Vaughan – May 10, 2019 - On behalf of the National Ball Hockey Association of Canada (NBHAC) and the Team Canada High Performance Director, Steve Dockerty, we are proud to announce the 2020 Junior Girls U20 Team Canada staff for the World Junior Championships to be held in Rovaniemi, Finland the week of June 30-July 5.
Canada has had incredible success at international competitions over the years and program will be sending 22 players along with staff members to capture gold against the rest of the world. The Junior Team Canada staff will be scouting the CanAm Junior Championships in Brampton to select the players for the World Junior Championships.
Team Canada High Performance Director, Steve Dockerty who was represented Canada in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2016 is now spear heading the entire Junior program, had the following to say about how the program has taken shape. “Our 2020 squads will definitely be competing for the gold again. Even Canada has won in the past we will work harder to improve the program. We want players that will be part of the Team Canada family for years to come. We have established a team of strong individuals and players from across the country.
Dockerty continued, "We have such a strong group of coaches who all have been with the sport of ball hockey for numerous years.”
It is with great pleasure to introduce the following selections for the 2020 Girls U20 Junior Team Canada program:
Head Coach: Melissa Miller
Coach Miller success comes down to three core pillars - culture, talent, and the system of play/game style. She stresses great culture as a must-have ingredient at the elite level, regardless of how good the other two factors are. Without this there is nothing. She has used this as a player very early playing in various leagues and has elevated her play to the Provincial ‘A’ league and continues to represent Canada on Women’s Team Canada where she has won three Gold medals and one Silver in her four World Championship appearances. She currently coaches the boys ball hockey school team and Miller was an assistant coach in 2018 and returns to the program as head coach. She is a student of the game with a masterful ability at team dynamics and group building. She will teach, guide and elevate players to their potential.
Assistant Coach: Isabel Menard
Isabel has a great understanding of the international style of play and an appreciation of what it will take as a player to compete at the World level. She continues to be an active player in various women’s and co-ed leagues and member of Women’s Team Canada. Isabel has 5 years coaching experience and has coached in Switzerland and is currently coaching fundamentals to young girls. Her greatest strengths are to lead by example and these young women will learn and prepare under her guidance and coaching. The tactician, motivator and leader will give the 2020 team an opportunity to win gold, but the bigger message will stay with the young women they coach for rest of their lives.
Assistant Coach: Natasha King
Natasha has been playing the sport for 20 years and has had success at the U14, U16, U18 Girls Ontario provincial championships. Since graduating to the Women’s division been a member of Team Canada capturing three Gold medals and one Silver in her four World Championship appearances. Her ball hockey experience is not limited to playing as she has coached both ball and ice hockey. She has coached at the local minor ball hockey house league program and been a member of the U14 provincial team. Currently she is coaching a midget girl’s ice hockey team. Her strengths are her dedication, hard work, spirit, and knowledge of the game.
These individuals will have a big impact on the chemistry of the team. If success can be defined in other ways, like making progress, giving effort, how much did we learn, or how much better were we at the end of the tournament than at the beginning, the staff will be teaching important life lessons to the team and bringing home gold.
The NBHAC will be announcing the U16, U18, U20 staffs in the following weeks and support staff in June.
#wbhf2020rovaniemi #WeReady #WeAreTeamCanada #BeTheStandard
