Hockey Canada retains women's coach Davidson

Melody Davidson will remain head coach of Canada's Olympic women's hockey team, but the review of Canada's loss in the world championship final is not finished.

"Her job is secure," Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson said Thursday from Calgary.

"There will be changes. We're not going to stay status quo. Where the program is today isn't good enough. We've got to get better."

Davidson, who coached Canada to Olympic gold in 2006, was so devastated following Canada's 4-1 loss to the United States in the gold-medal game last month, she openly wondered about her job security.

The Canadians had a solid performance until the final. They defeated the U.S. 2-1 in a playoff game two days prior to the final April 12 when they imploded in the rematch.

"I was just so upset over how we played," Davidson said. "For me, when I look back on it, you care so much about the players and you want them to succeed and when you don't reach that, right at that moment you're so frustrated.

"It's human nature to say, 'This is what went wrong and we'll fix it.' There wasn't any clear cut, 'This is what went wrong.'

"Why we didn't play well, we're still trying to sort through that. In the end, it may be as simple as it wasn't our day. But you have to look at every little piece to make sure you don't repeat it."

Canada has won nine of 12 world titles — but not the last two — and two of three Olympic gold medals in women's hockey. The Canadian women won't be happy with any medal other than gold at the Olympics next February in Vancouver.

Olympic, world success

Davidson, from Oyen, Alta., coached Canada to gold at both the 2006 Olympics and 2007 world championships. She was general manager of Hockey Canada's women's program in 2008 when Canada lost to the U.S. in the world championship final under head coach Peter Smith.

Smith and former NHL player Doug Lidster are currently Davidson's assistant coaches.

Davidson had her team so well prepared for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, that Canada made winning gold look easy. She was the only female head coach of a national women's team in Turin and also at this year's world championship in Hameenlinna, Finland.

The Canadians open defence of their Olympic gold versus Slovakia on Feb. 13.

The players will be asked for their analysis on what went wrong in Hameenlinna when they head to Dawson Creek, B.C., on May 25 for a month-long training camp.

"Our goal is to make them an ever tighter group with a tremendous amount of respect for each other," Davidson said. "I always say they don't have to like each other, they just have to respect each other and play with each other."

In other Hockey Canada news, Nicholson says he'd like to start selling the new Olympic hockey jerseys, which have yet to be unveiled, in August.

Hockey Canada redesigned its logo because the International Olympic Committee is enforcing a rule that national sport federations aren't allowed to display their logo at the Games.

"We haven't got it all finalized by the Canadian Olympic Committee. They've signed off on the overall format of the jersey and now there's some interesting little pieces inside the Maple Leaf," Nicholson said. "There isn't an issue."