With two international hockey titles under his belt already this year, Dan De Palma would love to add a world junior championship ring to his collection.
Considering he’s part of the Team Canada staff, completing that trifecta is well within the realm of possibility.
De Palma was hired as Hockey Canda’s goaltending consultant for the team many pundits expect to win the 1-0-team IIHF world junior tournament that starts Dec. 26 in Ottawa.
In May, De Palma was Canada’s goaltending guru when the U18 national team won gold at the world championship in Finland, and he got to celebrate another championship in August when Canada won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton.
“It’s a really big honour to be asked and just like before I don’t want to let the team down, I want to ty to help win gold and I’m just excited about the chance to do that,” said De Palma.
De Palma took over the world junior team job from Justin Pogge, a former Prince George Cougars netminder (2003-05), who left Hockey Canada in August to coach the Abbotsford Canucks, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.
The 53-year-old Duchess Park Secondary School graduate is in his 16th year as the Kamloops Blazers goalie coach, having served three years at the start of his WHL career in a similar position with the Prince George Cougars.
“They wouldn’t ask if they didn’t think you could help,” De Palma said. “You’re lucky when you get mixed up with good teams and good players. They always say good players make good coaches and we’ve had a couple good crops of Canadian players over the last few months and I pretty feel fortunate to have won and try to do it again.”
Playing in the world junior tournament is a pinnacle achievement in the career of every junior hockey player who makes it that far and it’s the same for the coaches and staff. Canada has won the title 20 times since the tournament began in 1977, more than any other country.
“It’s really cool,” said De Palma. ”A lot of these guys you know them by name but you’ve never been around them this closely or even watched them this closely. There’s just so much talent in this group, it’s awesome.
“My lane is the goaltenders and l try to stay focused on them and make sure my focus is where it needs to be.”
Canada kept there of the four goalies invited to the selection camp, including 19-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings goalie Carson Bjarnason, a Philadelphia Flyers second-round draft pick, 51st overall in 2023, and 18-year-old Carter George, who plays for the Owen Sound Attack in the Ontario Hockey League. George was selected 57th overall in the second round of the 2024 draft by the Los Angeles Kings.
The third goalie is 17-year-old Jack Ivankovic, 17, who is draft eligible in 2025. He plays in the OHL for the Brampton Steelheads.
De Palma has renewed his ties with Canadian defenceman Tanner Molendyk of McBride. Their paths crossed years ago when Molendyk showed up to take shots in Kamloops at a goalie De Palma was coaching at the time.
“I hadn’t seen him in quite some time, I remember him coming out when he was quite young,” said De Palma. “First thing he says, ‘I remember you, I’ve been on the ice with you,’ and that’s what’s neat about the game, just the connections you make and remake with these young men over time.
“He’s a special player and he sure makes that region of our province pretty proud.”
The team is now based in Petawawa for training camp getting ready for their first pre-tournament game Thursday against Switzerland. Canada also plays Sweden on Saturday and Czechia on Monday before the tournament opener Dec. 26 against Finland.
Ottawa hosted the event in 2009 when Canada defeated Sweden in the final to win the world junior title for a record-tying fifth-straight time.
“There’s real history here and I think the city’s abuzz right now just waiting for it to be back,” said De Palma. “The days are pretty long, but I’d rather be a little tired than stressed so you get your work done and feel good about it and then you go to sleep.
“It’s hockey and it’s fun, you don’t complain about a long day in hockey. It’s a gift for me. When you watch it from the other side like I have all these years you’re cheering for Canada, you’re proud to be Canadian. Here, you’re proud to represent your country and you don’t want to let people down, you want to make them proud and do a good job and that’s where we’re at this year.”
De Palma is the first Prince George native to be hired as a world junior team coach. In addition to his coaching duties in Kamloops with the Blazers, De Palma holds down a full-time position In Kamloops with Arrow Transportation Systems as director of marketing and business development. He moved to Kamloops in 1995.
“Even though Prince George isn’t home and hasn’t been for years it’s always home and part of the fabric of my identity to be from there and I’m proud to be from there, and still have a lot of family and close friends there,” he said.
In addition to Pogge and Calgary Flames goalie consultant Jason LaBarbera, De Palma is the third high-profile goalie coach with ties to Prince George.
LaBarbera also grew up in in the Spruce Capital before he went on to junior hockey with the Portland Winterhawks and the NHL with New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks. He’s now in fifth season coaching with the Flames.
