Giants Changes

Photo Credit D. Laird Allan/Sportswave

One season finishes and the next begins with little or no time off given that players, coaches as well as off-ice individuals move on to another team or organization.

With this we are seeing movement within the Vancouver Giants with two major moves with the first being the loss of Head Coach Michael Dyck (54) who is moving east to work with the Toronto Marlies as their Assistant Coach. 

Giants GM Barclay Parneta mentioned “Michael Dyck will be a great asset to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, as he was to the Giant”

He continued mentioning “Working with Michael for the past five years and seeing his impact daily, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before his abilities would get recognized. He is an excellent coach that connects with his players. He will continue to succeed and positively impact the player’s and organization’s development wherever possible as he continues his coaching career.”

He previously worked with the Giants as an Assistant Coach (2002-05), Scout (2009-10) and Director of Player Development (2010-12).

Prior to  joining the Giants he was an Assistant Coach with Lethbridge (1997-2002) and later served as head coach from 2005-09 in addition working as an assistant coach with Medicine Hat (1996-97) plus working with the Kootenay Ice (2013-14) as an Assistant.

Giants majority owner and President Ron Toigo mentioned “When we hired Michael in 2018, he was part of our original culture of the Giants winning programs and we brought him back to re-instill that and he did. In his first year he took us to the Western Hockey League Finals. The organization is in much better shape now than when he got here. We appreciate everything he did for us.”

Michael mentioned  “I have been very fortunate to work in a first class organization with first class people who have made me better. And to be able to do this while living in the Lower Mainland has made it an amazing experience for myself and my family.” 

He continued saying “I want to thank the fans, players, staff, management and ownership group for their commitment and support, and want to wish them the best of luck moving forward. I particularly want to thank Ron Toigo for his support and guidance, and allowing me the opportunity to come back and work with the Giants organization.”

In addition the Giants welcome Cord Ivanco (28) (Outlook, Sask.) who takes over as the new Equipment Manager at the 2023-24 WHL season and replaces Brodie St Jacques. 

He spent the past five seasons with the U of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Ice Hockey team in addition to Team Canada as the Equipment Manager at the 2023 FISU World University Games in Lake Placid for Canada’s Gold Medal win and recently helped at Calgary Flames Development camp earlier in the month.

He mentioned “I’m beyond grateful to get the chance to work for such a tremendous organization and I’d like to thank the ownership group, Barclay Parneta and all the staff for this opportunity. I can’t wait to meet everyone and get to work.”

In addition to enjoying hockey he played football for the Saskatoon Hilltops for four years, where the team won three National Championships.

Sportswave wished both Brodie and Michael all the best in their new venture moving forward.