LaSalle's Jacques Lemaire, former coach of the Montreal Canadiens, is among three assistant coaches to Mike Babcock on Canada's 2010 men's Olympic hockey team.
The team's executive director, Steve Yzerman, officially introduced Babcock, Lemaire, Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock at a news conference in Montreal on Thursday morning.
This will be the first Olympic experience for Lemaire, former Minnesota Wild coach, who won eight Stanley Cups as a player with the Montreal Canadiens and one with the 1995 New Jersey Devils. He is a two-time Jack Adams award winner.
Lemaire, 63, served as head coach of the Habs from 1983 to 1985, winning a division title before moving into management. The team won Stanley Cups in 1986 and 1993 with Lemaire serving as assistant to the general manager.
Hitchcock, Ruff
Hitchcock, coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, was an associate coach for Team Canada in 2002, when it won gold in Salt Lake City, and in 2006 in Turin, Italy, when Canada finished seventh. Last summer, he coached Canada to a silver medal in the IIHF World Hockey Championship in Halifax. He won a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999.
Ruff, coach of the Buffalo Sabres, recently coached Team Canada to a silver medal at the World Championship in Switzerland. It was the first ever national team assignment for the longest-tenured coach in the NHL. He won the Jack Adams Award in 2005 as the NHL's top coach of the year.
