MacDougall, Crickard reunited

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Gardiner MacDougall and Travis Crickard duo is getting back together.

MacDougall and Crickard, who helped lead the Saint John Sea Dogs to the 2022 Memorial Cup championship, will be reunited with Hockey Canada's under-18 team later this month. MacDougall will be the team's head coach while Crickard will be one of three assistants.

“Gardiner has not only solidified himself as one of the greatest coaches in university hockey history, his record and reputation speaks for itself,” said Hockey Canada's senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations, Scott Salmond, in a news release. “His nine U SPORTS championships and 2022 Memorial Cup win with Saint John are proof of his ability to win in short-term competition, which will serve us well at the world championship.”

MacDougall is coming off a 43-0 season with the UNB Reds that ended with a second straight University Cup title.

Crickard, who was an assistant under MacDougall during the Memorial Cup, has quite a bit of Hockey Canada experience and this seems like the logical next step for him. From the news release:

Crickard recently completed his first season as head coach of the Sea Dogs following one season as an assistant. He was named an assistant coach for Canada’s men’s hockey team at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, finishing fourth, won a gold medal as video coach with Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship and was a video coach (2016) and assistant coach (2017) with Canada Black at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, winning a silver medal in 2016.

Bruce Richardson and Ryan Smith will be the other assistant coaches.

The 2024 IIHF Under-18 World Championship will take place April 25 - May 5 in Espoo and Vantaa, Finland. Canada's first game is on April 25 against Sweden.

For MacDougall, you have to wonder: could a successful tournament here be a stepping stone to coaching Canada's world junior team? He's proven he can lead university aged players. He proved he can coach junior aged players with Saint John and a successful under-18s would be further proof of that.