After resigning from the Canadian women’s national hockey team back on December 11, Dan Church is ready to come back to York.
Church, head coach of the Lions women’s hockey team, is on leave until April 30 but says he is ready to assist current Head Coach Jen Rawson if needed.
Church will still be the head coach of the team for three more years and expects to start working on the 2014-15 season in May.
He hopes to apply what he learned as head coach of the national team next season with the Lions. His interactions with Detroit Red Wings’ Head Coach Mike Babcock and the coaches on the men’s national team were particularly useful.
“Any time you get to sit with another coach who’s been successful, it’s a good learning opportunity,” Church tells Excalibur.
Hockey Canada cited personal reasons for Church’s decision—a claim the coach denies. The reason for resignation, he says, is “hockey-related.”
He told the Canadian Press that people lacked confidence in his abilities, declining to specify whether it was Hockey Canada or the players.
Church was named head coach of the women’s national team in June 2012 after helping Canada win gold at the 2012 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship in Vermont, USA.
On Twitter, Church said he was “heartbroken” by the resignation but wished “all the best to the players and staff of [Team Canada Women] as they move towards gold in Sochi.”
The outpouring of support from his current and former pupils reminds him of why he coaches in the first place.
“My number one goal is to have a positive impact on people through the game of hockey, not just in the game of hockey,” he says.
Although no longer at the head of the team, Church acknowledges the expectations for Canada’s hockey teams to win gold.
“There’s a lot of fan support but there’s also a lot of pressure,” he says.
Church points to mental strength as the key to success for the team in Sochi.
“This distraction is something they’ll have to deal with,” he says of his resignation, “I think the players are quite capable of performing…there are a lot of strong players and strong leaders to get it done.”
Ernest Reid
Senior Staff
