Report: Babcock will coach Team Canada at World Cup, announcement expected Thursday
8 years ago
Mike Babcock is about to win a lot of games at the Air Canada Centre. No, the Leafs hasn’t fixed themselves, and they probably aren’t about to go on a superhuman tear to win the East. Rather, Mike Babcock is going to get himself a side job that allows him to live out his dreams.
According to Darren Dreger:
This news doesn’t come as a gigantic shocker to anybody. Beyond Babcock’s obvious new-found familiarity with the city and it’s home ice, he’s been Hockey Canada’s go-to for years now. Babcock has been the head coach of Canada at two Olympics, a World Juniors and a World Championship, and has won Gold every single time.
| GP | W | L | T | P% | GF | GA | GD | GF% | Medal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97 WJC | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 85.7 | 27 | 13 | 14 | 67.5 | Gold |
| 04 WC | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 91.7 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 62.1 | Gold |
| 10 OG | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 85.7 | 35 | 16 | 19 | 68.7 | Gold |
| 14 OG | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 85 | Gold |
| TOTAL | 26 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 90.4 | 97 | 43 | 54 | 69.3 | Gold x4 |
That’s a resume that speaks for itself, even if it was done while coaching a hockey nation as strong as Canada. Babcock’s only international loss to date is Canada’s 5-3 loss to the United States in the round robin of the 2010 Olympics; a game where Canada outshot their rivals 45-23 but lost thanks to one of Ryan Miller’s best games ever. Since that game, Babcock’s Canada has outscored their opponents 38-12.
Overall, it’ll be nice to see the Babcock behind the bench of a powerhouse in Toronto that isn’t the Detroit Red Wings, even if Canada wears the same colours. It’ll be interesting to see which Leafs he takes with him a year from now; Morgan Rielly would play on Team North America U-23, but the likes of Nazem Kadri, Joffrey Lupul, Steven Stamkos, and Dion Phaneuf will all be eligible to make the team, not to mention both goaltenders.
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