Gallant, Kelly eager to coach championship

Islanders selected to the coaching staff for the world men’s championship

SUMMERSIDE — Two wellknown hockey coaches from Prince Edward Island are teaming up again.

Summerside native Gerard (Turk) Gallant and Charlottetown resident Mike Kelly, who grew up in Shamrock, were named to Team Canada’s staff for the 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation world men’s championship in Riga, Latvia. Gallant has been named head coach. Kelly and André Tourigny, who coached Canada to a silver medal at the 2021 IIHF world junior championship, are assistant coaches for the tournament that runs from May 21 to June 6.

“It’s a great honour to be able to coach Hockey Canada,” said Gallant. “I haven’t been coaching for 12 or 13 months. It’s an exciting time to get back in there.”

Kelly, who has coached alongside Gallant at the major junior and NHL levels, said he is thrilled to have this opportunity. The graduate of Kinkora Regional High School is quite familiar with Hockey Canada as he worked as an assistant coach for three world junior championships in the early 2000s and coached Team Canada to gold at the 2003 IIHF world under-18 championship.

“I did a lot of stuff with them back when I was in junior hockey and in North Bay, specifically,” said Kelly, who was head coach of North Bay’s Ontario Hockey League team from 1998 to 2002. “I really enjoyed it.

“Turk mentioned during the Zoom call that (Hockey Canada does) things first class. There are a lot of really good people, high-end people, and it’s always a lot of fun. It’s great to be a part of it.”

This will mark Gallant’s fourth time representing Canada at the world championship. He played in 1989 and was an assistant coach under Andy Murray with the goldmedal-winning team in 2007 and took home a silver medal with the Jon Cooper-coached Canadian squad in 2017.

EXPERIENCE

Tom Renney, chief executive officer of Hockey Canada, said the Canadian team is fortunate to have an experienced coaching staff. Team Canada’s management group, consisting of general manager Roberto Luongo, assistant general manager Shane Doan and Scott Salmond, senior vice-president of national teams with Hockey Canada, selected the coaching staff.

“Gerard and Mike have worked together both at the NHL and junior level and have an understanding of what it takes to compete and win,” Renney said in a news release. “André complements them with his extensive coaching résumé and recent experience at the world juniors.

“We believe we have selected a group that will build on each other’s strengths and provide exceptional leadership, with input from (general manager) Roberto (Luongo) and the Olympic management group, as our team prepares to compete for a gold medal.”

RETURN

It is the first coaching assignment for Gallant and Kelly since they were let go by the Vegas Golden Knights in January 2020.

Since then, Gallant has been on Prince Edward Island and been focusing on spending time with his grandkids and family while watching a lot of hockey on television. He has also been able to spend time with longtime friends, work on his golf game and follow the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals’ junior A hockey team. His son Jason, who was recently named head coach of the Kensington Monaghan Farms Wild major under-18 team, was an assistant coach with the Caps the last two years.

Gallant is expected to be in the running for some head coaching opportunities in the NHL following the 2020-21 season. While he is hopeful the right opportunity will arise, he said his immediate focus is Team Canada.

“I am not worried about that one bit,” said Gallant. “I want to get back to work, I want to get back to coaching hockey and doing the things I am used to doing every day. I haven’t had that opportunity for quite a while with the COVID a little bit of (the) reasoning and different stuff. I am just going over there to coach Team Canada and try to win a gold medal.”