HUNTING FOR WORLD JUNIOR GOLD
Canada counting on London tandem to restore glory
The last three times the world junior hockey championship has been held in Europe, Canada hasn’t earned a single medal.
They struck out in Helsinki in 2016, Malmo, Sweden, in 2014 and Ufa, Russia, in 2013.
The Hunter brothers — Dale as head coach and Mark as the key figure in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence management group — have been brought in to fix that lingering problem.
Of course, second or third place barely register with the London Knights’ leading men. Dale is the coach and Mark is the general manager.
“We want to win,” Mark said earlier this week at Budweiser Gardens, the Ontario Hockey League team’s home rink. “We’re not here for silver.”
Two of junior hockey’s most successful operators have been busy collecting the necessary information on every player needed to build a roster that will become conquerors in the Czech Republic starting on Boxing Day. The on-ice process begins with games against United States, Sweden and Finland at the
World Junior Summer Showcase, which kicked off Friday in Plymouth, Mich.
“You get your first impression of them and it’s our first time together as a group,” said Dale, a two-time Memorial Cup champ and third in all-time OHL coaching wins. “The Canada way is you can be a top player on your team, but you have to buy in to becoming a penalty killer. It’s a team-first thing. You get to see guys and how they perform in different situations than with their club team.
“All of a sudden, OK, I have to play a fourth-line role. Do they adapt and are they happy with it?”
If they don’t, the kids, their agents and the NHL teams that own their rights can ask nearly every member of the Knights over the past 20 years how things will play out. They can even send inquiries to the members of the 2013 Canadian under-18 team, which was run by the Hunters in their first international assignment.
That team didn’t have a generational talent and wasn’t one of Canada’s strongest entries — but it still managed to win the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup after a slow start to the tournament.
“Some players just didn’t buy in as much as they should (have),” Dale said. “They went down to the fourth line. It’s important to get these guys playing properly. The first few games there, we weren’t sharp enough defensively as a team.
“That’s why (this time) we’ve got to get them going right away.” That’s easier said than done. The Hunters aren’t immune to the annual problems that plague Hockey Canada at this age group. Six players, including Coyotes first-rounder Barrett Hayton of the Soo Greyhounds and backto-back Memorial Cup winner Noah Dobson (Islanders), are unable to participate this week because of injury.
In the fall, the questions will turn to which teenage stars end up sticking in the NHL. In London, the Hunters are quite familiar with that waiting game.
“We all know in dealing with the National Hockey League and who’s going to make it and not,” Mark said. “The (NHL) teams don’t know (at this point). It’s a young league ... and they’re going to get their opportunities — the Dobsons, Haytons, Ty Smith, it goes on and on. The roster has always been that way and hasn’t changed. We’re there to evaluate the players who are there. The coaches will get some systems in and it’s about who’s playing well, their personalities, where they fit and what they’re willing to do to play Canadian hockey.”
The Hunters understand the stakes. Every time Hockey Canada stumbled at the world juniors over the last decade (they have just three medals in the last seven years), the public call has grown louder to give Mark, the ex-maple Leafs assistant GM, and Dale, the one-time Washington Capitals coach, their chance.
Now, they must navigate an event where a single decision — like who takes a late-game penalty shot, for example — is the difference between a medal or going home early.
This time, going home early is not an option.
Here’s the Hunter brothers’ thoughts on a range of subjects as they kick-start their involvement the World Junior Summer Showcase:
ON THE RAZOR-THIN EDGE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOSING:
Mark: There are some lucky bounces and a guy breaks his stick on a shot for a wide-open net (like last year’s Canadian loss to Finland in the quarter-finals in Vancouver). It happens sometimes in the game. But you know what? You’d like to be up 2-1 at that time instead of 1-1. That’s what you hope for, but at the end of the day they didn’t and that’s the game.
ON THE ART OF TEAM-BUILDING:
Dale: You haven’t got a lot of practice time, especially with Team Canada. We’ve got to keep it nice and simple and basically work and forecheck hard. You can always do that. It’s a couple of practices, then play. We’ve got the (Canada-)russia series (in November) and after that it’s a short training camp in December. They cut a few kids and that’s your team. It’s a tight procedure. You have to do a lot of video with the players, a little on the ice. The U.S. has their (development) program. The Finns and Swedes play together as a team unit. It’s not individuals and that’s the first thing you’ve got to do. We saw, at the men’s worlds, the Finns won the gold with not much. They had two National Hockey League guys who didn’t score. It’s incredible, really. The Russians had 212 (NHL) goals to zero and Finland beat them 1-0 (in the semifinal). They played hard. We talk about the little things. The Finns play hard and do it right. They block shots and we’ve got to get to that — use our skill, but counter with the little things on every given night. That’s how we’ll win.
ON ROSTER CREATION:
Mark: You lean towards skill.
You need it on your fourth line as much as your first. It’s skilled players adapting to what’s necessary. Liam Foudy (a Blue Jackets first-rounder who plays for London), we know he can kill penalties and do extra stuff and still play on the top or bottom lines. Versatility is very important to any hockey club. It’s nice to have size with that speed and skill, but Mitch Marner wasn’t a big guy. His speed and skill were off the charts, though. We always look for speed, skill and smarts. You want some surprises, too. You never know going into each year. Look at the (Brett) Leason kid in Prince Albert, he ended up getting drafted (at age 20). Never was before. He was on the Canadian team and a good player. You hope for surprises in this camp and during the season. That’s why we’re having this to see how people adapt and get things done at a higher pace. Scouting, to me, is the foundation of watching people for a length of time — not for a week. We know some of these kids. Look at (the OHL Flint Firebirds’ Ty) Dellandrea. He’s not here (because of injury), but if he does at the start of the season what we know he can do, he has a helluva chance of making this hockey club. Dale: It’s a little different. You can’t overplay it much. The surface is a little wider, so you have to be aware of that. As a coaching staff, we have to be a uniform front so we get the same word out — from tracking to backchecking through the middle. We have to be on the same page. You look at St. Louis, they won (the Stanley Cup) with the players they had. They adapted well to it. They played a heavy game. They had big guys — big D and forwards. The coach (Hunter’s close friend Craig Berube) did a good job, saying, ‘We’re not fast, but we can play heavy and forecheck hard and cycle the puck.’ They did a great job shutting down the speed teams to win it.”
ON HIRING HIS BROTHER TO LEAD THE BENCH:
Mark: Hockey Canada went through a process. We interviewed (10) coaches (in the program). We all know Dale’s resume in winning stands for itself in being an elite coach in the Canadian Hockey League and representing the players we’ve developed with the Knights over the years. It’s the coaching and management working together to get these players to another level and he’s done an impeccable job with the coaching staff. It’s easy to promote when you’re talking to (Hockey Canada CEO) Tom Renney (and the like).
The Canada way is you can be a top player on your team, but you have to buy in to becoming a penalty killer. It’s a team-first thing.
ON THE GOLDEN CHALLENGE:
Dale: Everybody watches the tournament. It’s tradition in Canada even if you’re not a hockey person. It’s a commitment and that’s what you sign on for. You’re gone for a month from your own team, but we’ve got depth in the Knights organization. They know what Mark and I want, so it makes it easier. Everybody wants to coach and play in it, so it’s a good thing.
It’s a process. We already had a seminar in Calgary. Babber (Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock) talked to us. We talk to Dom Ducharme (the Canadiens assistant who led Canada to gold in 2018) and Misha Donskov (Vegas Golden Knights director of hockey operations and former London assistant GM who previously worked for Hockey Canada). We picked their brains. Now we have the summer camp and go from there. It’s exciting.