Jon Cooper chose who he will work behind the Canada bench at the 2026 Olympic Games.
Hockey Canada has announced that the same coach and support staff who helped Canada win the 4 nations is back, this time with the Canada Male Olympic Team for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, which will take place from 11 to 22 February 2026 in Milan and Cortina to Ampezo, Italy.
The assistant coaches Bruce Cassidy, Peter Deboer, Rick Tocchet and Misha Donskov will be back. Cassidy, Deboer and Tocchet will be behind the bench, while Donskov will work from the top of the bridge.
The goalkeeper consultant David Alexander, director of performance analysis James Emery and the video coordinator Elliott Mondou were also appointed to Cooper coach staff, who had been appointed head coach for the 2026 games in June.
The coach staff were chosen by Cooper, director general Doug Armstrong and the entire Canadian Management team.
“After a successful performance in the confrontation of the 4 nations, I am delighted to welcome Bruce, Peter, Rick, Misha, David, James and Elliott again to the Canada coach staff for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games,” said Cooper in a statement.
“Together, they form an extremely talented group which brings an impressive background to our staff. These are coaches whose consistency and victorious experiences will benefit our team, and I know that our players will learn a lot of this world class coach staff. I can’t wait to collaborate with these seven people in order to reproduce our successes in the confrontation of the 4 nations at the Olympic Games in February. »»
Next February, NHL players will be back in the Olympics for the first time since the 2014 Olympics.
