Canada names Hay head coach for WJHC
Posted May 26, 2011 6:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Seventeen years after coaching Canada to gold at the world junior hockey championship, Don Hay will get the chance to do it again.
The head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants has been named Canada’s coach for the 2012 world junior championship in Edmonton and Calgary.
Hay led Canada to gold in 1995 in Red Deer, Alta. A lockout in the NHL that year made the 1995 squad a talented one as the country’s best players under-20 were available to Hay.
“I had a great experience in 1995 in Alberta,” Hay said Thursday at a downtown Calgary news conference. “I understand how important the tournament is to Canada and how much pride and passion Canadians and Albertans have for hockey and the world junior tournament.”
The 57-year-old from Kamloops, B.C., coached his hometown Kamloops Blazers to Memorial Cup titles in 1994 and 1995 and the Giants to the championship in 2007. Hay also coached the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes for a season in 1996-97 and the Calgary Flames in 2000-01.
“I feel my experience coaching the team in ’95 couple with my multiple Memorial Cup appearances will be huge asset moving ahead,” Hay said.
George Burnett of the OHL’s Belleville Bulls and Ryan Huska of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets were named assistant coaches for the second straight year. Pascal Vincent of the QMJHL’s Montreal Juniors will also join the coaching staff.
They and Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast will invite about 44 players to a summer development camp in August in Edmonton. Hay will choose his team from a December selection camp in Calgary.
After winning five straight gold from 2005 to 2009, Canada took the silver medal at the last two world junior tournaments.
“Our first objective will be to win a gold medal at the world juniors,” Hay said. “We have to be really good at the right times of the tournament.
“I look forward to the challenge knowing full well the tournament is going to come down to one or two key moments in any game.”
