Huska Named Super Series WHL Coach
While his focus may be more on his current team, Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska will have more than just one (or two) teams to think about with the announcement that he will be the head coach of Team WHL in this year’s Subway Super Series games.
Team WHL will play the Russian National Junior team Nov. 17 and 18 in Prince George and Kamloops with Huska on the bench as the head coach of Team WHL.
“I’m very excited and very honoured at the same time,” said Huska. “It’s a great opportunity to work with some terrific young hockey players and also get a chance to spend some time with some coaches with very good experience that I can learn from.”
Assisting Huska for both Team WHL games will be Mike Williamson of the Calgary Hitmen, with Guy Charron of the Kamloops Blazers serving behind the bench for Game Five in Kamloops on Wednesday November 17, and Dean Clark of the Prince George Cougars assisting for Game Six in Prince George on Thursday November 18. Williamson led the Hitmen to a WHL Championship title in his first season behind the bench in Calgary after spending 15 years with the Portland Winterhawks as a player and coach. Charron joined the Blazers in November 2009 with 13 years of NHL coaching experience. Clark, a former CHL Coach of the Year in 1998 with the Hitmen, earned bronze as an Assistant Coach with Canada at the 2000 World Junior Championships.
Being named as Team WHL head coach comes on top of the extra duties of being an assistant on Team Canada’s World Junior Hockey team. Hockey Canada officials will use the Subway Super Series as an opportunity to evaluate Canadian players before invites are handed out to the World Junior winter camp.
Each of the three regional league teams will be led by members of Canada’s National Junior Team coaching staff including Head Coach Dave Cameron who will coach Team OHL alongside Team Canada Assistant Coach George Burnett. National Junior Team Assistant André Tourigny has been named Head Coach of Team QMJHL, while Assistant Ryan Huska has been named Head Coach of Team WHL.
Huska said it is going to be an exciting year for him as a coach as he guides the Rockets in his fourth year at the helm and gets a taste of International experience with the World Junior tournament and the Subway Super Series
“I look at it as an honour,” he said. “These experiences don’t come around very often and I feel very fortunate to be a part of them. It’s something that is very exciting…a chance to be on the World Junior coaching staff to start with and a chance to represent the WHL are things I am thrilled about.”