Last month the players organized an emotional farewell when retiring head coach
Dave Henderson and his assistant Pierre Pousse had their last game with the French men's national team during the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Pousse has now got a new job within the French Ice Hockey Federation (FFHG).

On Wednesday Pousse was named as new head coach of the French U20 national team
that was announced for its first camp end of July in Albertville.

Pousse has been working for the French national team program since the 2002/03 season at the end of his career as a player. He was for two years the assistant
coach of the U20 national team and has since 2004/05 worked as assistant coach of the men's national team with Henderson.

In total he has been coaching national teams for 15 years - on top of nine years where he has represented France as a player at IIHF tournaments and Olympics.

Pousse takes over from French-Canadian Dany Gelinas, who was coaching the team during the past three seasons. During these three years it finished first in the Division I Group B in 2016 and managed to stay in the Division I Group A with third- and fourth-place finishes in the past two editions. With the promising results from the U18 team, Pousse hopes for better results in the upcoming season.

The French will play Belarus, Latvia, Germany, Austria and Norway at the IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division I Group A in Fussen, Germany, 9-15 December 2018.

MARTIN MERK

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=12829
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