Guelph Gryphons women's hockey head coach Rachel Flanagan has been selected as the head coach for the Canadian women's hockey team that will compete at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from January 29th to February 8th.
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) made the announcement on Thursday (May 12).
Rachel Flanagan who recently completed her ninth season at the helm of the University of Guelph Gryphons, will serve as head coach for the red and white contingent. She will be accompanied behind the bench by assistant coaches Kelly Paton of Western University and Shaun Reagan of the University of Waterloo.
Rounding out the team personnel are McGill equipment manager Jean Huynh as well as therapist Anik Ladouceur, who previously worked with the Montreal Carabins.
Flanagan and Huynh both have previous Universiade experience with Team Canada. The former was an assistant coach with the gold medal-winning squad in 2013 in Trentino, Italy, while the latter was the equipment manager in 2015 in Granada, Spain, where Canada claimed silver.
Canada has enjoyed remarkable success at the biennial competition since women's hockey made its World University Games debut in 2009 in Harbin, China. Represented by a team of CIS all-stars on every occasion, the Canucks won the first three tournaments – going 21-0 overall in the process - before settling for second place a year ago.
"I'm honoured and excited to be given the opportunity to lead the FISU women's hockey team at the 2017 Winter Universiade," said Flanagan, who this past season led Guelph to a CIS-best record of 21-2-1 in league play and the program's first OUA conference title since 1998. "I'm really looking forward to working with this exceptional staff as we attempt to improve on 2015's second-place finish."
The Canadian roster for the Almaty tournament will once again be comprised entirely of CIS standouts.
Hockey Canada has invited Team CIS to participate in its August 2016 development camp in a round-robin format along with approximately 40 of Canada's best under-22 players and Team Sweden. The list of CIS invitees to the camp, which is set for August 5-14 in Calgary, will be announced in the coming weeks.
The final Universiade roster will be unveiled in the fall.
TEAM CANADA COACHING STAFF
Head Coach: Rachel Flanagan (University of Guelph)
Assistant Coach: Kelly Paton (Western University)
Assistant Coach: Shaun Reagan (University of Waterloo)
Equipment Manager: Jean Huynh (McGill University)
Therapist: Anik Ladouceur
Team Leader (Development Camp): Sarah Hodges (University of Regina)
Team Leader (Universiade): TBD
ALMATY 2017 WEBSITE: www.almaty2017.com
CANADA'S ALL-TIME RESULTS IN UNIVERSIADE WOMEN'S HOCKEY:
2015 (Granada, Spain): Silver (2-2)
7-1 vs. Kazakhstan
1-3 vs. Russia
5-2 vs. Japan (semifinal)
0-3 vs. Russia (final)
2013 (Trentino, Italy): Gold (7-0)
21-0 vs. Spain
5-0 vs. Russia
13-0 vs. Great Britain
9-1 vs. USA
9-1 vs. Japan
15-0 vs. Japan (semifinal)
5-0 vs. Russia (final)
2011 (Erzurum, Turkey): Gold (7-0)
2-1 vs. Finland (SO)
3-0 vs. Slovakia
14-0 vs. Great Britain
9-0 vs. USA
11-0 vs. Turkey
8-1 vs. USA (semifinal)
4-1 vs. Finland (final)
2009 (Harbin, China): Gold (7-0)
11-0 vs. Great Britain
5-0 vs. Finland
6-3 vs. Slovakia
7-1 vs. China
4-1 vs. Japan
10-1 vs. Slovakia (semifinal)
3-1 vs. China (final)
About the Winter Universiade
The Winter Universiade is a biennial international multi-sport event open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event. The Universiade is recognized as the largest global winter multi-sport event for student-athletes, with a record of 2,668 participants in 2013 in Trentino, Italy, and of 52 participating countries in 2011 in Erzurum, Turkey.
Official 2017 website:
www.almaty2017.com
