CALGARY, Alta. –
The coaching staff is now in place as Team Canada prepares to compete at
the 2017 IIHF World Championship in Paris, France, and Cologne, Germany.
Jon Cooper (Prince George, B.C./Tampa Bay, NHL)
has been named head coach of
Canada’s National Men’s Team
in his first stint with Hockey Canada. Cooper will be joined behind the
bench by assistant coachesGerard Gallant (Summerside, P.E.I.), Dave Hakstol (Warburg, Alta./Philadelphia, NHL),
and Dave King (Saskatoon, Sask.).
The coaching staff was selected by members of the management group,
announced earlier this month: general manager Ron Hextall (Brandon,
Man./Philadelphia, NHL); assistant general manager Sean Burke (Windsor,
Ont./Montreal, NHL); director of player personnel Larry Carrière
(Montreal/Montreal, NHL); and Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C.), vice-president
of hockey operations and national teams with Hockey Canada.
“Canada has tremendous depth in both its player and coaching pool, and we
are fortunate to welcome a blend of experience and new faces to our program
for this year’s IIHF World Championship,” said Tom Renney, president and
CEO, Hockey Canada. “This is always an exciting event that brings Canadian
hockey fans together to cheer on the red-and-white, and our players have
four talented coaches and leaders in this group to work with and learn
from.”
Cooper
joined the Tampa Bay Lightning midway through the 2012-13 season as head
coach – a position he holds to this day – following two-and-a-half seasons
in the AHL with the Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch. He was an assistant coach
for Team North America at last fall’s World Cup of Hockey and guided the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015. Cooper has also
held head coaching positions for teams in the CSHL, MWEHL, NAHL, and USHL.
Gallant
was an assistant coach with Team Canada at the 2007 IIHF World
Championship, and was assistant coach alongside Cooper with Team North
America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Gallant has coached the better
part of 13 seasons in the NHL with Columbus, the New York Islanders,
Montreal, and most recently Florida, and spent three seasons – 2009-12 – as
head coach of the Saint John Sea Dogs, winning back-to-back QMJHL
championships (2011, 2012) and the Memorial Cup in 2011. His Summerside
Western Capitals won the 1997 Royal Bank Cup with Gallant as head coach.
Hakstol
just completed his second season as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers
following 15 seasons in coaching roles with the University of North Dakota
(NCAA). Hakstol also spent three-and-a-half seasons as head coach of the
Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL. During his playing career, Hakstol wore
the ‘C’ for UND, and played for the Indianapolis Ice and Minnesota Moose in
the IHL. He was named the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) Most
Outstanding Defenceman in the 1988-89 season.
King
’s international coaching career got its start in 1982 with two medals – a
gold at the 1982 IIHF World Junior Championship, and bronze at the 1982
IIHF World Championship. He followed that up with a bronze medal at the
1983 IIHF World Junior Championship before becoming Team Canada’s full-time
head coach in 1983-84 – a role he held until 1992-93 when he accepted an
NHL head coaching role with the Calgary Flames. King won a silver medal
with Canada at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games, and was also behind the Team
Canada bench at the 1999 IIHF World Championship. King has held a variety
of roles in the NHL, SHL, and KHL since 1992, and was inducted into the
IIHF Hall of Fame Builder category in 2000-2001. Most recently, King was
head coach of Team Canada at the 2016 Deutschland Cup, and associate coach
with the 2016 Spengler Cup champions.
Team Canada management, staff, and players will gather in Geneva,
Switzerland, for a
pre-tournament camp
, which includes a tune-up game on May 2 against the Swiss.
Canada opens the
2017 IIHF World Championship against the Czech Republic on Friday, May 5, with preliminary-round games
scheduled through Tuesday, May 16. The bronze- and gold-medal games will
take place on Sunday, May 21.
TSN and RDS, Hockey Canada’s official broadcast partners, will carry 64 and
32 games respectively; schedules and network information can be found at
TSN.ca
and RDS.ca.
Team Canada has won gold at the last two IIHF World Championships, going
undefeated during the 2015 tournament, and blanking Finland 2-0 in the
gold-medal game in 2016.
Since 1931, Canada was won the world championship 20 times – not counting
the years when Olympic Winter Games champions were also considered world
champion. The country has also collected 11 silver medals and six bronze in
that timespan.
For more information on Canada’s National Men’s Team, please visit
HockeyCanada.ca
or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.