CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), announced Thursday that Patrice Bosch, head coach and general manager of the LHJQ’s Inouk de Granby, will be head coach of Team Canada East for the 2017 World Junior A Challenge, Dec. 10-16 at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro, N.S.
Bosch will be joined behind the bench by associate coach Shawn Evans (head coach and general manager, Truro Bearcats, MHL), assistant coach Martin Dagenais (head coach and general manager, Ottawa Jr. Senators, CCHL), goaltending coach Marty Abrams (head coach and general manager, Trenton Golden Hawks, OJHL) and video coach John Dean (head coach, Toronto Patriots, OJHL).
“It is an honour and privilege for me to accept this position,” Bosch said. “I’m really looking forward to working with our staff and players towards our main goal of winning a gold medal with Team Canada East.”
Patrice Bosch, 45, will lead Team Canada East in the international showcase of Junior A talent for the first time as head coach. It will be his fourth appearance as a member of the East staff; he has been an assistant coach three times, winning a silver medal in 2010, finishing fourth in 2009 and taking home bronze in 2008. He also worked as a regional scout for Team Canada East in 2016, and was as assistant coach with Quebec at the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. As a coach in the LHJQ, Bosch has coached in over 700 games, winning the league championship with the Mustangs de Vaudreuil in 2005.
Shawn Evans, 52, will make his first international appearance at the 2017 World Junior A Challenge. He has been head coach and general manager of the Truro Bearcats since 2002, winning MHL championships in 2005, 2007, 2014 and 2017, and reaching the RBC Cup, Canada’s National Junior A Championship in 2013. Evans played 15 seasons of professional hockey from 1985-99, including nine NHL games with the St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders, and stops in the IHL, AHL, ECHL, UHL, Switzerland and Italy. He was also head coach of the Mohawk Valley Prowlers (UHL) and Dartmouth Blizzard (MJAHL), and an assistant coach with the Lowell Lock Monsters (AHL).
Martin Dagenais, 36, will be an assistant coach with Team Canada East for the second-consecutive year. He is in his ninth season as a CCHL coach, including eight with Ottawa, and one season as head coach and GM of the Hawkesbury Hawks. Dagenais was named CCHL General Manager of the Year in 2014-15, as well as to the CCHL Second All-Star Team. He served as head coach of the Ottawa Valley Titans in 2007-08 when the team hosted the TELUS Cup, Canada’s National Midget Championship.
Marty Abrams, 52, will join the Team Canada East staff for the sixth time – he was head coach in 2014, assistant coach in 2006, and general manager in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In his first season as head coach and GM of the Trenton Golden Hawks, Abrams spent 17 seasons as head coach of the OJHL’s Wellington Dukes, 12 of which included GM duties. He led the Dukes to the OJHL championship and appearances at the RBC Cup, Canada’s National Junior A Championship, in 2003 and 2011. Abrams has more than 600 wins as a head coach and was named OJHL East Division Coach of the Year in 1999-2000 and 2001-02, and OJHL Central Division Coach of the Year in 2008-09. He was also head coach of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 2003-05.
John Dean, 36, will make his international coaching debut in Truro. He is in his first season as head coach of the Toronto Patriots after three seasons as an assistant with the OHL’s North Bay Battalion. A former finalist for OJHL Coach of the Year, Dean was head coach of the North York Rangers from 2011-14, prior to which he spent two years as an assistant. He was a regional scout for Team Canada East ahead of the 2014 World Junior A Challenge, and served as a guest coach at selection camp in 2013.
Additionally, Hockey Canada, along with the CJHL, Maritime Hockey League (MHL), Hockey Nova Scotia, and the local host committee, announced the three pre-tournament games scheduled for the communities of Amherst and Truro.
All three games will be played Friday, Dec. 8.
Tickets for all pre-tournament games in Truro are $10 each or $15 for both games and go on sale Dec. 1, 2017 at HockeyCanada.ca/tickets or at the RECC Box Office. Tickets for Amherst are $10 each.
Since its inception in 2006, more than 230 NHL draft picks have played in the World Junior A Challenge, including 38 first-round selections (Beau Bennett, Brock Boeser, Alexander Burmistrov, Dennis Cholowski, Joe Colborne, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Dante Fabbro, Nikita Filatov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Denis Guryanov, Tyson Jost, Klim Kostin, Dmitri Kulikov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, Cale Makar, John Moore, Vladislav Namestnikov, Riley Nash, Valeri Nichushkin, Dylan Olsen, David Pastrnak, German Rubtsov, Ilya Samsonov, Jordan Schmaltz, Nick Schmaltz, Jaden Schwartz, Brendan Smith, Evgeny Svechnikov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Kyle Turris, Alexander Wennberg, Andrei Vasilevski, Jakub Vrana, Nail Yakupov and Jakub Zboril).
Nine of the 11 gold-medal games at the World Junior A Challenge have featured at least one Canadian team. Team Canada East won silver medals in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2016, as well as claiming the bronze medal in 2008.
For more information on the 2017 World Junior A Challenge, visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along via social media through Facebook or Twitter.