Journal staff
Sarnia Sting head coach Alan Letang will be on the hunt for another gold medal with Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships — this time, as head coach.
The news was announced last week by Hockey Canada, ahead of the tournament that kicks off Dec. 26 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Letang was part of Canada’s gold medal-winning 2023 world junior team; and was an assistant with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, winning gold at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Letang will be joined by assistant coaches Gilles Bouchard, Shaun Clouston, and Scott Walker, as well as goaltending consultant Justin Pogge and video coach James Emery.
Letang, 48, was an original member of the Sarnia Sting when the team moved to the city from Newmarket in 1994. Fans can remember the 6’2” defenceman tallying 41 points in 62 regular season games at the Brock Street Barn, the original home of the Sting.
After being selected in the 8th round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, the Renfrew, Ontario native went on to have a 20-year professional hockey playing career.
In 2014, Letang handed in his skates in exchange for a whistle and began coaching as an Assistant Coach of the Medvescak Zagreb in Russia’s Kontinetial Hockey League (KHL). Alan returned to North America and the Ontario Hockey League in 2016 as an Assistant Coach with the Owen Sound Attack. Letang recently completed his second season (2021-23) as head coach of the Sarnia Sting where he made franchise history leading the team to their first OHL Conference Final.
In 2018 he was named Assistant Coach for Team Canada Black at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge. He also played a big part in Team Canada’s World Junior Hockey Championship in 2020, serving as the team’s pre-scout coach, analyzing game footage and developing strategy on Team Canada’s upcoming opponents.
Canada’s National Junior Team will gather at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, Ontario for a four-day selection camp, Dec. 10-13, before selecting a final roster ahead of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship. The selection camp will include a pair of games against a team of U SPORTS all-stars on Dec. 12-13.