Hulton brings experience to Team Canada staff
Hockey Canada wanted experienced coaches at the helm for the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship. Naturally, Jim Hulton was asked to be a part of it. The 49-year-old Kingston, Ont., product boasts an impressive hockeycoaching résumé. From the OHL to the OUA, NHL, USHL and now the QMJHL, Hulton has crisscrossed North America for the last 20 years, gaining valuable knowledge from every stop. He has spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Charlottetown Islanders, returning to the CHL after a decade away and leading the team to consecutive appearances in the QMJHL semifinals, the first time the 20-yearold franchise has been that deep into the postseason. Hulton has also made a handful of international appearances – he won back-to-back gold medals with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, first as an assistant in 2001, then as head coach a year later, and was behind the bench at a pair of World Juniors in 2004 and 2005. In 2004, Canada brought home silver after a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to the United States before it rebounded to run the table the following year, capped by a dominant 6-1 win over Russia in the gold medal game. “In ’04, we had a young team, I think we had 12 under-age players,” reminisces Hulton. “We had a fantasy ride through the first part of the tournament and didn’t meet any adversity. Unfortunately adversity hit in the third period of the gold medal game – I think everyone remembers the infamous Marc-André Fleury shot off Braydon Coburn. But it was a great experience as far as being an introduction into the Hockey Canada program and it led into ’05: the perfect storm. “I don’t think there’s any question that ’05 team is the best I’ve been a part of, it’s the top team I think any of us have been involved in. When you look back now at the number of Stanley Cups, gold medals and hockey championships won, it was an incredibly special group.” Sidney Crosby. Patrice Bergeron. Jeff Carter. Ryan Getzlaf. Andrew Ladd. Corey Perry. Mike Richards. Cam Barker. Braydon Cobourn. Dion Phaneuf. Brent Seabrook. Shea Weber. Seven players from that 2005 National Junior Team were on Canada’s 2010 or 2014 Olympic gold medalwinning entries, and nine have won at least one Stanley Cup. “Being a part of that team in any way, shape or form was a big privilege and it’s something I’ll always remember,” Hulton says. “I’ll also never forget the support we got as well. The tournament was in North Dakota, so it felt like we were home. Droves of people came down from Manitoba for it, it felt like we were playing in Canada.” With the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship back on Canadian ice in Vancouver and Victoria, support will again be unwavering for Team Canada. As for the result, Hulton is working on that. In his eyes, the entire complexion of how Team Canada plays has changed a great deal since 2005. Hulton is excited to help build a team suited for today’s game. “In ’05, there was still a bit of a Canadian distinction in terms of grit and physical play; we all remember Dion Phaneuf’s contributions there and his big hits on Ovechkin,” he says. “The game now is a lot faster, it’s more skillbased, there’s less physical play due to rule changes. “How it translates is it changes how you pick a team now. It’s also about getting to know your players more now and worry less about how they fit into a system and more about making them part of the process.”