jason ckarke feature

Jason Clarke named head coach of Canada East for 2015 World Junior A Challenge

Stephane Blanchet, Curtis Hodgins and Marc Lafleur named assistant coaches

CJHLHockey.com
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August 27, 2015
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The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), in partnership with Hockey Canada, announced today that Jason Clarke, head coach and general manager of the Canadian Central Hockey League’s Carleton Place Canadians, will be the head coach of Canada East for the 2015 World Junior A Challenge, scheduled to take place Dec. 13-19 in Cobourg and Whitby, Ont.

Clarke will be joined by assistant coaches Stephane Blanchet (goalie and video coach, Collège Français de Longueuil, Ligue de hockey junior du Québec), Curtis Hodgins (head coach, Cobourg Cougars, Ontario Junior Hockey League) and Marc Lafleur (head coach, Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League).

“To been given the opportunity to represent my country is a great honour,” said Clarke. “I am looking forward to the challenges that lies ahead.”

Jason Clarke , 41, will make his first appearance with Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge. In six years with Carleton Place, Clarke has led the Canadians to consecutive CCHL titles, back-to-back Fred Page Cup wins as East Region champions, along with appearances in the RBC Cup championship game the past two seasons. He was also named a Central Canada Cup head as well as a World Junior A Challenge evaluation coach in 2014-15. To date, Clarke has more than 250 wins as head coach of the Canadians and was named the CCHL Coach of the Year in 2013-14 and 2014-15. He was also a finalist for CJHL Coach of Year in 2014-15.

Stephane Blanchet , 47, will be the video coach with Canada East for the first time. Blanchet is entering his fourth season as goalie and video coach with Collège Français de Longueuil of the LHJQ. Stephane has a number of years of coaching experience at various levels of hockey and was helped Longueuil win the LHJQ championship in 2015. He also served as a video coach for Swiss national team that competed in the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championships as well as goalie and video coach at the U15 Quebec Cup in 2013.

Curtis Hodgins , 42, will serve on the Canada East staff for a third time, having been an assistant coach in 2010 and head coach in 2011, winning two silver medals. He also served as a head coach at the Central Canada Cup in 2012 and 2014. Hodgins is entering his fourth season with Cobourg, one of the host cities of the 2015 World Junior A Challenge. Prior to joining the Cougars, Hodgins coached the Whitby Fury from 2010-12.

Marc Lafleur , 40, will make his third consecutive appearance with Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge, having served as an assistant coach in 2013 and 2014. Named NOJHL Coach of the Year in his first season in Kirkland Lake in 2012-13, he led the Gold Miners to the NOJHL championship and a berth in the Dudley Hewitt Cup two years ago. Lafleur has 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.

Canada East has appeared in four of the nine gold medal games at the World Junior A Challenge, winning silver in 2006 (Yorkton/Humboldt, Sask.), 2007 (Trail/Nelson, B.C.), 2010 (Penticton, B.C.), and 2011 (Langley, B.C.), and bronze in 2008 (Camrose, Alta.). Canada East finished fourth in 2009 (Summerside, P.E.I.) and 2012 (Yarmouth, N.S.) and 2014 (Kindersely, SK) and was sixth in 2013 (Yarmouth, N.S.)

For more information on the 2015 World Junior A Challenge, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca/wjac, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/wjrac and 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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