Three-time Memorial Cup champion Dale Hunter is back to coach Canada's world junior team.
Hockey Canada announced Hunter will coach the Canadians at the 2026 World Junior Championship in Minnesota. His brother, Mark Hunter, joins the management group.
Hockey Canada's new Program of Excellence GM, Alan Miller, selected the Hunters after the 2025 Canadian world junior team lost in the quarterfinal for the second straight year.
“The first order of business for myself and (senior VP of high performance and hockey operations Scott Salmond) was to find the best coach possible to lead our national junior team,” Millar said in a news release. “Dale’s resume speaks for itself: three Memorial Cups, three OHL Coach of the Year awards and two international gold medals. His passion for this program runs deep, and we feel he is the best candidate to lead us to a gold medal in Minnesota.”
Dale Hunter has coached the OHL's London Knights since 2001, except for when he replaced Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau midway through the 2011-12 season. This past season, he joined Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Kilrea as the only coaches in CHL history to record 1,000 wins.
Mark Hunter has owned the Knights since 2000, serving as the vice-president of hockey operations during that time and GM since 2018. He worked with the Toronto Maple Leafs as director of player personnel, then assistant GM, from the 2014-15 season to 2017-18.
The Hunters' Knights won their first Memorial Cup championship since 2016 in May after losing in the 2024 final. They're back-to-back OHL playoff champions as well, winning five in total under Dale Hunter and six under Mark Hunter.
Hunter was GM of Canada's world junior team in 2020, when they won gold during the summer in Edmonton. Dale Hunter was the coach; it was his second gold medal coaching Canada, with his first coming on the 2014 Hlinka Gretzky Cup U-18 squad.
“Mark led Canada to a World Juniors gold medal in 2020 and has built one of the premier franchises in the Canadian Hockey League, with unparalleled on-ice success and player advancement,” said Salmond. “Alan and Mark provide a stable backbone for our National Junior Team, and I’m confident they will build a staff and roster that Canadians can be proud of come December.”
Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will play in the World Junior Summer Showcase on July 27 to Aug. 2 in Minneapolis, Minn. Canada will have an intrasquad game on July 29 before facing Finland on July 30. They'll then take on Sweden on Aug. 1 and the Americans on Aug. 2.
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