Hockey Canada names coaching staff for World U-18s
Published
Hockey Canada has named the coaching staff that will guide Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship in Finland.
The tournament run from April 25 through May 5 and can be seen live on TSN and the TSN App., in Espoo and Vantaa, Finland .
The winningest coach in Canadian university men’s hockey history, Gardiner MacDougall will serve as head coach.
MacDougall led the University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team to a perfect season in 2023-24, going 43-0 in exhibition, regular season and postseason play as the Reds defended their University Cup title.
The perfect season included win No. 600 for MacDougall, who was also named U SPORTS coach of the year for the third time (2009-10, 2014-15, 2023-24). He has spent 24 seasons behind the Reds’ bench, leading the team to nine national championships (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024).
He will be joined by assistant coaches Travis Crickard (St. John’s, NL/Saint John, QMJHL), Bruce Richardson (Montreal, QC) and Ryan Smith (Headingley, MB/Spokane, WHL),along with goaltending coach Dan De Palma (Kamloops, BC/Kamloops, WHL) .
The coaching staff was selected by senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations Scott Salmond and senior manager of hockey operations Benoit Roy.
Team Canada begins the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship on April 25 against Sweden. They will play Czechia on April 26, Switzerland on April 28 and Kazakhstan on April 30 to close out preliminary-round action. The semifinals are set for May 4 before the tournament concludes with the medal games on May 5.
Since 2002, Canada has won four gold medals at the IIHF U18 World Championship (2003, 2008, 2013, 2021), in addition to one silver (2005) and four bronze (2012, 2014, 2015, 2023).