Canes’ Bill Peters to coach Team Canada at World Championship

Carolina Hurricanes coach Bill Peters has a new assignment after the NHL regular season: coaching Canada.

Hockey Canada announced Tuesday that Peters will be the coach for Canada in the IIHF World Championship, set for May 6-22 in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.

“Obviously it’s always exciting any time you get to represent your country,” Peters said after the Canes’ morning skate in Boston. “It’s a real good experience every time I’ve done it. I’ve done it twice. Last year, it was a fantastic group of people … with a great group of management people.

“We’ll let a management group put a team together and we’ll go over and coach it.”

Peters said he would gather with the assistant coaches – Ottawa Senators coach Dave Cameron, former Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo and Hockey Canada’s Misha Donskov – in Raleigh next week after the regular season to start developing a game plan.

Canes center Jordan Staal, forward Jeff Skinner and goalie Cam Ward have played for Canada in previous World Championships, as has former Canes captain Eric Staal.

Peters, a native of Three Hills, Alberta, was an assistant coach for Team Canada a year ago when it won the gold at the World Championship in the Czech Republic. In 2008, he was coach of Team Canada’s gold-medal-winning team at the IIHF U-18 Junior World Cup.

Hockey Canada previously announced Peters would be an assistant coach on Canada’s team for the World Cup of Hockey, serving on Mike Babcock’s staff. Peters was a former assistant for Babcock with the Detroit Red Wings before named Carolina’s coach.

George McPhee and Brad Treliving will serve as co-general managers on the management team for the World Championship. Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Andrew Brewer will be the team’s video coach.

Canada will open play May 6 against Team USA. Canes defenseman Justin Faulk has played for the U.S. team in the World Championship and again could be invited to compete.

Team Canada was undefeated at the 2015 IIHF World Championship, winning its first gold medal in eight years.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Canes’ Bill Peters to coach Team Canada at World Championship."