2013 wjac east 640

Ian MacInnis named head coach of Canada East for 2013 World Junior A Challenge

Mario Cicchillo and Billy McGuigan to serve as assistant coaches

NR.068.13
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May 9, 2013
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CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Junior Hockey League, announced Thursday that Ian MacInnis, head coach and general manager of the CCHL’s Cornwall Colts, will be the head coach of Canada East for the 2013 World Junior A Challenge, scheduled for November 5-11 in Yarmouth, N.S.

MacInnis will be joined by assistant coaches Mario Cicchillo (head coach, Toronto Jr. Canadiens, OJHL) and Billy McGuigan (head coach, Summerside Western Capitals, MHL), along with video coach Marc Lafleur (head coach, Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, NOJHL), for the tournament.

Ian MacInnis, 51, will make his first appearance with Canada East at the 2013 World Junior A Challenge. He has been owner, head coach and general manager of the Colts for the past six seasons. MacInnis guided the Colts to a league title in 2013 and a berth in the Fred Page Cup. He was also at the helm of the Colts in 2008 when they hosted the RBC Cup, Canada’s National Junior A Championship.

Mario Cicchillo, 55, will be an assistant coach for the first time with Canada East. Cicchilo just completed his first season as head coach of the Jr. Canadiens, leading the team to a 16-point improvement in the OJHL standings. Prior to coaching the Jr. Canadiens, Cicchilo coached in the OHL for six seasons with the IceDogs franchise, including two seasons as head coach in Niagara and four as an assistant coach when the team was in Mississauga.

Billy McGuigan, 37, will be an assistant coach for the first time with Canada East. McGuigan was head coach of Team East at last year’s CJHL Prospects Games. McGuigan has been head coach of the Western Capitals for the past two seasons, winning the MHL championship in 2013, and will be behind the bench at this year’s RBC Cup, which begins Saturday in Summerside. He also spent two seasons as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Sledge Team. McGuigan, who played four seasons of professional hockey in the CoHL, CHL and WCHL, has also been an MHL head coach with the Charlottetown Abbies and Miramichi Timberwolves.

Marc Lafleur, 37, will make his first appearance with Canada East at the 2013 World Junior A Challenge. Named NOJHL coach of the year this season, his first with the Gold Miners, Lafleur has also worked as an assistant coach with the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and in the NCAA with Bemidji State University. As a player, Lafleur spent two seasons with the USHL’s Thunder Bay Flyers, reaching the 1995 Centennial Cup, and won an NCAA Division II championship with Bemidji State in 1997.

Hockey Canada will announce details for Canada East camps in the near future.

Canada East has appeared in four of the seven gold medal games at the World Junior A Challenges, taking silver in 2006 in Yorkton, Sask., 2007 in Trail, B.C., and 2010 in Penticton, B.C., as well as last year in Langley, B.C. It won bronze in 2008 in Camrose, Alta., and finished fourth in 2009 in Summerside, P.E.I., and last year in Yarmouth.

For more information on the 2013 World Junior A Challenge, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca/wjac, or follow along via social media at www.facebook.com/wjrac or www.twitter.com/hc_wjac.

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

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