CALGARY — Dale Hunter will coach Canada's team at the 2026 world junior hockey championship while his brother Mark will join the team's management group, Hockey Canada announced Thursday.
It will be the second time the Hunters lead Canada’s world junior team. Dale served as head coach and Mark was general manager when Canada won gold at the 2020 tournament in Ostrava, Czechia, coming from behind to defeat Russia 4-3 in the final.
The Hunter brothers, along with former NHL enforcer Basil McRae, own the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights.
Dale is president and head coach, and Mark is vice-president and general manager of the Knights, who have won three Memorial Cup titles — including a 4-1 win over the Western Hockey League's Medicine Hat Tigers in this year's final — and six OHL championships since taking over operations in 2000.
Canada has won 20 gold and 35 total medals at the world junior hockey championship, but is looking to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2025 tournament in Ottawa. The United States won gold for the second year in a row.
The 2026 world juniors are set to be held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.
Dale Hunter has won the OHL's coach of the year three times and also led Canada's under-18 team to gold at the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament (now the Hlinka Gretzky Cup).
He also spent the 2011-12 NHL season coaching the Washington Capitals, leading them to the second round of the playoffs before returning to the Knights.
“Dale’s resume speaks for itself: three Memorial Cups, three OHL Coach of the Year awards and two international gold medals," Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence general manager Alan Millar said in a release. "His passion for this program runs deep, and we feel he is the best candidate to lead us to a gold medal in Minnesota."
Hockey Canada said Mark Hunter will assist Millar and senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations Scott Salmond "with all hockey operations-related matters, including supporting the player evaluation and selection process."
"Mark led Canada to a world junior gold medal in 2020 and has built one of the premier franchises in the Canadian Hockey League, with unparalleled on-ice success and player advancement," Salmond said in the release.
Both Hunter brothers had long NHL careers.
Dale Hunter played 1,409 NHL games with the Capitals, Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche from 1980-99, recording 1,020 points (323 goals, 697 assists). He ranks second in NHL history with 3,565 penalty minutes and is the only player to record over 1,000 points and 3,000 penalty minutes.
Mark played 12 NHL seasons (1981-93) with stops in Montreal, St. Louis, Calgary, Hartford and Washington, winning a Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989.
Upon his retirement, he spent four seasons (1995-97, 1998-2000) as head coach of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting and one season (1997-98) as head coach of the St. John’s Maple Leafs of the American Hockey League.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2025.
The Canadian Press
