Team Canada announced Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock will be behind the bench for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey. Joining him on his staff will be an experienced group of NHL coaches, as Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks, Claude Julien of the Boston Bruins, Bill Peters of the Carolina Hurricanes and Barry Trotz of the Washington Capitals, will all join Babcock in 2016. That’s a talented bench.
Babcock, a Stanley Cup winner in 2007-08, coached the 2010 and 2014 Canadian Olympic teams to consecutive gold medals. Julien’s Bruins won the 2010-11 Stanley Cup and he was an assistant to Babcock during the 2014 Olympics. Trotz doesn’t have a Stanley Cup on his resume, but he’s widely regarded as one of the best in the business. He’s also got some experience as an assistant coach at the IIHF World Championships. Peters might seem like an odd choice, given his relative youth and lack of NHL coaching experience, but the Hurricanes head coach was an assistant coach under Babcock in Detroit and won the gold medal coaching team Canada at the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
“We’re happy to have Mike lead our World Cup coaching staff next September. His successes in creating a winning culture in a two-week tournament are well documented,” Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong said in a statement from Hockey Canada. “We are looking forward to representing Canada and making our country proud.”
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will take place in Toronto next September, over 12 full years after the second tournament.
