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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Kris Mallette Named Head Coach for Team CHL at 2024 CHL USA Prospects Challenge

October 2, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette
Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)

Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette has been named the Head Coach for Team CHL at the first iteration of the 2024 CHL USA Prospects Challenge presented by Kubota Canada.

The CHL USA Prospects Challenge is a new event that will see the top first-year NHL Draft-eligible prospects from the CHL face off against USA Hockey's National Team Development Program (NTDP) Under-18 Team in a two-game series on November 26 in London, Ont., and November 27 in Oshawa, Ont.

Mallette will be joined by assistant coaches Gordie Dwyer (Acadie-Bathurst Titan / QMJHL) and Ryan Oulahen (North Bay Battalion / OHL). All three recently helped Team Canada to a third consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup this past August, and they will reprise the roles they served in Edmonton but this time for the CHL at its newest event.

"Just really excited for the opportunity. When I got the call, I was I thought I was in trouble, to be honest," Mallette said with a chuckle. "But yeah, just really excited for this inaugural event. It's a great showcase for the players within our league and players across the CHL. We as a staff have the opportunity to be the first to try and have some success at this event so I'm looking forward to the opportunity."

"It's (the CHL) obviously somewhere that I've been for coming up into my eleventh season as a coach and then my time as a player too, so I'm extremely happy as it's a huge significance to be part of the first iteration of this event."

Players for the CHL team will be provided by NHL Central Scouting as selected by the NHL's 32 clubs with the CHL's coaching staff playing a role in identifying the final 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders who will be chosen to compete for Team CHL at the 2024 CHL USA Prospects Challenge. The roster for Team CHL is expected to be announced by the end of October.

Mallette should have built in familiarity with the players he'll be coaching at this event as he would have coached many of them at various Hockey Canada events such as the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

"Having a relationship with some of these players in a high-pressure environment I think will help because it's built some trust between myself and those players," Mallette said. "Obviously having them know me and the way I like to coach bodes well for everybody."

"And it's not even necessarily just this year's Hlinka Gretzky's team that we coached (that would allow him to jump right into it), there are some guys from previous events that I've worked with as well. Porter Martone potentially and Malcolm Spence ... some guys that I haven't seen for a while, I think that would be good to reconnect with them and having a relationship with them already is huge."

Mallette is currently in his fifth season as the head coach of the Rockets having previously served as an assistant coach with the club for six seasons from 2014 to 2020. During his time as an assistant coach with the Rockets, Mallette won a WHL championship and helped the Rockets reach the Memorial Cup final in 2015.

Internationally, he's won three gold medals with Team Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, two as an assistant in 2022 and 2023, and his most recent one as the team's head coach in 2024. He also earned a silver medal as the head coach of Canada Red at the 2021 Capital City Challenge.

Before his time behind the bench, Mallette was a defenceman for four seasons in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets and Moose Jaw Warriors. As a player, he was also selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft and enjoyed a nine-year career playing professional hockey.

Set to be a part of the calendar over the next three seasons, the CHL USA Prospects Challenge will see players from the CHL and NTDP's U18 team compete before hundreds of NHL scouts and thousands of fans in an effort to improve their draft stock ahead of the upcoming NHL Draft. Much like other national events in the CHL, the hosting duties of the CHL USA Prospects Challenge will rotate between the CHL's Member League markets each year.

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Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette
Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette
(Steve Dunsmoor)		   

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