coming up and everything the region has to offer, we just need our team strength to get a little stronger and if our team strength shows we’re competitive, it should be a pretty easy selection for the CHL.”
BPSN: When you go for a Memorial Cup you need to go all in and not rebuild. Do you have the assets to do that if it gets to that point?
DD: “We have a lot of assets. We have more than we need right now. We have a lot of 04’s and we just had the goalie of the week (Owen Flores) so we feel we have the players in our room and the assets to add for what we need.”
BPSN: Is there a concern with two (first-round) picks coming up in the 2023 draft, that the players won’t report after 2022 first-round selection Sam Dickinson did not report to Niagara and was subsequently traded to London.
DD: “One of the struggling things we had (while purchasing the team) we weren’t really allowed to talk to the agents or the players prior to the draft. A lot of the agents that did reach out to us were saying, ‘We don’t know if this deal is going to go through, we don’t know who the coach is, there’s no GM now, there’s no coach.’ There were rocky waters but now we’ve think we’ve settled that. We think we’ll be fine with our first two picks next year.”
BPSN: How important is it going to be to hit home runs with those selections in the first round?
DD: “It’s probably going to be two top-10 picks. It’s going to be really important to this team going forward. You can’t trade for players you can pick and develop.”
BPSN: A new owner comes in, they have had three coaches and they are in last place. What do you tell the fans why they should have hope?
DD: “We only had two coaches. We had an interim coach, no different than other teams in the league. There were three other teams in the league this year that had a head coaching change, put an intern coach in, and then hired their head coach so we’re no different. When people say that, it’s incorrect. We’ve never had three coaches, we’ve only had two.”
BPSN: Where are you as far as scouting for the draft and imports? Are you interested in imports?
DD: “If we can upgrade on our two imports we have, for sure. If we can upgrade on the other 20 players in the room, we will. That’s the nature of the beast at this level. Our scouting staff’s great. We spent the whole day Saturday putting together our list. The guys worked really, really hard. I got some great reports and we’re really excited.”
BPSN: Come trade deadline, would you consider trading off some assets this year?
DD: “We want to acquire. We picked up two players (Michael Podolioukh and Zakary Lavoie). We’re looking to buy. We haven’t changed our focus. From Day 1, I don’t think Niagara should ever be in a rebuild and we’re not changing our focus on that.”
BPSN: What is your draft pick situation?
DD: “For 2023, we have two firsts, a second, a third and a fourth, plus everything else.”
BPSN: You indicated earlier you might look to bring in another GM. Where does that stand?
DD: “For now, Wes and I are still trying to reorganize things so there’s no plans on doing anything like that.”
BPSN: There are an awful lot of rumours out there the players aren’t being taken care properly on road trips. Any comment?
DD: “I don’t because I think those are just rumours started by people that are being negative. I don’t think that anybody isn’t being treated properly. We stay at the Hilton, not budget motels. We’re doing everything the right way and mirroring what the other teams are doing. Are people going to complain? Sure, they’re going to complain. If you put steak and lobster in front of the kids, then there’s not going to be enough lobster. If we stay at the Hilton, it should have been the Ramada. That’s just the way it is.”
BPSN: Are you enjoying this?
DD: I love it. It’s great. You’re a news guy and people read negative. You walk an old lady across the street and you don’t make the newspaper but you get a DUI and you’re on the front page. People thrive under stuff like that. When people say we’re not treating the kids right, you know what? I put my head on the pillow every night and I know the truth. My partner, a long time ago in 1993 when I got into the insurance business, said something I’ll never forget. There’s three sides to every story. His side, her side and the truth.”
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