Dustin Peltier was video coach
WIIKWEMKOONG—Two members of the Team Ontario hockey team that won the gold medal at the recent 2023 Canada Winter Games have strong ties to Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and were very impressed that they could both be on the same winning tam.
“Yes, it was very cool to have Jack (Nesbitt) as a player on the team. By the end of the tournament, we had a little support system built up between each other,” stated Dustin Peltier, video coach for Team Canada who lives in Little Current and is a Wiikwemkoong band member. Jack Nesbitt was a left winger and a pivotal player on the team.
“I was aware of Jack before the tournament, and he was aware of me,” said Mr. Peltier. “We got to know each other through the tournament being on the same team.”
Mr. Nesbitt, who is the captain of the Lambton Junior Sting AAA U-16 team in Sarnia, where he grew up and lives, pointed out his grandmother is originally from Wiikwemkoong. “I didn’t really know about Dustin, but my uncle knows him through coaching. Oh yes, it was great getting to know him, he is an excellent coach.”
The Canada Winter Games experience, “was amazing,” said Mr. Nesbitt. “Everything about it was fantastic. From training camp in Kitchener getting to know all the guys on the team, and then going to PEI, staying at the University of PEI and winning goal was incredible.”
“It was an amazing experience,” stated Mr. Peltier. He said the team spent a week before the Canada Winter Games in training camp in Kitchener, where the “team got to familiarize itself with everyone and the team system and setup we had for the tournament.”
The nine-day tournament was hosted in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, with Team Ontario playing their round-robin games in Summerside, PEI.
“This was probably the biggest stage these young athletes have ever been able to perform at,” said Mr. Peltier. “It was very much like the Olympic Games and the level play in the under 16 category. These players are like young professionals with the way they execute and the speed of the game. All these players will be up for the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) draft, and everyone will be high on the draft list.”
“Yes, for sure this was the biggest highlight of my career,” said Mr. Nesbitt
“I had a little confidence going into training camp. I gave it my all and felt even if I didn’t make the team I had no regrets, I had given my best,” said Mr. Nesbitt. He played left wing in the tournament, a change from his usual centre position.
“I think I played well in the tournament. I played a lot in the finals,” said Mr. Nesbitt, who scored one goal in the tournament but was a force throughout the tournament. He also played on the penalty killing line for Team Ontario in the tournament.
After winning their opening game of the round-robin, Team Ontario dropped its next decision in overtime. “It is sometimes good for a team to face a little adversity. In our first game against BC the team showed a lot of talent and skills, but we didn’t show as much as compete in the second game. But after that, things really turned around for the team.”
Team Ontario won its last game of the round-robin then won its quarter-final game and defeated BC in the semi-finals in a really exciting, fast paced and high-scoring game 8-6.
In the gold medal game against Saskatchewan, Ontario found itself down 2-0 after the first period but had tied the game up by the end of the third period, sending the final game to overtime.
“It took almost 29 minutes of three-on-three overtime when we notched the winning goal,” said Mr. Peltier. “There was chance after chance for both teams, back and forth, and both goalies played outstanding.”
“It was nuts,” stated Mr. Nesbitt. “We came back in the third period, scoring twice and in overtime we knew we just couldn’t lose this game.”
“Jack was a core player in the tournament for us,” said Mr. Peltier. “He definitely saw ice-time in the overtime period of the final game.”
Although it was difficult to compare, Mr. Peltier said this gold medal was probably the most memorable hockey experience he has had. He was general manager for the gold medal winning Team Ontario at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship last year. “I mean the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships was similar, with Indigenous teams from every province in the country taking part. But this tournament included everyone (Native and non-Native). And there were kids in the many other sports held as part of the games, so it definitely had an Olympic style feel to it.”
Mr. Peltier was video coach for Team Canada at the Canada Winter Games and last May was manager for Team Ontario for the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships. The team won the gold medal last year.
“Around July of last year I had people reach out to me from the Coaches Association of Canada and the Aboriginal Sports Circle,” said Mr. Peltier. “They kind of recommended me for the position with Team Ontario (at the winter games) and put me in touch with the manager and Team Canada coaches. It just seemed like a good fit for all of us and it went from there.”
Mr. Nesbitt told CBC News that he was nearly in tears when he learned he would be part of Ontario’s roster at the Canada Winter Games. He said the gold-medal game was “the most incredible I’ve felt in my whole life.” As someone who had never played at the provincial level, he said he had to adjust to both the faster pace and playing as a left winger, as opposed to his usual role as a centre. He said he hopes to be on the same team with Mr. Peltier in the future.
It was Mr. Peltier that suggested to Team Ontario to watch Nesbitt play at a tournament in September. The team managers were ready to pick him after his first shift on the ice, he said.
“Video coach was my title for the Winter Games, but there is definitely more to it than it sounds,” said Mr. Peltier. “In hockey video is used extensively. After every game we would break down the video with the players and coaches. And in games I was utilized a lot. I was stationed in the press box and whenever I saw a need for tweaking something we were doing, or there were any concerns or things I saw that we were doing really well or could improve upon at the period intermission I would go and talk to our coaches as to what I had seen noticed. They would use this information as direct input into their intermission speech to the team.”
Mr. Peltier has been a scout for the Moncton Wildcats in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the past four years and he has coached minor hockey in the past. He has also held a position on the business development team with the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League. He lives in Little Current, but “I’m travelling a lot. I will be in Toronto three weekends this month for example. I am looking for diamonds in the rough.”
“I will be the general manager for Team Ontario at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships this May in Winnipeg,” continued Mr. Peltier.
