Hockey Canada today unveiled its plan for its men’s national team for the 2017-18 season, including the appointment of Willie Desjardins as head coach.
Desjardins, who won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the AHL’s outstanding coach in 2012-13 before leading the Texas Stars to a Calder Cup championship in 2014, returns to Team Canada after coaching in the NHL with both Dallas and Vancouver.
Desjardins, a Memorial Cup winner with Medicine Hat in 2004, was assistant coach of the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship gold-medalists, and led the team to a second consecutive world junior gold medal in 2010 as head coach. Desjardins was also an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s Team in 1998-99, including at the 1999 IIHF World Championship.
