Hockey

Mike Babcock posed with his Team Canada No.10 jersey and told a throng of media in Montreal what it feels like to finally be officially named the coach of Canada's 2010 men's Olympic hockey team.

"It's living a dream," said Babcock. "I was absolutely thrilled.  I'm very excited and humbled. As much as the Stanley Cup is exciting, any time you have a chance to play for your country, it's a whole new level of exciting."

The executive director of Canada's men's Olympic team, Steve Yzerman, officially announced Mike Babcock as the head coach at a Thursday morning news conference, along with three associate coaches, Ken Hitchcock, Lindy Ruff and Jacques Lemaire.

"I was looking for someone who will encourage the team to play the way I envision the Canadian national team to play," said Yzerman.  "We have a vision of how the Olympic team will play, and I'm certain Mike is the guy to take the reins. "

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games will be Mike Babcock's third coaching assignment with a Canadian national team. The 46-year-old Red Wings coach, who hails from Saskatoon, Sask., led Canada to gold medals at both the 1997 IIHF World Junior Championship in Switzerland and the 2004 IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic. He is the only Canadian head coach to lead teams to gold medals at those two events. He has been to three Stanley Cup finals as a coach and won the 2008 Cup with Detroit.

"There's a familiarity that exists between Yzerman and Babcock and while the coach and the player maybe didn't always see eye to eye, the reality is their focus was united - that focus was on winning," Olympic hockey reporter Darren Dreger told CTVOlympics.ca. "They are both two way thinking people, so that is going to be the focus for Team Canada in 2010."

Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, 57, will be coaching Canada at an international competition for a seventh time. He was an associate coach for Canada in 2002, when it won gold in Salt Lake City, and in 2006 in Turin when Canada finished seventh. Last summer, he coached Canada to a silver medal in the IIHF World Hockey Championship in Halifax. He won a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999.

Lemaire, 63, will make his international coaching debut. The native of LaSalle, Que. is a two-time Jack Adams Trophy winner and a Hockey Hall of Famer. He has been an NHL head coach for 15 seasons, including nine with the Minnesota Wild from 2000-09. He also coached the New Jersey Devils to a Stanley Cup in 1995. Babcock said Lemaire will likely be on the bench running the penalty-kill.

Ruff, 49, coach of the Buffalo Sabres, recently coached Team Canada to a silver medal at the World Championship in Switzerland. It was the first ever national team assignment for the longest-tenured coach in the NHL. The native of Warburg, Alta. won the Jack Adams Award in 2005. Babcock said Rufff will likely run the power play.

"Some of these men up here with me, I've idolized for a long time," said Babcock of his associated coaches and support staff, making Jacques Lemaire a case in point. "Look at Jacques, how many cups is that?"

Yzerman said they were sure to assemble a staff with a diverse spectrum of coaching experiences at different levels. 

"I'm very confident this staff has the strength, experience and hockey knowledge to face the pressure and demands of playing in Vancouver," said Yzerman.

With the next ten days, Yzerman expects to extend training camp invitations to approximately 44 players. He said they have yet to decide whether to invite four goalies or six.

"This isn't about winning style points - it's about winning a gold medal, or bust," said CTVOlympics.ca columnist Stephen Brunt. "And in many ways the Olympic situation and the Wings' situation will be analogous: both present a coach with great depth of talent to be creatively combined and managed, and both include the luxury of an exceptional support staff."

Yzerman and Hockey Canada also unveiled Canada's support staff for the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games, combining experience from over 100 major international events:

Sr. Director, Men's National Teams: Brad Pascall (Coquitlam, B.C./Hockey Canada)

Director, Men's National Teams: Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C./Hockey Canada)

Video Manager: Ben Cooper (Vancouver, B.C./Hockey Canada)

Team Doctor: Dr. Jim Thorne (Calgary, Alta./Hockey Canada)

Equipment Manager: Pierre Gervais (Trois-Rivières, Que./Montreal Canadiens, NHL)

Equipment Manager: Pat O'Neill (Winnipeg, Man./Vancouver Canucks, NHL)

Athletic Therapist: Mike Burnstein (Hamilton, Ont./Vancouver Canucks, NHL)

Athletic Therapist: Jim Ramsay (Winnipeg, Man./New York Rangers, NHL)

Therapist: Kent Kobelka (Revelstoke, B.C./Hockey Canada)

Media Relations: André Brin (Winnipeg, Man./Hockey Canada)

Media Relations: J.J. Hebert (Ottawa, Ont./Edmonton Oilers, NHL)

Coordinator, Men's National Teams: Mark Black (Regina, Sask./Hockey Canada)