ARIZONA COYOTES
Arizona Coyotes hire Andre Tourigny as head coach
Jul 1, 2021, 9:05 AM | Updated: 2:56 pm
Head Coach Andre Tourigny of the Ottawa 67's shouts to the referee during the second period of an OHL game against the Niagara IceDogs at the Meridian Centre on November 24, 2017 in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
(Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
The Arizona Coyotes named Hockey Canada coach Andre Tourigny their 19th head coach in franchise history on Thursday.
An introductory press conference is expected later Thursday morning.
The hiring comes after the Coyotes and former head coach Rick Tocchet agreed to part ways on May 9.
Tocchet spent four seasons as Arizona’s head coach, going 125-131-34 with a single playoff appearance in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.
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Tourigny has experience in two minor-league levels, three years as an NHL assistant coach and also has served in the upper-levels of Hockey Canada’s junior and men’s national teams.
He is familiar with Coyotes chief hockey development officer and former captain Shane Doan, who is assistant general manager for the national team of Hockey Canada. Tourigny was an assistant coach for the men’s national team in 2021 and head coach of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship squad.
With the men’s national team, Tourigny has coached current Coyotes goalies Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill, plus forward Michael Bunting.
Tourigny led the Canadian Junior National Ice Hockey Team when it took home a gold medal at the 2020 IIHF World Under-20 Championship. Canada’s junior team secured a silver medal in 2021.
Tourigny originally got his start in coaching in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as the head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies from 2002-13. He was named the QMJHL Coach of the Year in 2005-06.
In 2013, Tourigny headed to the NHL, accepting an assistant coaching job with the Colorado Avalanche. He would eventually resign in 2015 before becoming an assistant coach for the Ottawa Senators. He was fired a year later.
Tourigny returned to the QMJHL in 2016, taking over head coaching duties for the Halifax Mooseheads.
His stint with the Mooseheads would last just one season, with Tourigny joining the Ottawa 67’s (Ontario Hockey League) as the team’s head coach and VP of hockey operations in 2017.
With Ottawa, Tourigny captured back-to-back OHL Coach of the Year honors in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons to go along with two division titles.
In 2018, Tourigny was named the head coach of the Canadian Under-18 National Team for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where it took home gold.
