Stan Butler named Canadian junior coach for second consecutive year

BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Canadian Hockey Association announced on Tuesday that Battalion Head Coach and General Manager Stan Butler has once again been chosen to coach the Canadian National Junior Team in the 2002 World Junior Hockey Championships.
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The tournament will take place in the Czech Republic from December 25, 2001 – January 4, 2002. Canada will be in a pool with Russia, Finland, Switzerland and France.
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Butler, who will be heading into his fourth season behind the Brampton bench, guided the Canadian juniors to a bronze medal in last year´s tournament in Russia. Battalion winger Raffi Torres scored the bronze medal-winning goal in overtime against Sweden. Brampton defenceman Jay Harrison and former Battalion underage star Jason Spezza were also on that squad.
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Butler, who collected a silver medal as an assistant on Tom Renney´s staff in the 1999 tournament in Winnipeg, joins Dave King and Terry Simpson as the only coaches to guide the Canadian team in consecutive tournaments.
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"I ´m really honoured and it’s a privilege to coach the team," said Butler, who was one of ten coaches interviewed for the position. "I´m really excited to get another chance to do something that I only thought I would get one chance at.
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"I think continuity is very important," Butler said Tuesday night when asked about being offered the job for the second time, "and they went so far as to bring back the same assistant coach and I don´t know if they have done that before."
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North Bay Centennials Head Coach and General Manager Mike Kelly will once again join Butler behind the bench and the CHA also announced that Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Mark Habscheid had been named as an assistant coach.
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Butler coached the Canadian Under-18 team to a gold medal in 1999 at the Four Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic and many of the players from that team will be vying for spots on this year´s junior squad.
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"I am very familiar with a lot of the players," noted Butler. "I coached the Under-18 team with the (birth year) 1982´s and there are players that weren´t on our team last year that were in the program two years ago that will probably step up and be given consideration."
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Butler also felt that his experience at last year´s tournament has given him a better working knowledge of Canada´s opponents.
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"I think this time I will know about the other teams and have a better understanding of what we are up against," he said. "I have a pretty good handle on a lot of the other players. I now know about the Russian players and how they play and that´s the same with the Finns and the Swedes and the others."
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The Czech Republic has won the last two World Junior tournaments and Butler believed that playing the Czechs on their home ice was a "challenge. You are going to play in a country that right now is the top nation in hockey. They have won two or three World Championships and now they will be trying to win their third straight World Junior tournament at home."
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On his own homefront, Butler talked to his family and Battalion owner Scott Abbott before accepting the position.
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"I talked it over with my family because this will be the third out of four years when I haven´t been home for Christmas and I had to talk it over with Scott. And in both cases the answer was ´go for it´."
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"Everyone in the Battalion organization is excited and proud of Stan for this accomplishment," said Battalion President Mike Griffin. "We think it´s a compliment to his success in building the Battalion organization to the point that it enters its fourth season as one of most respected franchises in the Ontario Hockey League."
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Coach Butler will oversee the National Junior Team´s summer evaluation camp in Calgary from August 1-10.
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