Hockey Alberta announced on Wednesday the Head Coach for Team Alberta’s U16 Male squad that will compete at the 2013 Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup.
The Head Coach of Team Alberta Male Under-16 will be Serge Lajoie of Bonnyville, Alberta. Lajoie previously coached as an assistant for Team Alberta at the Canada Winter Games and at the Alberta Cup. He has also served as a Coach Mentor for Hockey Alberta. He is currently the Head Coach of the NAIT Men’s Hockey team.
“We are very pleased and excited to have someone with Serge’s experience,” said Team Alberta Male program coordinator, Jay Pylypuik. “His leadership qualities will be heavily relied upon to lead this year’s edition of Team Alberta as we look to return to our gold standard.”
“It’s an honour to have been chosen to lead this team; they’ll be the top 15 year olds athletes in Alberta and I can’t wait to work with them and learn from them,” said Lajoie. “We want the athletes to be allowed to perform at optimal levels so we get the very best out of them and get and experience that they’ll not soon forget.”
The Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup is a partnership between the four Western Provincial Hockey Branches - Hockey Alberta, BC Hockey, Hockey Manitoba and the Saskatchewan Hockey Association – and the Western Hockey League (WHL). The event takes place in the off years of the Canada Winter Games which is every four years.
The Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup is the final event in the first year of the Team Alberta Male program. Selected players then advance to the second year of the program (U17) where they compete for a roster spot on Team Pacific.
Team Alberta U16 Male has captured gold at the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup in both 2009 and 2011. Most recently, Team Alberta won silver at the 2012 event.
Former Team Alberta players include 2011 WHL Rookie of the Year, Matt Dumba, and NHL’ers Jordan Eberle, Jay Bouwmeester, Devan Dubnyk, Devin Setoguchi and Tyler Myers.
