Not only did the World Cup of Hockey show once again that Canada rules the hockey world, but it also highlighted how the Windsor Spitfires are developing players and coaches of world-class pedigree.coaches better than any junior hockey team on the planet.

Three former Spitfire players – all of them long-established head coaches in the National Hockey League – served as assistant coaches for the two teams that reached the finals of the World Cup of Hockey 2016. Claude Julien (Boston) and Joel Quenneville (Chicago) and Mike Babcock behind the Team Canada bench while Paul Maurice (Winnipeg) helped out Ralph Krueger on Team Europe.

It’s a wonder that no World Cup team was smart enough to enlist the services of the other former Spits player – Peter Deboer (San Jose) currently serving as a head bench boss. The winless Team USA certainly could have used him.

Think about that accomplishment – four of the current 30 NHL head coaches once played for the Windsor Spitfires. That’s 13.3 % of the best professional hockey coaches on the planet.

It is not unusual for Canadian Hockey League teams such as the Spitfires to not only develop players, but coaches, for the NHL, but quite clearly no-one does it better than Windsor – not even that evil empire up the 401.

And this is not a recent phenomena – the Spits have been cranking out top-notch coaches for decades.

Former Windsor junior hockey players from as far back as the 1940s have gone on to become not only NHL head coaches and three – Don Cherry, Al Arbour and John Muckler – became certifiable coaching legends.

Earlier this year, Quennville recorded his 782nd career win behind an NHL bench, tying him with Al Arbour as the second most winningest coach in NHL history. Quenneville has long since passed Arbour and one day may even eclipse Scotty Bowman and have the most wins in NHL history. That’s pretty heady stuff for a guy who grew up in Riverside.

And while they never played for the Spitfires themselves, two former Spits head coaches – Jimmy Skinner and Wayne Maxner – went on to assume that very same position with the Detroit Red Wings. Skinner, in fact, guided the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup in 1955.

Johnny and Larry Wilson and Hockey Hall of Famer Marcel Pronovost all played for the Spitfires at the venerable Windsor Arena before going on to play and eventually coach at the NHL level and it’s a good bet they they will not be the last ones to accomplish that feat. DJ Smith is an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Todd Gill is an assistant coach with the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat.

And there are more career coaches with ties to the Spitfires on the way. Former Windsor assistant coaches Dave Matsos and Bob Jones are head coaches with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves and Oshawa Generals respectively and former Spits player Paul McFarland is a highly-regarded up and coming coach with the Kingston Frontenacs.

Oh, by the way, Spitfires team president and former head coach Bob Boughner is an assistant on Deboer’s staff in San Jose and it won’t be too long before an NHL team comes calling to offer current Spits head coach Rocky Thompson a job at the big league level too. Thompson has already served as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers too.

The current OHL season promises to be a memorable one for the Spitfires and their legion of fans. The team has a number of future NHLers on its roster who are likely to go on to have great playing careers at the highest level in the world. But even if they don’t succeed at their lofty goal there is always another one to fall back one day: NHL head coach.