CALGARY, ALBERTA – Mike Pelino, the Coach and Manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team for the past four seasons, was named as the Florida Panthers Assistant Coach on Wednesday and will be leaving his post at Hockey Canada.

"I am very honoured to be named as an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers and am looking forward to the new challenges ahead. I have enjoyed my time with Hockey Canada and will be leaving with some great memories representing my country on the international stage and working with some excellent people over my four years here, " said Pelino.

Pelino’s international coaching experience at Hockey Canada includes a total of ten gold medals. Pelino’s recent gold medal successes include: an assistant coach with Canada’s 2002 Men’s Olympic gold medal team in Salt Lake City, UT, an assistant coach of Canada’s 2003 Men’s World Championship team that won gold in Finland this past May and Head Coach of Team Canada at the 2002 Spengler Cup Championship in Davos, Switzerland.

As head coach with Team Canada, Pelino’s other gold medals include the 2000 Father Bauer Cup and the 1996 Under-18 Pacific Cup. As an assistant coach, Pelino’s won a gold medal at the 2000 Deutschland Cup, 2000 Nagano Cup, 1997 World Junior Championship, and 1991 Canada Cup.

Pelino was an associate coach with Canada’s National Women’s Team for the 2002-2003 season, winning gold at the 2002 Four Nations Cup, held in Kitchener, Ontario in November 2002.

He was an assistant coach three times at the Men’s World Championships, winning a gold medal in 2003 and served as an assistant coach at the 2000 and 2001 events.

Pelino joined Canada's National Men's Team in August 1999 after ten seasons as Head Coach of Brock University (St. Catharines, ON) and two seasons as an assistant coach with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League. While with Brock, Pelino was a three time recipient of Coach-of-the-Year honours.

Pelino holds a Level 4 certification in the 3M National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) and has an Honours degree in Commerce and an Education degree from the University of Toronto. Mike and wife Kim have two children, Alexandra and David, and will all be relocating to South Florida.