How this Canada Games athlete will juggle gymnastics and hockey in the same week

Ryan Dwyer will be one of the busiest athletes at the Canada Games, competing in gymnastics and men's hockey in the same week. 

The two sports were supposed to be on different weeks while the 2023 Winter Canada Games take place in P.E.I., but the 15-year-old decided he still wanted to move ahead when those schedules changed.

"Everything kind of worked out, so that's good," Dwyer said. "Unfortunately, I have to miss one hockey game. But it's cool that I get to do both still.

"It's been a lot of juggling schedules, but my coaches have been supportive, and if I have to miss something, they're totally on board. So, it's busy."

Dwyer's mother, Louise, said busy is definitely the best way to describe it.

"I think it wasn't so much of a decision, it was just a continuous journey for him," she said.

"He started both sports at the age of four, and it just rolled from there."

Ryan's love of both sports comes from his parents.

"I was a gymnast when I was younger, and so he started here in the pre-K program and loved it and he just continued," Louise Dwyer said.

His father Gordie Dwyer played in the NHL, and is now the coach and general manager of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

He also coached the Summerside Western Capitals, the P.E.I. Rocket and the Charlottetown Islanders.

"He has been lucky with the support of so many coaches on his side," Louise Dwyer said. 

"Especially with gymnastics, because it's not a team sport, he's had a little bit more leeway as far as his schedule goes ... Hockey's a bit more difficult, of course."

C.J. Keliher, coach of the men's artistic gymnastics team for the 2023 Canada Winter Games, said the coaches have also had to do some juggling.

"When I did find out that