Spitfires coach back after gold medal win at world juniors
Trevor Letowski also won gold as a player in 1997
Windsor Spitfire coach Trevor Letowski is back after helping coach team Canada to gold at the world junior hockey championship.
- Tyler Steenbergen's late goal gives Canada gold at world juniors
- Canada coach Ducharme learned his own golden rule
This is the second time Letowski has won gold at the IIHF World U20 Championship. The first time was in 1997 when he played for the Canadian team.
Winning as the assistant coach was still emotional and something he'll never forget, he said.
The Canadians beat team Sweden 3-1 in the final, a result that didn't sit well with the Swedish captain, Lias Andersson, who threw his silver medal into the crowd in disgust.
Lias Andersson gets his silver medal presented to him. Andersson takes it off and throws it into the stands! Emotions hitting the brink! <a href="https://t.co/v8tmoqJDxa">pic.twitter.com/v8tmoqJDxa</a>
—@NHLDaily365"Obviously there's a lot of emotion built up there ... it's something obviously if that was one of my players I wouldn't be happy and it was a moment," said Letowski."It's easy to say it's disrespectful and kinda leave it at that. I think it's probably something the kid probably regrets."
The fan who caught the medal returned it to the Swedes.
Meanwhile, Letowski has two new players to add to his already rookie-heavy roster. Grayson Ladd, 16, comes to the Spitfires from Kitchener and Cedric Schiemenz, 18, comes to the team from a pro contract in Germany.
"It's a great organization. I know Tyler Angle and I worked out with this brother in the summer time. He's a great guy," said Ladd. "I've heard nothing but great things about this organization."
Schiemenz also had praise for the team.
"I feel confident about the group," he said. "I met most of them already so they are all really nice. good guys. I'm not one of the babies anymore on the team. which is good too."
Spitfires General Manager Warren Rychel hopes to shape the team, which has several new players, into a contender in a couple of years. The Spitfires face off against the Sarnia Sting Thursday night at the WFCU centre.