CALGARY, AB -- George Burnett, who coached the Guelph Storm to the Memorial Cup final last month, has been named head coach of Canada's National Junior Hockey Team that will compete at the 1999 World Hockey Championship in Winnipeg from Dec. 26 - Jan. 5, the Canadian Hockey Association announced on Tuesday.

Burnett will be joined by assistants Claude Julien, head coach of the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and Brent Peterson, head coach of the 1998 Memorial Cup champion Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League. Julien guided the Olympiques to the 1997 Memorial Cup title and was head coach of Canada's National Under-18 Team that won an international tournament in the Czech Republic in August 1997.

At the same time, the CHA announced that Geoff Ward has been appointed head coach of the 1998 Under-18 Team that will compete in a similar tournament in the Czech Republic this summer. Ward's assistant coaches will be Todd McLellan, who is general manager and head coach of the WHL's Swift Current Broncos, and Marc Habscheid, head coach of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers.

The appointments were announced following a thorough screening process carried out by the National Junior Team Policy Committee, which is made up of Dave Branch, president of the Canadian Hockey League and the OHL, Gilles Courteau, president of the QMJHL, and WHL commissioner Dev Dley. Bob Nicholson, president of the CHA, Sheldon Lanchbery, a CHA vice-chairman-at-large, and Denis Hainault, the CHA's Director of High Performance, also sit on the committee. Ray Bennett, the CHA's manager of coaching, serves as a consultant on the committee.

Burnett, 36, just completed his first season as head coach at Guelph, after two seasons as head coach of the Binghamton Rangers of the American Hockey League. Burnett was head coach of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers for the 1994-95 season. He was head coach of the Edmonton's farm club in Cape Breton from 1992-94, and guided that AHL club to the Calder Cup championship in 1993. While serving as head coach and general manager of the Niagara Falls Thunder from 1989-1992 , Burnett was named OHL Coach-of-the-Year in 1990-91. Burnett played for the London Knights of the OHL from 1979-82 and starred for the McGill Redmen from 1982-84, earning All-Canadian honors in 1982-83 when he was the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union scoring champion.

Peterson, who had stints with Detroit, Buffalo, Vancouver and Hartford in his 11-year career as an NHL player, has coached Portland for the last five seasons. In 1997 he was named the WHL's Coach-of-the- Year and in 1998 he coached in the Top Prospects Game.

Ward, 36, was an assistant coach, under Juilien, on the 1998 Under-18 team and was head coach of the Kitchener Rangers the past three seasons. He served as an assistant coach with Team Ontario at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Amos, Quebec in 1994. The Under-18 Team will be McLellan's first involvement with the CHA's program of excellence, but he has extensive experience as a coach and executive in the WHL. McClellan was named the WHL's Executive-of-the-Year in 1996-97.

For Habscheid, the appointment to the Under-18 coaching staff continues a longstanding involvement with the program of excellence, dating back to 1982 when he was the leading goalscorer for the National Junior Team that won the first of Canada's record 10 gold medals at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Habscheid went on to play for Canada's National Men's team from 1986-88, participate in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and play for Canada at the 1992 World Hockey Championship in Prague. As a professional player, Habscheid played for the Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota North Stars (now Dallas), Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames in the NHL. His pro career also included three years' experience in Europe in both the Swiss and German Elite Leagues.

Habscheid's coaching experience includes a year as head coach and GM of the Melfort Mustangs of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, as well as one season as head coach at Kamloops, where he fashioned a won-lost-tied record of 37-32-3. He also served as an assistant coach with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League from 1993-95.

Burnett will welcome 40 players to the National Junior Team's summer evaluation camp at Winnipeg's Century Arena on Aug. 9. He, Julien and Peterson will conduct six days of practices and intra-squad games to evaluate the candidates for the team that will compete for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Winnipeg and surrounding cities from Dec. 26 - Jan. 5.

In December, Burnett will oversee the National Junior Team selection camp, to which 32 players will be invited, 22 of whom will earn spots on the final tournament roster.

As for the Under-18 Team, 22 players will be invited to a pre-competition camp in Winnipeg from Aug. 2-7. The team will go through five days of twice-daily workouts before departing on August 8 for the Czech Republic. Canada will compete in a tri-nations tournament against the Czech Republic and Slovakia from August 9-16.