Abbotsford – Abbotsford Canucks General Manager, Ryan Johnson, announced on Monday, the hiring of Justin Pogge as Goaltending Coach of the club. Pogge, 38, joins the Canucks organization after spending the 2023-24 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets as a Goaltending Consultant, in addition to working for Hockey Canada as a Goaltending Coach for Canada’s World Championship and Hlinka Gretzky Cup teams.
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Marko Torenius on his well-deserved promotion to Vancouver,” said Johnson. “We thank him for his work and dedication to our team in Abbotsford over the past two seasons. With that being said, I am very excited to have Justin Pogge join our team as Goaltending Coach. He brings a plethora of experience as a player at the NHL, AHL, international and European professional levels and I’m looking forward to seeing him help develop our goaltenders in Abbotsford.”
A native of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Pogge enjoyed a 17-year professional career as a player that included 254 AHL regular season games, 13 Calder Cup Playoff games with Toronto Marlies, San Antonio Rampage, Albany River Rats, Charlotte Checkers and Portland Pirates. Originally selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round (90th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, he appeared in seven NHL games between Toronto, Anaheim and Phoenix before embarking on a European professional career that included time in Italy, Sweden, Slovakia and Germany.
Pogge played major junior hockey for the WHL’s Prince George Cougars and Calgary Hitmen, and notably posted a 6-0 record and tournament-best .952 save percentage during the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops, on the way to capturing the Gold Medal with Team Canada.
