By Sam Laskaris /
Former National Hockey League defenceman Todd Gill had yet another hat to wear in early November. Besides owning the Central Junior A Hockey League’s Brockville Braves, Gill is also the coach and manager of the club.
Gill then took on some additional responsibilities. He was chosen to be the head coach for the Canada East squad at this year’s World Junior A Challenge.
The six-team tournament, which began on Nov. 1 and continues until Nov. 8, is in Summerside, P.E.I. Gill’s challenge was a tough one as he had to quickly bring together a squad of 22 players. Some of the Canada East members would not even know some of their teammates as they compete in different leagues.
Yet Gill was thrilled he was chosen to lead the Canada East side.
“It’s obviously a great tournament,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. Not everybody gets to coach some of the best players in the country.”
Besides the CJHL, the Canada East side also included players from the Central Canadian Hockey League, Ontario Junior A Hockey League, Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, Maritime Junior A Hockey League and Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Quebec.
Canada will also have another representative in the tournament, a team appropriately called Canada West, which features players from Junior A circuits in western Canada.
Also participating in the six-team World Junior A Challenge are Belarus, Sweden, Russia and the United States.
The Canada East squad will undoubtedly be looking to capture some hardware in Summerside.
Canada East won a medal in each of the previous three tournaments.
Canada East won the silver medal at the inaugural tournament held in 2006 in Yorkton, Sask.
It followed this up with another silver-medal performance at the ‘07 event in Trail, B.C.
And Canada East won the bronze at last year’s tournament staged in Camrose, Alta.
Gill would prefer his squad to be celebrating with gold medals after this year’s event.
“That’s our goal,” he said. “We have a pretty good team with lots of size and speed.”
Gill had plenty of praise for the team’s players at all positions - forwards, defence and goalies.
“I think we can handle anything the opposition throws at us,” he said.
Gill is well acquainted with two of the players on the Canada East roster. Defenceman Sebastien Gingras and forward David Roy also play for Gill with the Braves.
Gill also gets to see a half dozen other Canada East players on a regular basis as they too toil for CJHL squads.
Those players are defencemen Ben Reinhardt (Pembroke Lumber Kings) and Scott Dawson (Nepean Raiders) and forwards Andrew Calof (Nepean), Kyle Just (Pembroke), Jacob Laliberte (Cornwall Colts) and Jonathan Milley (Smiths Falls Bears).
Dawson and Laliberte were also members of last year’s Canada East squad. The only other returnee is defenceman David Pratt from the CCHL’s Wellington Dukes.
While the CJHL had eight players on the Canada East side, the CCHL was a close second with seven players on the club. The OJAHL was next in line with five representatives. |