MINNEAPOLIS – Hockey Canada President, Bob Nicholson, along with Team Canada's World Cup management team of Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini named Canada's coaching staff for the World Cup of Hockey 2004 (WCH 2004) during a media conference on Friday.

Team Canada's coaching staff for the WCH 2004 held the same positions with Canada's 2002 gold medal winning men's Olympic hockey team in Salt Lake City.

The WCH 2004 will be Quinn's sixth international event with Team Canada. Quinn, a native of Hamilton, Ontario, led Canada to a gold medal and a record of 4-1-1 as head coach of Canada's 2002 Olympic hockey team. Other international experience includes: Assistant General Manager of Canada's 1996 World Cup of Hockey team, General Manager of Team Canada at the 1998 World Hockey Championship (Zurich, Switzerland), Co-General Manager, Team Canada, 1997 World Hockey Championship (Finland - Gold Medal) and was coach of Canada's 1986 Men's World Championship team that finished with a bronze medal.

Quinn, head coach of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs since 1998, captured the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's Coach of the Year in 1991-92 with the Vancouver Canucks and in 1979-80 with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Quinn will be joined by three members of his Salt Lake City coaching staff: Ken Hitchcock, Jacques Martin and Wayne Fleming, all of whom were associate coaches under Quinn in Salt Lake City.

Hitchcock, a native of Edmonton, Alberta and Head Coach of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers since 2002, guided the 2002-2003 Flyers to its best point total (107) since the 1985-86 season. Hitchcock has been nominated for the Jack Adams Award three consecutive seasons (1996-1999), and won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars. The World Cup of Hockey 2004 will mark the fourth time that he has been involved with Team Canada. Hitchcock was an associate coach at the 2002 Olympics, 2002 World Hockey Championship and was an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning Team Canada squad at the 1988 World Junior Championship in Russia. Hitchcock holds the Stars franchise records for most career regular season wins by a coach (277), most career playoff wins (47), highest regular season winning percentage by a coach (.610) and highest playoff winning percentage by a coach (.588). He was named the Top Coach in all of Canadian Major Junior Hockey in 1990, when he was with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers.

Martin, from St-Pascal, Ontario, is in his 8th season as head coach of the Ottawa Senators. Martin was awarded the Jack Adams Trophy as NHL Coach of the Year in 1998-99 after guiding the Senators to a franchise-record 103-point season and its first Northeast Division championship. It was the fourth time that Martin has been nominated for NHL coach of the year honours. Under Martin's guidance, the Senators captured the 2002-2003 President's Trophy and the team's third Northeast Division title, reaching the conference finals in 2003 for the first time in team history. Martin served as head coach at both the 20 NHL All-Star Games.

Fleming, who was Hockey Canada's vice-president, hockey from 2000-2002, was Canada's National team head coach for two seasons and is in his second season as an assistant coach with the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. Fleming, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, served as Canada's head coach at the 20 IIHF World Hockey Championships. Fleming has National Hockey League experience as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes during the 1999-2000 season and with the New York Islanders for two seasons (1997--99). Prior to joining the Islanders, he coached Kloten in the Swiss Elite League and Landshut of the German League during the 1996-97 season and spent four seasons coaching Leksand in the Swedish Elite League (1992--96). Fleming served as an assistant coach and general manager of the Canadian National Olympic Program for two years (19) and was a member of the coaching staff that led the Canadian National Men's Team to a silver medal at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France.

Canada will play its first game of the WCH 2004 on August 31st at the Bell Centre in Montreal versus USA. The North American pool will play its games at three venues: The Bell Centre in Montreal, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

The WCH 2004 Organizing Committee announced on Dec. that all team rosters will be released in mid-May and the size of each roster will be set at 26 players (23 skaters, 3 goalies), with three of the 26 players to be under the age of 22. The teams will dress 18 skaters and two goalies for each game. The exact date in May will be announced at a later time once the 2004 Stanley Cup playoff dates are determined, but the NHL/NHLPA has said it will be on or around .

The World Cup of Hockey 2004 is a joint effort of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) and the National Hockey League (NHL), in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Eight of the top hockey nations in the world make up two pools that will compete in the second World Cup of Hockey tournament. The North American pool consists of Canada, Russia, Slovakia and USA. The Czech Republic, Finland, Germany and Sweden will compete in the European pool.

Canada's training camp location, details and exhibition game dates have not yet been confirmed.