Two years in the past, the Greater Vernon Minor Hockey Association (GVMHA) determined
to make rising girls’s hockey a precedence. Thanks to initiatives like Esso
Fun Days and training packages, the expansion has been important.

Let’s put that development into perspective: Last yr, Vernon had U9, U11 and
U15 ladies’ groups. This yr, the affiliation has ladies’ groups in each
division besides U18, which might be working subsequent yr as soon as the U15 gamers
graduate—an estimated development of 100 extra ladies lacing up their skates within the
area.

“It’s getting to a degree now that the amount of ladies actually helps an
elite stream of hockey growth, which for us is absolutely the primary time
we’ve had it,” says Kevin Bathurst, director of hockey operations for the
GVMHA and co-chair of the 2024 Esso Cup.

Thanks to a grant final yr, the GVMHA was capable of run a girls’s coach
growth program in the summertime, particularly concentrating on the U15 age group.

“[The U15 group is] a fairly passionate group of fairly good gamers, and
[we’re trying] to create a pathway for them to remain within the recreation so long as
potential,” Bathurst says. “We’ve obtained extra girls teaching in our neighborhood
now than we’ve ever had.”

Several members of the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers, host crew of this yr’s
Esso Cup, are actively teaching youthful groups of their area. Lily Roberts,
a four-year veteran of the Lakers, has been teaching for 3 years and
at the moment works with a U13 crew in Vernon.

“I really wanted to get into coaching just to change perspectives,” Roberts
says. “[Growing up,] if I had that lady to look as much as, I’d really feel a lot
extra comfy studying and asking questions, and I’d really feel extra inclined
to do what the coach is saying.”

Roberts determined to pursue teaching for a full season after being invited to
assist at a hockey camp over the summer season. The 17-year-old reached out to see if
she might coach the upcoming season and it labored out that her youthful
sister needed to start out taking part in.

“At the start, she was sort of hesitant listening to her sister as her
coach, however after time, I feel she thinks it’s actually cool to have me out
there,” Roberts says.

Hailey Sitter has at all times liked working with children and obtained into teaching by
aiding with summer season camps. A sophomore member of the Lakers, the
16-year-old is an assistant coach with a U7 crew in Lumby.

“I heard that there was a few ladies combating having enjoyable out on
the ice out in Lumby, so I figured that I’d go and spend a few ice
occasions with them to see if I might hopefully change that and assist them have
some enjoyable,” Sitter says. “That became me each Wednesday going out and
teaching them.”

Sitter has been teaching for nearly a yr, and it’s the enjoyment on her gamers’
faces when they’re having enjoyable and enhancing their expertise that retains her
passionate to be a coach.

“To me, if the youngsters are having enjoyable, they’re going to sit up for exhibiting
as much as the rink,” she says.

When Sitter first began taking part in hockey, her crew was coached by three
girls, together with her mother. She didn’t notice the impression of that have
on the time, however reflecting again, Sitter says she seen them as function
fashions.

“As I obtained older and I began to see girls coaches, I actually appeared as much as
them and I actually needed to work as onerous as I might to get to the place they
had been and to be pretty much as good as they had been,” Sitter says. “I feel that’s actually
cool that I can do this for a few of these youthful ladies.”

It’s a busy schedule to steadiness faculty work, Lakers practices and training,
however Roberts and Sitter credit score time administration and never procrastinating to
keep organized. Having the chance to see the sport from a training
perspective has additionally opened up a brand new method to view the sport as a participant.

“I’ve observed after I’m explaining one thing to one in every of my youthful children, it
doesn’t at all times click on the primary time,” Sitter explains. “When I’m explaining
it, I’m additionally breaking it down extra. I’m explaining it less complicated, which I’ve
observed that helps me after I go to do that talent in my observe.”

Lily Roberts holding the Outstanding Female Leadership Award. Photo credit score: GVMHA

Through her dedication to recreation, Roberts turned the primary recipient of the
Outstanding Female Leadership Award from the GVMHA, an award lately
created to proceed to encourage the expansion of the ladies’s recreation within the
area.

“I am super grateful to be the very first recipient of it,” Roberts says.
“It’s an awesome feeling to know that I’m serving to create the following era of
girls’s hockey gamers, particularly in Vernon.”

With the 2024 Esso Cup being hosted in Vernon from April 21-27, Roberts is
ecstatic that she’s going to end her time as a Laker competing for Canada’s
Women’s U18 National Club Championship on residence ice earlier than she begins on the
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) within the fall.

“I’ve always dreamed of being in the Esso Cup when I was little,” Roberts
says. “It’s so crazy that it’s happening here in my hometown.”

The event can be one other alternative to proceed to develop the ladies’s
recreation within the Okanagan.

“To have these younger gamers have the chance to see the best stage
of hockey on an newbie hockey by way of minor hockey in our nation, I
assume it’s solely going to extend the variety of registrations throughout the
board,” Bathurst says. “It’s an thrilling time for the following era of
girls’s gamers within the Okanagan and we’re actually enthusiastic about it.”

Fifty-two groups name the Central Region dwelling, however solely six stay within the
hunt for the area’s berth on the

2024 TELUS Cup in Membertou, Nova Scotia – the Markham Waxers, Ottawa Jr. 67’s, Timmins
Majors, Vaughan Kings, Waterloo Wolves and host Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

All six are comparatively contemporary faces, with the Greyhounds the latest
regional rivals, in 2022. They personal 9 TELUS Cup appearances between them – six
of these belong to Sault Ste. Marie – however none have performed on the nationwide
stage since Ottawa received silver in 2013.

The area has a little bit of a ‘Cinderella’ really feel to it – solely the Jr. 67’s have been
one of the best regular-season group of their league – though all six groups have
earned their spots; the 5 league champions completed a mixed 40-13-8
within the playoffs, and even the host Greyhounds pushed Timmins to extra time in
the GNU18L semifinals.

RECENT CHAMPIONS (TELUS CUP FINISH)

2023 – Toronto Jr. Canadiens (4th place)
2022 – Mississauga Reps (4th place)
2019 – Toronto Young Nationals (gold medal)
2018 – Toronto Young Nationals (4th place)
2017 – Mississauga Rebels (bronze medal)

MARKHAM WAXERS
OMHA CHAMPIONS

Regular season report: 24-8-2-1 (fifth in

OMHA)
Goals for: 157
Goals towards: 87
Leading scorer: Matthew Johnson (25G 21A 46P)

Playoff report: 11-2-2
Goals for: 68
Goals towards: 37
Leading scorer: Tate Collins (9G 9A 18P)

ROAD TO THE CENTRAL REGIONAL
OMHA Playoffs
Round robin: 2nd in East Group A – misplaced to Ajax-Pickering Raiders 4-0, tied
North Central Predators 2-2, defeated Kingston Jr. Gaels 1-0, defeated
Oshawa Generals 7-3, defeated North Central Predators 5-2, defeated
Clarington Toros 8-3, defeated Clarington Toros 6-0, defeated Kingston Jr.
Gaels 5-1, tied Ajax-Pickering Raiders 5-5, defeated Oshawa Generals 3-2

OMHA Championship
Preliminary spherical: 2nd in Group 2 – defeated Central Ontario Wolves 9-2,
defeated Oakville Rangers 5-1, misplaced to Burlington Eagles 7-3
Semifinal: defeated Guelph Gryphons 5-3
Final: defeated Burlington Eagles 4-2

Last nationwide championship look: none
Total nationwide championship appearances: none

OTTAWA JR. 67’S
HEO CHAMPIONS

Regular season report: 24-4-2 (1st in

HEO)
Goals for: 141
Goals towards: 70
Leading scorer: Dylan Turcotte (28G 21A 49P)

Playoff report: 7-2-1
Goals for: 37
Goals towards: 21
Leading scorer: Dylan Turcotte (7G 8A 15P)

ROAD TO THE CENTRAL REGIONAL
Semifinal: defeated OHA Mavericks 3-1-1 (-3, 3-2, 3-2, 0-2, 1-1)
Final: defeated Upper Canada Cyclones 4-1 (5-3, 2-4, 4-2, 8-1, 5-1)

Last nationwide championship look: 2013 (silver medal)
Total nationwide championship appearances: 1 (2013)

SAULT STE. MARIE GREYHOUNDS
HOST

Regular season report: 20-13-3 (third in

GNU18L)
Goals for: 136
Goals towards: 106
Leading scorer: Sebastian Dos Reis (19G 26A 45P)

Playoff report: 2-2-1
Goals for: 14
Goals towards: 15
Leading scorer: Camden Cowan (3G 4A 7P)

ROAD TO THE CENTRAL REGIONAL
Preliminary spherical: 2nd place – misplaced to Sudbury U18 Wolves 4-1, defeated
Timmins Majors 3-2, tied New Liskeard Cubs 3-3, defeated Sudbury U16 Wolves
3-1
Semifinal: misplaced to Timmins Majors 5-4 OT

Last nationwide championship look: 2013 (fifth place)
Total nationwide championship appearances: 6 (1980, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2007,
2013)

TIMMINS MAJORS
GNU18L CHAMPIONS

Regular season report: 23-9-3 (2nd in

GNU18L)
Goals for: 144
Goals towards: 121
Leading scorer: Ian Lachance (26G 48A 74P)

Playoff report: 4-1-1
Goals for: 15
Goals towards: 11
Leading scorer: Edan Etheridge (4G 6A 10P)

ROAD TO THE CENTRAL REGIONAL
Preliminary spherical: third place – defeated New Liskeard Cubs 3-1, misplaced to
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 3-2, defeated Sudbury U18 Wolves 2-1, tied
Sudbury U16 Wolves 1-1
Semifinal: defeated Sault Ste. Marie Jr. Greyhounds 5-4 OT
Final: defeated Sudbury U18 Wolves 2-1

Last nationwide championship look: 2002 (fifth place)
Total nationwide championship appearances: 1 (2002)

VAUGHAN KINGS
GTHL CHAMPIONS

Regular season report: 22-7-7 (2nd in

GTHL)
Goals for: 104
Goals towards: 57
Leading scorer: unavailable

Playoff report: 9-5
Goals for: 42
Goals towards: 32
Leading scorer: unavailable

ROAD TO THE CENTRAL REGIONAL
Quarterfinal: defeated North York Rangers 3-1 (2-3, 3-1, 5-2, 4-1)
Semifinal: defeated Toronto Young Nationals 3-2 (2-5, 3-2, 3-2, 3-4, 4-1)
Final: defeated Mississauga Senators 3-2 (2-4, 2-3, 2-0, 3-2, 4-2)

Last nationwide championship look: none
Total nationwide championship appearances: none

WATERLOO
WOLVES
ALLIANCE CHAMPIONS

Regular season report: 24-10-1 (third in

Alliance)
Goals for: 153
Goals towards: 80
Leading scorer: unavailable

Playoff report: 7-1-3
Goals for: 35
Goals towards: 19
Leading scorer: unavailable

ROAD TO THE CENTRAL REGIONAL
Quarterfinal: defeated Huron-Perth Lakers 2-1-1 (5-3, 3-3, 0-1, 3-1)
Semifinal: defeated Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs 3-0 (3-0, 4-2, 4-1)
Final: defeated Lambton Jr. Sting 2-0-2 (2-2, 4-3, 5-1, 2-2)

Last nationwide championship look: 2003 (fifth place)
Total nationwide championship appearances: 1 (2003)

Two years in the past, the Greater Vernon Minor Hockey Association (GVMHA) determined
to make rising ladies’s hockey a precedence. Thanks to initiatives like Esso
Fun Days and training applications, the expansion has been vital.

Let’s put that development into perspective: Last yr, Vernon had U9, U11 and
U15 women’ groups. This yr, the affiliation has women’ groups in each
division besides U18, which will probably be working subsequent yr as soon as the U15 gamers
graduate—an estimated development of 100 extra women lacing up their skates within the
area.

“It’s getting to some extent now that the amount of women actually helps an
elite stream of hockey improvement, which for us is absolutely the primary time
we’ve had it,” says Kevin Bathurst, director of hockey operations for the
GVMHA and co-chair of the 2024 Esso Cup.

Thanks to a grant final yr, the GVMHA was capable of run a ladies’s coach
improvement program in the summertime, particularly focusing on the U15 age group.

“[The U15 group is] a fairly passionate group of fairly good gamers, and
[we’re trying] to create a pathway for them to remain within the recreation so long as
doable,” Bathurst says. “We’ve received extra ladies teaching in our neighborhood
now than we’ve ever had.”

Several members of the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers, host crew of this yr’s
Esso Cup, are actively teaching youthful groups of their area. Lily Roberts,
a four-year veteran of the Lakers, has been teaching for 3 years and
presently works with a U13 crew in Vernon.

“I really wanted to get into coaching just to change perspectives,” Roberts
says. “[Growing up,] if I had that girl to look as much as, I might really feel a lot
extra snug studying and asking questions, and I’d really feel extra inclined
to do what the coach is saying.”

Roberts determined to pursue teaching for a full season after being invited to
assist at a hockey camp over the summer season. The 17-year-old reached out to see if
she may coach the upcoming season and it labored out that her youthful
sister needed to begin taking part in.

“At the start, she was sort of hesitant listening to her sister as her
coach, however after time, I feel she thinks it’s actually cool to have me out
there,” Roberts says.

Hailey Sitter has at all times beloved working with youngsters and received into teaching by
helping with summer season camps. A sophomore member of the Lakers, the
16-year-old is an assistant coach with a U7 crew in Lumby.

“I heard that there was a few women fighting having enjoyable out on
the ice out in Lumby, so I figured that I might go and spend a few ice
instances with them to see if I may hopefully change that and assist them have
some enjoyable,” Sitter says. “That changed into me each Wednesday going out and
teaching them.”

Sitter has been teaching for nearly a yr, and it’s the enjoyment on her gamers’
faces when they’re having enjoyable and bettering their expertise that retains her
passionate to be a coach.

“To me, if the youngsters are having enjoyable, they’re going to stay up for displaying
as much as the rink,” she says.

When Sitter first began taking part in hockey, her crew was coached by three
ladies, together with her mother. She didn’t notice the influence of that have
on the time, however reflecting again, Sitter says she seen them as position
fashions.

“As I received older and I began to see ladies coaches, I actually regarded as much as
them and I actually needed to work as laborious as I may to get to the place they
had been and to be nearly as good as they had been,” Sitter says. “I feel that’s actually
cool that I can try this for a few of these youthful women.”

It’s a busy schedule to stability faculty work, Lakers practices and training,
however Roberts and Sitter credit score time administration and never procrastinating to
keep organized. Having the chance to see the sport from a training
perspective has additionally opened up a brand new solution to view the sport as a participant.

“I’ve observed once I’m explaining one thing to one in every of my youthful youngsters, it
doesn’t at all times click on the primary time,” Sitter explains. “When I’m explaining
it, I’m additionally breaking it down extra. I’m explaining it easier, which I’ve
observed that helps me once I go to do that ability in my observe.”

Lily Roberts holding the Outstanding Female Leadership Award. Photo credit score: GVMHA

Through her dedication to recreation, Roberts turned the primary recipient of the
Outstanding Female Leadership Award from the GVMHA, an award not too long ago
created to proceed to encourage the expansion of the ladies’s recreation within the
area.

“I am super grateful to be the very first recipient of it,” Roberts says.
“It’s an awesome feeling to know that I’m serving to create the following technology of
ladies’s hockey gamers, particularly in Vernon.”

With the 2024 Esso Cup being hosted in Vernon from April 21-27, Roberts is
ecstatic that she’s going to end her time as a Laker competing for Canada’s
Women’s U18 National Club Championship on house ice earlier than she begins on the
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) within the fall.

“I’ve always dreamed of being in the Esso Cup when I was little,” Roberts
says. “It’s so crazy that it’s happening here in my hometown.”

The event can also be one other alternative to proceed to develop the ladies’s
recreation within the Okanagan.

“To have these younger gamers have the chance to see the best degree
of hockey on an novice hockey when it comes to minor hockey in our nation, I
assume it’s solely going to extend the variety of registrations throughout the
board,” Bathurst says. “It’s an thrilling time for the following technology of
ladies’s gamers within the Okanagan and we’re actually enthusiastic about it.”

Sophie Jaques had plans to pursue a profession in civil engineering.

Instead, the 23-year-old finds herself dwelling out her dream as a
skilled hockey participant with PWHL Minnesota.

“It’s been a really exciting time for women’s hockey,” Jaques says. “It’s
been nice to play alongside the most effective gamers on the earth and study from
all their experiences.”

Jaques was born in Toronto and grew up within the metropolis’s west finish, the place she
developed an early love for hockey.

“I started playing hockey at Rennie Park by my house,” she remembers. “I
actually favored it, so my dad and mom put me in a learn-to-play program and I fell
in love with the sport from there.

“I keep in mind at all times having a smile on my face and having fun with the time with my
mates, having fun with scorching chocolate and people little issues like leaping into
the snowbank after the Zamboni got here off the ice.”

While attending Silverthorn Collegiate in Etobicoke, Jaques performed three
seasons with the Toronto Aeros of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League — now
referred to as the Ontario Women’s Hockey League — profitable league championships in
2016 and 2018.

Jaques remembers spending numerous hours engaged on her recreation all through her
early years.

“I went to a whole lot of capturing clinics after I was youthful, engaged on my shot
within the yard, and I believe that helped take my shot to the following degree and
[it is] one thing I proceed to make use of each time I step on the ice now.”

That degree of dedication is what helped set Jaques aside, whether or not it was
hockey or teachers — one thing that grew to become extraordinarily evident in her 5
seasons at Ohio State University.

[Photo or social media post goes here]

Making historical past at OSU

Jaques’ teammates and coaches in Columbus describe her as an easygoing and
good student-athlete, but it surely was on the ice the place her character and
power shone by means of with the Buckeyes.

“Things come naturally for Sophie,” says Nadine Muzerall, girls’s hockey
head coach at Ohio State. “Seeing her maturity develop through the years, her
confidence was an enormous piece of that progress, and discovering success on the ice,
she grew to become a frontrunner.”

As a rookie in 2018-19, she led all OSU rookies with 21 factors (6-15—21)
earlier than topping that with 24 factors (9-15—24) as a sophomore.

After posting simply two targets and 4 factors in 20 video games in the course of the
COVID-affected 2020-21 season, Jaques exploded as a senior. her 59 factors
(21-38—59) in 38 video games rank because the second-most by a defender in Western
Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) historical past and essentially the most in Ohio State
historical past. Her contributions led the Buckeyes to their first NCAA nationwide
championship and put the ladies’s hockey world on discover.

“It finally all just clicked that season,” says Jaques. “I developed extra
confidence in myself, and it allowed me to play at my greatest. The subsequent season,
I wished to show that it wasn’t a one-off season, that it wasn’t a fluke
that senior season, and that I may play that means.”

Jaques returned for a fifth yr and picked up proper the place she left off. Not
solely did she earn a fellowship from OSU to fund her closing yr to finish
her grasp’s diploma in civil engineering, Jaques put up one other 48 factors
(24-24—48) in 41 video games, changing into the primary Black girl and solely the tenth
Canadian to be awarded the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the most effective girls’s
hockey participant within the NCAA.

“She’s among the best defencemen to play school hockey and the truth that
she joined earlier than OSU was primary within the nation, and he or she helped construct
this program, that claims so much about her character and being a builder,”
Muzerall says.

Jaques crammed her trophy case at Ohio State; along with the Kazmaier
Award, she was a two-time First Team All-American, two-time WCHA Defender of
the Year, WCHA Player of the Year, WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete and a
four-time member of the WCHA All-Academic Team.

In 2022, she received the Arthur Ashe Jr. Female Sport Scholar of the Year, an
honour offered to a minority girl who has distinguished herself in her
educational and athletic pursuits..

“I’ve coached lots of people who had success, however I’ve very not often coached
somebody as profitable as Sophie,” says Muzerall. “In phrases of level
manufacturing as a defenceman, she’s the one particular person from Ohio State and all
its revered applications to win the Arthur Ashe award, and he or she humbly accepted
it. She was receiving nationwide recognition, not simply as a hockey participant, however
as a superb student-athlete, and that has by no means been completed earlier than.”

2022 NCAA National Champion.
The first Buckeye Kazmaier winner.
The first Black Kazmaier winner.

Sophie Jaques is a first-mover, who by no means stands nonetheless which is why she is tonight’s Match Ignitor.#Crew96 ✘ @OhioStateWHKY pic.twitter.com/nUBOhmbfff

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) April 30, 2023

Reaching out to the neighborhood

Jaques’ achievements on and off the ice as a student-athlete solely grew the
recreation as her affect and management had been felt among the many younger women and
boys locally.

After ending her school profession final spring, Jaques returned house to
Toronto to crew up with Saroya Tinker to host the primary Black Girl Hockey
Club Canada summer time camp, sharing her information and expertise with the following
era locally she grew up in.

“At the start, it was one thing that I didn’t actually know was occurring,
however I’m grateful to be within the place the place I can encourage others,” Jaques
says. “I wish to assist get extra women into hockey, and hopefully break down
extra obstacles surrounding the sport. It’s unimaginable to know now that I can
play a small half in persevering with to develop the sport.”

Her attain solely grew final November when she made her debut for Canada’s
National Women’s Team in Los Angeles in the course of the Rivalry Series.

“It was an incredibly grateful feeling to represent my country,” Jaques
says. “Playing alongside somebody like Jocelyn Larocque, who I watched after I
was a younger woman, and being round all these women who’ve been pioneers
for the ladies’s recreation, to lastly get the prospect to put on that jersey with
that group, was unimaginable.”

Emma Maltais, who performed with Jaques at Ohio State, was very happy to
welcome her good friend to the nationwide crew. Before the sport, it was Maltais who
handed Jaques her Team Canada jersey.

“Sophie’s been dreaming of that moment for a long time,” says Maltais.
“She’s so humble and for somebody who’s so good, there’s a calmness to her
whereas she performs at such a excessive degree. She’s so pushed as an individual too, in
athletics and teachers, and that speaks so much to her as an individual and her
willingness to go the additional mile to search out success.”

Trailblazer as soon as once more

After her excellent school profession, Jaques made historical past by changing into the
first-ever Black participant and the primary Buckeye to be drafted into the PWHL
when she was taken tenth total by Boston — one thing that wasn’t even an
choice for her a yr in the past.

She made historical past as soon as once more earlier this month by being a part of the very
first PWHL commerce when she was dealt to Minnesota.

“I’m actually grateful that this yr, it’s a sustainable league with
habitable wages in order that I may pursue hockey,” she says. “With the PWHL being here, it helps with the next generation of Black hockey players see representation and show them that it is possible and keep them motivated in their journeys.”

CALGARY, Alberta –Hockey
Canada has named the teaching employees that can information Canada’s National Men’s
Under-18 Team on the

2024 IIHF U18 World Championship, April 25-May 5, in Espoo and Vantaa,
Finland

.

The winningest coach in Canadian college males’s hockey historical past,

Gardiner MacDougall (Bedeque, PE/University of New Brunswick, AUS)

will function head coach. He can 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),alongside
with goaltending coach

Dan De Palma (Kamloops, BC/Kamloops, WHL)

.

The teaching employees was chosen by

Scott Salmond (Creston, BC)

, senior vice-president of excessive efficiency and hockey operations and
Benoit Roy (Sudbury, ON),senior supervisor of
hockey operations.

“Gardiner has not solely solidified himself as one of many biggest coaches in
college hockey historical past, his document and repute speaks for itself,”
stated Salmond. “His 9 U SPORTS championships and 2022 Memorial Cup win
with Saint John are proof of his capacity to win in short-term competitors,
which can serve us properly on the world championship.”

MacDougall led the University of New Brunswick males’s hockey
staff to an ideal season in 2023-24, going 43-0 in exhibition, common
season and postseason play because the Reds defended their University Cup title.
The excellent season included win No. 600 for MacDougall, who was additionally named
U SPORTS coach of the yr for the third time (2009-10, 2014-15, 2023-24).
He has spent 24 seasons behind the Reds’ bench, main the staff to 9
nationwide championships (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023,
2024). Under his management, the Reds have additionally received 11 Atlantic University
Sport (AUS) titles and made 16 nationwide championship appearances. In 2023,
he was named head coach for the FISU University Games, main Team Canada
to a gold medal, one season after briefly taking the reins as head coach of
the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
and main the host staff to a Memorial Cup championship.

Crickard not too long ago accomplished his first season as head coach
of the Sea Dogs following one season as an assistant. He was named an
assistant coach for Canada’s males’s hockey staff on the 2024 Winter Youth
Olympic Games, ending fourth, received a gold medal as video coach with
Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team on the 2021 IIHF U18 World
Championship and was a video coach (2016) and assistant coach (2017) with
Canada Black on the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, profitable a silver medal
in 2016.

Richardson most not too long ago served as head coach of the QMJHL’s
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada for 5 seasons (2018-23). He was additionally head
coach of the Châteauguay Grenadiers (2011-14, 2016-18) of the Ligue de
développement du hockey M18 AAA du Québec, reaching the gold medal recreation at
the 2014 TELUS Cup, and had a two-year stint as head coach of the QMJHL’s
Victoriaville Tigres (2014-16).Internationally, Richardson
was an assistant coach with Canada’s males’s hockey staff for the 2024 Winter
Youth Olympic Games, ending fourth. He additionally received a bronze medal with
Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team on the 2023 IIHF U18 World
Championship, was the top coach of Canada White on the 2022 World Under-17
Hockey Challenge and served as an assistant with Canada Black on the
November 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Smith not too long ago completed his second season (2022-24) as head
coach of the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL) after two
seasons (2020-22) as an affiliate coach. He beforehand received a silver medal
as an assistant coach with Canada Red on the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey
Challenge and received silver and bronze as an assistant with Canada West on the
2012 and 2013 World Junior A Hockey Challenges.

De Palma

has served as goaltending coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers for 14
seasons (2010-2024). Before becoming a member of the Blazers, he spent three seasons as
goaltending coach with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars. On the
worldwide stage, De Palma was the goaltending advisor for Canada
Black on the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, profitable a silver medal.

Dave Brown (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON/Erie, OHL) has additionally been added to
the staff employees as

Program of Excellence administration group consultant. Brown has spent 9
seasons as basic supervisor of the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League
(OHL) after 4 (2011-15) as director of hockey operations with the staff.
He helped lead Erie to an OHL championship in 2017 and contributed to a
Canadian Hockey League (CHL) document of four-consecutive 50-win season
(2011-15). Brown was named to the POE administration group in March 2023,
overseeing Canada White’s gold medal on the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey
Challenge.

Hockey Canada additionally introduced the help employees that can work with Canada’s
National Men’s Under-18 Team:

• Head Scout Byron Bonora (Brooks, AB)
• Video coach Andrew Boucher (Timmins, ON)
• Equipment supervisor A.J. Murley (St. John’s, NL)
• Athletic therapists Kevin Elliott (Charlottetown, PE)
  and Jimmy McKnight (Bradford, ON/Edmonton, WHL)
  
• Team doctor Dr.
  
  Michael Conrad (Vancouver, BC/Victoria, WHL)
  
• Education advisor Nic Renyard (Victoria, BC)
  
• Senior coordinator of hockey operations
  
  Jacob Grison (Lion’s Head, ON)
  
  

Canada’s quest for a gold medal on the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship
begins April 25 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT towards Sweden. Canada will play
Czechia on April 26, Switzerland on April 28 and Kazakhstan on April 30 to
shut out preliminary-round motion. The semifinals are set for May 4 earlier than
the match concludes with the medal video games on May 5.

TSN and RDS, Hockey Canada’s official broadcast companions will broadcast
choose match video games, together with all Team Canada video games and all
playoff-round video games. Check your native listings for particulars.

Since 2002, Canada has received 4 gold medals on the IIHF U18 World
Championship (2003, 2008, 2013, 2021), along with one silver (2005) and
4 bronze (2012, 2014, 2015, 2023).

For extra info on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Under-18
Team, please go to

HockeyCanada.ca

or observe by social media on

Facebook

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