CHL announces the Subway Super Series coaching staffs

Press Release

Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League in association with SUBWAY® and the three regional leagues the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League, today announced the coaching staffs for each of the six games of the 2009 SUBWAY® Super Series.

All three regional league teams will be led by members of Team Canada’s National Junior Team coaching staff including Head Coach Willie Desjardins who will serve as the Head Coach for Team WHL. Team Canada Associate Coach Dave Cameron and Assistant Coach Steve Spott will lead Team OHL behind the bench, with Assistant Coach André Tourigny serving as Head Coach for Team QMJHL.

“The SUBWAY® Super Series is a terrific opportunity for our coaching staffs to get to know the players who will attend the World Junior Selection Camp in December” said Al Murray, Head Scout for Team Canada’s Men’s National Teams. “This event is a very effective tool for us to evaluate players and make decisions about the players that will represent Team Canada in Saskatoon this winter.”

Tourigny, in his seventh season as Head Coach and General Manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, will be the man in charge behind the bench when the series opens in Drummondville on Monday November 16 and in Shawinigan on Wednesday November 18. Prior to his involvement with the National Junior Team, Tourigny served as an Assistant Coach with Canada’s National Summer Under-18 Team at the 2008 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka and was named the QMJHL Coach of the Year in 2005-06.

Mario Duhamel of the Drummondville Voltiguers, will serve as an Assistant Coach for Team QMJHL on home ice for the first game of the series, followed by Eric Veilleux of the Shawinigan Cataractes, who will assist Tourigny when Shawinigan hosts game two. Duhamel served as an Assistant Coach for Team Quebec at the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

Cameron and Spott will work both games behind the bench for Team OHL on Thursday November 19 in Barrie and on Monday November 23 in Windsor. Cameron, who coached Team OHL last season, is in his third straight season and seventh overall as Head Coach and General Manager of the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. He won a Gold Medal as an Assistant Coach with Pat Quinn and Team Canada at the 2009 World Juniors in Ottawa. Spott is in his second season as Head Coach and General Manager with the Kitchener Rangers with National Team experience the last two years as an Assistant Coach for Canada at the 2009 World Men’s Under-18 Championships and at the 2008 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka.

Assisting Cameron and Spott for game three of the series in Barrie will be Colts’ Head Coach Marty Williamson, with Spitfires’ Head Coach Bob Boughner assisting in game four played in Windsor. Boughner won the OHL and CHL Coach of the Year Award the last two seasons and won gold with Team Canada’s National Summer Under-18 Team at the 2009 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka. Williamson was Head Coach of Team Ontario in 2006 and won gold at the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

Desjardins is in his eighth season as Head Coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers and his fifth as the team’s General Manager. He will lead Team WHL for games five and six of the series in Victoria on Wednesday November 25 and in Kelowna on Thursday November 26. He worked as an Assistant Coach for Team Canada last season winning gold before taking over as Head Coach of Canada’s National Junior Team this year. He was named the WHL and CHL Coach of the Year in 2006.

Don Hay of the Vancouver Giants and Ryan Huska of the Kelowna Rockets will work as Assistant Coaches for both Team WHL games. Hay coached Team Canada to a Gold Medal at the 1995 World Junior Hockey Championships and was named WHL Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2009. Huska is in his third season as the Rockets’ Head Coach leading the team to a WHL Championship and an appearance in the MasterCard Memorial Cup finals last season.

Last season, CHL teams defeated Team Russia in five of the six games in the series before Team Canada captured their fifth straight Gold Medal at the World Junior Championships.

The regional league rosters will be announced individually beginning with Team QMJHL on Thursday October 22 followed by Team OHL and Team WHL next week.

The 2009 SUBWAY® Super Series is supported by CHL associate sponsors, Bank of Montreal and CCM. All games will be broadcast nationally on Rogers Sportsnet with the two QMJHL games shown on RDS.

For more information about the event and tickets please visit www.subwaysuperseries.com

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)