There’s a mixture of a Blade, a Raider and a P-A star of yesterday as Hockey Canada named its coaching staff for the National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup on Wednesday.

Jeff Harvey of the Blades was named the goaltending coach while Prince Albert head coach Ryan McDonald and former Raiders’ forward, now Edmonton Oil Kings’ associate coach, Kyle Chipchura will serve as assistant coaches under Ryan Oulahen. The North Bay head coach served as an assistant at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton when Canada last won gold. Canada will looks for its 26th summer U-18 gold medal from August 3-8 in Edmonton. Following is the news release from Hockey Canada…..

July 8, 2026

NR.036.26

COACHING STAFF NAMED FOR NATIONAL MEN’S SUMMER UNDER-18 TEAM

Ryan Oulahen named head coach for Hlinka Gretzky Cup; Ryan McDonald, Brad MacKenzie and Kyle Chipchura to serve as assistants

CALGARY, Alberta – Hockey Canada has named the coaching staff that will lead Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Aug. 3-8 in Edmonton.

Ryan Oulahen (Newmarket, ON/North Bay, OHL), who served as an assistant coach at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton when Canada last won gold, will take the reins as head coach as Canada looks for its 26th summer U18 gold medal. Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, SK/Prince Albert, WHL), Brad MacKenzie (Charlottetown, PE/Halifax, QMJHL) and Kyle Chipchura (Westlock, AB/Edmonton, WHL) will serve as assistant coaches, with goaltending coach Jeff Harvey (St. Albert, AB/Saskatoon, WHL) and video coach Matthew Smith (Tatamagouche, NS/Newfoundland, QMJHL).

The coaching staff was selected by Program of Excellence general manager Alan Millar (Tottenham, ON), Yanick Lemay (Drummondville, QC/Drummondville, QMJHL), assistant general manager of Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, Scott Salmond (Creston, BC), senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations, and Benoit Roy (Sudbury, ON), director of hockey operations.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ryan, Ryan, Brad and Kyle to the staff for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup,” said Millar. “Each brings a pedigree of coaching experience, particularly in short-term international competition, which will be a tremendous asset as we prepare for the tournament. We’re excited to continue the process of building a team and working with a group of players who will proudly represent Canada and showcase their talent to hockey fans in Edmonton in August.”

Oulahen just completed his seventh season as head coach of the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and second season as assistant general manager. Prior to joining North Bay, he spent three seasons as head coach of the OHL’s Flint Firebirds and six seasons as an assistant coach with the Battalion (2010-16). Oulahen has previously served as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, winning a gold medal in 2024 and 2018. He also served as an assistant coach at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge with Canada Red (2014) and Canada Black (2015), and as head coach of Canada White (2017).

McDonald completed his first full season as head coach of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, guiding the Raiders to their first 50-win season since 2018-19 and to the WHL championship series. Prior to being named head coach, he also served as assistant coach with the Raiders from 2020 until he was named interim head coach in March 2025. McDonald won a gold medals as head coach of Canada Red (2025) and as an assistant coach alongside MacKenzie with Canada White (2024) at the U17 World Challenge, and won a silver medal as head coach of Team Saskatchewan at the 2023 Canada Winter Games. He also spent four seasons with the Warman Wildcats AAA program at both the U15 and U18 levels.

MacKenzie was promoted to head coach of the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in July 2025 and guided them to the playoffs in his first season at the helm. He served one season as associate coach with the Mooseheads (2024-25) and three as an assistant coach (2022-24). Prior to joining the Mooseheads, he was head coach of the Grand Falls Rapids of the Maritime Hockey League (2019-21), earning MHL Coach of the Year honours in 2020-21. MacKenzie also won a gold medal as an assistant coach with Canada White at the 2024 U17 World Challenge.

Chipchura completed his second season as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Prior to joining the coach staff, he served as the team’s development coach in 2023-24. Chipchura spent two seasons with the Northern Alberta Xtreme of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL), serving as head coach of the U17 Prep team in 2022-23 following one season as an assistant coach with the U15 Prep team in 2021-22. Chipchura was also an assistant coach with Canada White at the 2025 U17 World Challenge.

The support staff that will work with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup includes:

• Head athletic therapist Colton Reiley (Sydney, NS/Cape Breton, QMJHL)
• Athletic therapist Taylor Cochrane (Elk Point, AB/Kamloops, WHL)
• Team physician Dr. Danielle Kelton (London, ON/London, OHL)
• Head equipment manager Andrew MacNeill (Charlottetown, PE/Charlottetown, QMJHL)
• Equipment manager J.R. Grant (Windsor, ON/Windsor, OHL)
• Hockey operations head scout Byron Bonora (Brooks, AB)
• Hockey operations manager Mitchell Furlotte (Bathurst, NB)
• Hockey operations coordinator Jake Grison (Lion’s Head, ON)
• Media relations manager Spencer Sharkey (Hamilton, ON)

The roster for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team training camp will be announced at a later date.

Canada will play its opening game of the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup on Aug. 3 at 5 p.m. MT. It will also face Slovakia on Aug. 4 and Sweden on Aug. 5 to close out the preliminary round before the tournament concludes with the medal games on Aug. 8. Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team will hold a training camp prior to the start of the tournament, set for July 27-30 at NAIT Arena in Edmonton, which will include practices and a game against Sweden on July 30. It will also take on Czechia on Aug. 1 as part of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup pre-tournament schedule.