Oulahen back, ‘on track’
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Ryan Oulahen reflected Wednesday on what Canada did in winning gold in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament at Edmonton.
“There’s no doubt we needed to get back on track,” said Oulahen, the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s North Bay Battalion, who served the same role with the Canadian under-18 summer team.
“The very first message that I was able to have with the players was, ‘We’re able to be the group.’ That was what was big for us. We wanted to be the group that got us back on track, got Canada back on track, and not only just to have success, but to play a certain brand of hockey, a certain way about us, get that swagger back, and I thought that was what was accomplished.”
After a string of disappointing results at the international level, Canada dominated the U.S. 8-1 in the tournament’s title game last Saturday. That followed a 6-3 victory over Finland in a semifinal. Canada finished the preliminary round in first place in Group A, downing Switzerland 7-3, Slovakia 6-1 and Sweden 7-4.
“The biggest takeaway I’ll get is how that group was really able to buy in to the message,” said Oulahen.
“The support staff, the people I was able to work with, was a great group of people, led right from the top by Scott Salmond and Alan Millar. They gave a lot of trust to us right away and they had the belief in us, which allowed us to do our job.
“With any team that I’m going to continue to coach, it’s just remembering how that team of the best players that Canada can put together completely bought in to us.”
Battalion centre Cam Warren, who had two goals and five assists for seven points in five games, played left wing with centre Maddox Schultz and right winger Liam Pue, both of the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.
“He was outstanding,” Oulahen noted of Warren, North Bay’s first-round pick in the 2025 OHL Priority Selection. “I wasn’t shocked that he was going to have that performance. He’s world-class. I’ve said that before about him, and then he gets to go to that stage and show that he really is world-class.
“He was one of our top performers from the get-go, and I know the two other individuals that were on his line, I mean, he was really the one that got those guys going. He was the engine. He was the one that those guys needed to peak and get going, so Cam had an unbelievable experience.
“He had a great tournament. I know he’s going to have tons of confidence now here starting the season with us.”
Oulahen said that Warren and Schultz were largely interchangeable in their on-ice responsibilities.
“Visually, it does look like he went to the wing. He was still very trusted in the centre kind of department, and that was a discussion that I had with both him and Maddox Schultz, that both guys were comfortable being down low. Somebody had to take the faceoffs to make it look like they were playing centre, but for most of it they were just reading and playing off each other.”
Upon his return Monday to the Battalion coaches’ office, Oulahen, who’s been known to indulge in the odd superstition, recalled his first thoughts on getting the Canadian bench job.
“When I got the call about the assignment, I looked at the situation. My birthday is March 26. I wore No. 26 for a reason. If Canada won, it would be our 26th gold medal in the history of the event. And this is 2026.”
The tournament, which under various names dates to 1991, has seen Canada win three silver and two bronze medals for a total of 31, including gold from 2022 through 2024 before the U.S. won last year.
“This group will be remembered for playing the Canadian way,” Oulahen said after the final game. “We got better every single day, and tonight was 60 minutes of exactly how you would want to draw things up. This is an impressive team that is led by an impressive staff, and I am going to remember this experience forever.”
