Colliton is coaching Canada for the injured Julien at the 2022 Beijing Olympics

Jeremy Colliton will replace Claude Julien as Canada’s coach at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Hockey Canada announced on Sunday.

Julien broke his ribs as he slipped on ice during team building at a training camp in Davos, Switzerland. Canadian medical personnel decided he could not fly to Beijing to train for the 2022 Games due to an injury.

Colliton was fired as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks on November 7, 2021 after starting season 1-9-2. He was replaced by Derek King.

Colliton had been named one of Julien’s assistants on January 14th.

“I was excited about the opportunity to work [Julien] and under his authority and to support him, “Colliton said.” It has been excellent. We have had a really good start to the camp here. It is now up to us to continue the foundation he has created. “

Former Vancouver Canucks assistant Nolan Baumgartner and Tyler Dietrich will continue as Canadian assistants for the 2022 Games.

“The Foundation, which [Julien] has led, and the synergy he has had with Jeremy has been obvious from the start, “said Shane Doan, CEO of Canada.[Julien] has been amazing to us. We are so grateful for what he apparently started here, and we are very confident in Jeremy.

“In Canada, we’re so blessed we have incredible depth, it seems, in all hockey. When Jeremy sits here and steps in and does what he can, we’re so happy.”

Colliton was 87-92-26 in four seasons with the Blackhawks, including 4-5 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Chicago won the Edmonton Oilers in four of the top five games in the Stanley Cup qualifiers in 2020 before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five of the top seven in the first round of the Western Conference.

Colliton said he and Canada will continue to be able to participate from Julien.

“I don’t doubt he wants to weigh and he should,” Colliton said. “He has so much experience and record of winning, and he has already invested a lot in this process, getting the team ready and he built a plan for how we are going to prepare the team and how the team is going to play. We are just trying to take it forward.

“We’re just going to keep going, and he’s part of it.”

Colliton said he was confident that Canadian players and staff could hit together despite the late change of coach.

“It’s a setback, of course,” he said. “We’ve already talked about it. As Canadians, Canadian hockey players and Team Canada, we expect to react to adversity in the best way possible.

Canada will play the first game of the tournament against Germany 10. February.