CALGARY – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), announced Tuesday a second Junior team coaching staff that will coach Canada at the Canada/Russia Super Series, an event which will also serve to develop Canada’s National Junior Team for the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Brent Sutter (Red Deer, WHL), a two-time gold medal winner as head coach of Canada’s National Junior Team, will be the head coach of the Canadian team for the Canada/Russia Super Series, that will be held from August 27th to September 9th. Peter DeBoer (Kitchener, OHL) and Benoit Groulx (Gatineau, QMJHL) will join Sutter behind the Canadian bench as assistant coaches for the Canada/ Russia Super Series.

Hockey Canada and the CHL announced on May 29th that Craig Hartsburg (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) will return as head coach of Canada’s National Junior Team for the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship, to be held in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic. Assistant coaches Curtis Hunt (Regina, WHL) and Clément Jodoin (Rimouski, QMJHL) will also be joining Hartsburg again for the 2008 World Juniors.

In his capacity as Head Coach of Canada’s National Junior Team, Hartsburg will be actively involved in the preparation and the evaluation of Canada’s team for the Super Series, working closely with Sutter and his staff, along with Hockey Canada’s Head Scout Jim Hammett.

With the advent of the Canada/Russia Super Series, Hockey Canada previously announced that it will not hold its annual National Junior Team summer development camp this year, which usually runs in early August. Canada’s roster for the Super Series will be announced by the end of June.

The Canada/Russia Super Series, a one-time eight-game series featuring the best Under-20 players from Canada and Russia, will take place from August 27th to September 9th, with the first four games to be held in Russia, and the final four to be held in Canadian cities. Canadian locations and ticket information will be announced by the end of June.

Brent Sutter, a native of Viking, AB, is one of the most successful coaches in the history of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, leading the National Junior Team to gold medals, and perfect 7-0 records, at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota and the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver, BC.

An 18-year NHL veteran and two-time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders (1982, 1983), Sutter was also successful on the international stage as a player, winning three Canada Cups (1984, 1987, 1991) and a bronze medal at the 1986 IIHF World Hockey Championship. The long-time head coach and general manager of the Red Deer Rebels, Sutter’s best season came in 2000-01, when his Rebels won the WHL championship and Memorial Cup, and Sutter was named the WHL and CHL Coach of the Year.

Peter DeBoer, head coach of the Kitchener Rangers for the past six seasons, has twice been an assistant coach at the IIHF World Junior Championship, winning a gold medal alongside Sutter in 2005, and finishing 8th in 1998.

Benoit Groulx, who has been the head coach of the Gatineau Olympiques since midway through the 2001-02 season, was an assistant coach for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2004 Junior World Cup, winning a gold medal.