Friday, October 25, 2013

2013 SUBWAY® Super Series Coaches

Press Release

Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League in association with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League, today announced the coaching staffs for all six games of the 2013 SUBWAY® Super Series which takes place November 18-28, 2013.

Benoit Groulx of the Gatineau Olympiques has been assigned head coaching duties for Team QMJHL, while Team OHL roles will be split between D.J Smith of the Oshawa Generals and Dale Hunter of the London Knights.  Brent Sutter of the Red Deer Rebels will serve as Head Coach for Team WHL.

Groulx will be joined behind the bench by Team QMJHL Assistant Coach Dominique Ducharme of the Halifax Mooseheads for both games November 18 in Gatineau, QC, and November 20 in Sherbrooke, QC.  When the series shifts to Ontario for Game 3 in Oshawa November 21, Smith will be assisted by his Generals’ staff that includes Roger Hunt and Paul McFarland.  For Team OHL in Game 4 of the series on November 25, Hunter will serve as Head Coach for Team OHL and will be assisted by coach Paul Fixter of the host Sudbury Wolves.  In the West, Sutter will be assisted by Ryan McGill of the Kootenay Ice for both Team WHL games including November 27 in Red Deer, AB, and when the series concludes in Lethbridge, AB, on November 28.

The SUBWAY® Super Series features regional teams of CHL All-Stars competing against the Russian National Junior Team in a six-game event serving as an integral part of the identification process for Team Canada for the past 10 years prior to the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.

“This event is a great opportunity for our coaching staffs and our Head Scout Ryan Jankowski to see the players who will attend Selection Camp in December,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s Senior Director of Hockey Operations/National Teams.  “This series is very important for us to evaluate players as they compete against the Russian National Junior Team before we make decisions on which players will represent Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden this winter.”

This winter, Team WHL’s Sutter will also serve as Head Coach of Canada’s National Junior Team for the third time following Gold Medal victories in 2005 and 2006.  Now in the second year of his second stint as the Rebels Head Coach, Sutter also makes his fourth appearance in the SUBWAY® Super Series after leading Team WHL to a 6-0 record in the first three years of this event beginning in 2003.  Team WHL’s McGill and Team QMJHL’s Groulx are also Assistant Coaches with Canada’s National Junior Team this season.  McGill, the 2013 WHL Coach of the Year, is also in the second year of his second stint behind the Ice bench but makes his SUBWAY® Super Series debut this season.  Groulx, in the fourth season of his second stint behind the Olympiques’ bench, was a Team QMJHL Head Coach in 2004 and an Assistant Coach in 2007 following his involvement with Hockey Canada’s Super Series that summer.

Also part of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence this season, Team OHL’s Hunter was Head Coach of Canada’s Summer Under-18 Team that captured Gold at the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka in August alongside Assistant Coaches Smith and Team QMJHL’s Ducharme.  Hunter, a three-time OHL Coach of the Year in the second year of his second stint behind the Knights’ bench, was an Assistant Coach for Team OHL in the 2010 SUBWAY® Super Series.  Smith, in his second season as Generals’ Head Coach, and Ducharme, the 2013 CHL Coach of the Year in his third season with the Mooseheads’, both make their first appearance in the 2013 SUBWAY® Super Series.

Last season, Team Russia captured their second SUBWAY® Super Series title since 2010 and later edged Canada 6-5 in overtime of the Bronze Medal Game of the 2013 World Junior Championship played in Ufa, Russia, with a roster that included five CHL players and an additional 17 players from this series.  Last year’s Canadian National Junior Team featured 22 players from the 2013 SUBWAY® Super Series along with Rebels’ grad Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who participated in the event in 2010.

All three regional league rosters will be announced individually next week.

2013 SUBWAY® Super Series Schedule:
Game 1 – Monday November 18 at Gatineau, QC
Game 2 – Wednesday November 20 at Sherbrooke, QC
Game 3 – Thursday November 21 at Oshawa, ON
Game 4 – Monday November 25 at Sudbury, ON
Game 5 – Wednesday November 27 at Red Deer, AB
Game 6 – Thursday November 28 at Lethbridge, AB

All six games will be broadcast nationally on Sportsnet with both QMJHL games shown on TVA Sports.  The series is also supported by CHL Associate Sponsors Bank of Montreal and Old Dutch.

For more information please visit www.subwaysuperseries.ca.


(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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