Dave King: Restoring Canada’s international honour

Dave King in 1989 when he was coach

of Canada's Olympic men's hockey team.

Source: https://www.tcdb.com

(May be subject to copyright)

He won at all levels, bringing glory to Canada several times, when few thought it could happen. What I will always remember about Dave King was how he moulded a group of players into a team, and brought Canada something this country never had before – a gold medal from the World Junior Hockey Championship.

King would be tapped to bring that level of success to the Canadian Olympic hockey team, and later the NHL’s Calgary Flames.

I was gratified to hear recently Dave King was inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame. It is long overdue, because he is so deserving.

In the beginning
Dave King began his coaching career at the collegiate level, where he was an assistant coach for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the 1972-1973 season. He was head coach of the Saskatoon Quakers of the Prairie Junior Hockey League from 1974 to 1976, then head coach of the Saskatoon Olympics of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for part of the 1976-1977 season. He spent the other part as an assistant coach with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. He then had his first significant head coaching job with the Billings Bighorns of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League from 1977 to 1979. From there he became head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies from 1979 to 1983. During that time he was the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union coach of the year in 1980.

It was while he was at the University of Saskatchewan that he was picked to coach Canada’s World Junior Hockey team in the 1981-1982 season.

World Juniors
Before the 1982 World Junior Hockey Championship, Canada really did not take the tournament seriously. Because of that, they had not won a single gold medal. That was tough to take for a country purporting to have the best developmental system in the world.

The issue was that Canada sent the defending Memorial Cup champion from the preceding season to represent the country at the World Junior Championship. The challenge was the team that went to the championship was substantially different from the one that won the Memorial Cup in the Spring. Sure, the team was usually supplemented with additional players, but that did little for any sort of team chemistry.

Making matters worse was that Canada really was kind of reeling as a hockey power. A team of NHL All-Stars, made up in large part of Canadians, was defeated in the Challenge Cup in 1979 by the Soviets. Then, when Canada returned to the Winter Olympics after sitting them out in 1972 and 1976, they finished out of the medals. The excuse there was we didn’t get to send our best to the Olympics. Canada did get to send its best to the 1981 Canada Cup, only to be defeated in the championship final by the Soviets by a score of 6-1.

Canada was reeling.

Enter Dave King, and a new approach to the World Juniors.

For the first time, Canada would send a select team. The coaching staff assembled a team of players from Canadian junior and collegiate hockey. Dave King and his staff moulded those players from a wide range of backgrounds into a team.

No matter what they did early in the tournament, the Soviets would be looming and the Czechoslovakian team soon after. The road would not be easy.

Team Canada did get the job done, going undefeated into their game with the Soviet Union. Back then there was no TSN, and the tournament was not televised on the three channels on the peasant vision dial. However, this year, CBC did decide to broadcast the World Junior Game between Canada and the Soviet Union.

It was well worth the wait, as Canada hammered the Soviets, and served notice they were aiming for the nation’s first championship. There was a moment during the broadcast when John Ferguson, a long-time player and general manager, went down to the bench and urged Canada to keep pouring it on, to pay the Soviets back for the beating they gave us in the Canada Cup.

Canada remained unbeaten. Back then, there was no playoff round. The team who finished on top after the round robin, won the gold medal. That meant all Canada needed was a tie against the Czechs in Rochester, Minnesota to win gold. They did just that.

Inexplicably, there was no recording of “O Canada” in the rink in Rochester, so the tradition of Canadian players singing the national anthem was born.

Dave King had led Canada where no one else had – to a World Junior Hockey Championship. A tradition was born.

He would return to the University of Saskatchewan, staying until the end of the 1982-1983 season. In that time, he led the Huskies to the Canada West Championship in 1981, 1982 and 1983, and the national championship final in 1981 and 1982, before finally winning the national championship in 1983. He also coached the 1983 Canadian World Junior Hockey team to a bronze medal.

Then his country came calling once more.

This time, the spotlight would be much brighter.

Olympic team
Dave King was appointed head coach of the Canadian Olympic hockey team in 1983.

Back then, professionals were not allowed into the Olympics. Although the Soviet team was considered amateur, they trained together year round and, although nominally employed elsewhere on paper, were being paid to play hockey. Because of that, Canada chose not to even send a team to the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.

Canada returned in 1980, with a team made up of Canadian university and American college players, prospects and minor leaguers. It was a miracle we were even competitive, but in 1980 came close to winning a medal, finishing sixth.

Going into the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, the Canadian Olympic team was able to cobble together a solid roster of players who could contend for a medal. Headlining the roster were top NHL prospects such as Kirk Muller as well as Pat Flatley, Kevin Dineen, Bruce Driver, and Dave Tippet. They were strong in net as well with Mario Gosselin and Darren Elliot. King was also joined by Carey Wilson and Jim Patrick who had played for him on that championship World Junior Hockey team. They advanced to the medal round, but 4-0 losses to bothe the Soviets and the Czechs left Canada in fourth place and just out of the medals.

Dave King had brought them one step closer, and things looked good going into the 1988 Olympics where Canada would play on home ice at the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary.

I have always believed too many cooks spoiled the broth with that team. They again had some solid players, led by goaltender Sean Burke. They were a medal contender, not just because they were on home ice, but also because they won the prestigious Izvestia tournament in Moscow at the end of 1987. They were the first Canadian team to defeat the Soviet national team on their home ice since the 1972 Summit Series.

However, by the time the team got to Calgary, changes had been made. Rules had been relaxed, allowing some professional players into the Olympics, including Jim Peplinski who was a popular player with the Calgary Flames. What really bothered me was the team cut Don McLaren, who had been the first player to sign up with the Canadian Olympic team after the 1984 Games. He toughed it for almost four years, only to be let go. That made me sad.

Again Canada qualified for the medal round, but ended up finishing fourth for the second consecutive Olympics.

World Hockey Championships
Dave King also coached Team Canada several times at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships. In 1982, Canada took bronze; in 1983 Canada again took bronze; in 1987 Canada placed fourth; in 1989 where Canada took silver; 1990 where Canada took fourth; 1991 where Canada took silver; and 1992.

The years after
Dave King kept on coaching the Olympic team, in addition to the World Championship team. He finally won an Olympic medal, leading Canada to a silver medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. There, they lost the gold medal game to this weird post-Soviet Union group called Team United.

He would leave the national program to coach the Calgary Flames from 1992 to 1995, and later coach the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2000 to 2003. He was an assistant coach in the NHL for Montreal and Phoenix, and also coached in Germany, Japan, Sweden and Russia.

Dave King was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1992; the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1997; and the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2001.

Parting thoughts
Dave King will always be a role model of mine for many reasons. First and foremost, he coached Canada’s national team at a time when he did not have access to the best players, but always iced a competitive, hard-working, well-coached team. More than that, he just answered whenever his country called.

And he got results. He brought Canada its first ever World Junior Hockey Championship, setting the stage for the dominance that has followed. It also came at a time where Canada had not been doing that well internationally.

He restored Canada’s international honour, and for that I will be forever grateful.