Dan Church, head coach of the York Lions women's hockey team, has been named a candidate in the Hockey Canada National Women's Program coaching pool.
Hockey Canada announced on June 13 the formation of the National Women’s Program coaching pool. The national team and under-22 team coaches for both the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons will be selected from this pool of coaches.
Right: Dan Church
In 2005-2006, his second season with York, Church led the team to its most competitive season in recent years. The Lions missed the post-season by just a single point as they compiled a 6-10-8 record and 20 points, a 16-point improvement from the previous year.
In August of 2005, Church served as a development coach at Hockey Canada’s under-22 national team evaluation camp. A National Coaching Certification Program Level Three certified coach, Church served as an assistant with the University of Toronto women's hockey program for seven years prior to taking over the head coaching duties at York.
This past April, an invitation for applications was distributed to Hockey Canada’s branches, associate members and leagues, and those applicants who met the identified criteria were considered. Following two days of meetings and interviews 11 coaches were chosen by the selection committee of Johnny Misley, Hockey Canada vice-president, Gay Hahn, Chair of female council, Julie Healy, director of female hockey, Dean McIntosh, senior manager of coaching, Wally Kozak, head scout, and Melody Davidson, general manager/head coach of the national women’s team.
The coaching pool was established to develop and evaluate the top coaches in female hockey in Canada. The coaches in this pool will be assigned various coaching roles at camps and events over the course of each season, including international experiences. They will have opportunities to work with different combinations of coaches over the two-year period. The coaches will also be required to create and commit to a personal development plan in conjunction with their in-season team and the implementation and completion of this plan will be part of their evaluation.
The coaching staff for both the national women’s team and the national women’s under-22 team for the 2006-2007 season will be selected from this pool of coaches and will be named in the near future.
This article was submitted to YFile by Jim McLarty, sport and recreation information officer in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science.