CALGARY, Alberta – Hockey Canada has announced the coaching and support staffs that will represent Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, this December.
Head Coach Dale Hunter (Petrolia, ON/London, OHL) will be joined by associate coach Misha Donskov (London, ON), assistant coaches Brad Lauer (Humboldt, SK/Spokane, WHL) and Gardiner MacDougall (Bedeque, PE/Moncton, QMJHL), goaltending coach Dan De Palma (Kamloops, BC/Kamloops, WHL) and video coach Ethan O’Rourke (Bowmanville, ON/Kingston, OHL), with additional support from James Emery (Calgary, AB), Hockey Canada’s director of performance analysis.
The coaches and support staff were selected by newly appointed Program of Excellence general manager Alan Millar(Tottenham, ON) and Scott Salmond (Creston, BC), senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations, with input from director of hockey operations Benoit Roy (Sudbury, ON) and Mark Hunter (Petrolia, ON/London, OHL) U20 lead with the Program of Excellence management group.
“We are thrilled to officially welcome Misha, Brad, Gardiner, Dan and Ethan to the coaching staff for the World Juniors,” said Millar. “Each coach brings a winning pedigree at the National Hockey League, Canadian Hockey League and IIHF levels. We believe this is an exceptionally well-rounded staff that will provide our players with an opportunity to be successful in Minnesota.”
Donskov was recently named Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations and men’s national teams coach after completing his second season as an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars. The London, Ontario, native spent parts of four seasons as an assistant coach (2020-23) with the Vegas Golden Knights, winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. Before joining the Golden Knights coaching staff, he was the team’s director of hockey operations for four seasons (2016-20). Internationally, Donskov has been part of several successful Canadian teams, including championships as an assistant coach at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and 2016 World Cup of Hockey. He also won gold at two IIHF World Championships (2015, 2016) and one IIHF World Junior Championship (2015) as manager of hockey operations, analytics and video, and won the 2019 Spengler Cup as director of hockey operations and assistant coach, as well as the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament as video coach. Donskov worked with the London Knights from 2009-12 as an assistant coach while finishing his OHL career with the Ottawa 67’s as an associate coach from 2012-14.
O’Rourke is entering his fifth season with the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He spent his first two years in Kingston as video coach before he was promoted to assistant general manager midway through the 2022-23 season. He has represented Canada twice as a video coach, once with Team Canada Red at the 2024 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, winning a gold medal. He began his career with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals in 2019 as a regional scout.
The support staff that will work with Canada’s National Junior Team at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship includes:
- Equipment managers Chris Cook (Ottawa, ON/Brantford, OHL) and Chris Maton (London, ON/London, OHL)
