CALGARY – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League, announced Friday that Steve Spott, head coach and general manager of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, will be head coach of Canada’s National Junior Team for the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship, scheduled for Dec. 26, 2012 to Jan. 6, 2013 in Ufa, Russia.

Spott will be joined on the coaching staff by assistant coaches Mario Duhamel (Drummondville, QMJHL), Don Nachbaur (Spokane, WHL) and André Tourigny (Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL).

Steve Spott, 44, will be making his fifth appearance on a Team Canada coaching staff and second with Canada’s National Junior Team; Spott was an assistant coach with Canada’s National Junior Team at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship, winning a silver medal. He won gold as head coach of Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2011 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament, served as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championship, finishing fourth, and with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka in 2008, winning a gold medal. The head coach and general manager of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers since 2008, Spott has been with the organization since 2001, starting as an assistant coach. While with Kitchener, Spott won the Memorial Cup in 2003 as an assistant coach and finished as runner-up in 2008.

Mario Duhamel, 37, will make his first appearance with Canada’s National Junior Team. He won gold at the 2011 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team in his lone previous Team Canada experience. Duhamel has been head coach of the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs for the past three seasons. Prior to joining the Voltigeurs, he was an assistant coach with the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies from 2005-09, and served as an assistant coach with Quebec at the 2009 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Port Alberni, B.C., finishing fifth.

Don Nachbaur, 53, will make his first appearance with Canada’s National Junior Team. He has twice won gold as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, at the 1999 Four Nations Cup and 2011 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament. Nachbaur has been head coach of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs since the start of the 2010-11 season, and has also been a head coach in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds (1994-2000) and Tri-City Americans (2003-09), winning the WHL Coach of the Year award in 1994-95 and 2007-08. He was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Philadelphia Phantoms from 2000-02 and head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators in 2009-10.

André Tourigny, 38, will be an assistant coach with Canada’s National Junior Team for the third time after earning silver medals at the 2010 and 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships. Tourigny was also an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2008 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament, winning a gold medal. He has been head coach of the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies since 2001, winning the QMJHL Coach of the Year award.  

This year, the 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge will replace Canada’s National Junior Team summer development camp. The four-game series will be played Aug. 9-10 in Yaroslavl, Russia, and Aug. 13-14 in Halifax, N.S.