National Men’s Under-18 team coaching staff named for 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship
Gardiner MacDougall named head coach; Travis Crickard, Bruce Richardson & Ryan Smith to function assistants
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
, X and
Instagram
.
