Trenton Golden Hawks Head Coach Derek Smith has been named an assistant coach to Team Canada East at the 2023 World Junior A Challenge in Truro, Nova Scotia in December.
Smith was part of the 2022 silver medal winning team.
His main focus will be working with the d-core for Canada East.
Coach Smith says, “We want to build around our success last year. We brought home a silver medal, which is an honour, but not our goal.” Smith continued, “It is an amazing accomplishment and I am really excited for the opportunity. It is a very short tournament. We have a lot of expectations and we know what it takes to be successful.”
Head coach for Team Canada East is Billy McGuigan, the coach for Summerside in the MHL.
Former Trenton Coach/GM Peter Goulet and Assistant Coach Josh Hardiman round out the coaching staff.
The G-Hawks are well represented on the team. Athletic Therapist Leah Tofflemire will serve the same role on Canada East for a second year.
“It is an honour to not only work at such a high level, but also to represent Canada. I look forward to building on last year’s silver medal experience,” says Toffelmire.
The tournament starts for Canada East on December 10 against Slovakia.
