Category: Athlete
Degree: B. Ed.
Wilbord "Willie" Desjardins, a native of Climax, Saskatchewan, enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan in 1979.
Willie was a member of the Huskies hockey team for five years, serving as captain for two seasons.
He was selected a Canada West conference all-star four times and was conference player of the year in 1982-83. In 1982, he was named to the CIAU All-Canadian team. He led the Huskies in scoring for three seasons and upon completion of his career, was the top scorer in team history with 68 goals, 121 assists and 189 points in 121 games. Among the highlights was a 10-point game against the British Columbia Thunderbirds.
The Huskies won the conference title in three of his seasons, were twice runner-up at the CIAU championship and in 1983 won the Canadian championship in Moncton, New Brunswick, with Willie being named the tournament MVP.
In 1981 and 83, Willie was awarded the E. Kent Phillips Trophy as male athlete of the year. He also won the Rusty McDonald Cup in 1983 for leadership, sportsmanship, athletics and academics.
Willie went on to coach the University of Calgary Dinos, the Seibu Bears in Japan and in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades and the Medicine Hat Tigers. He was an assistant coach of the junior national team in 2009 and then head coach in 2010.
He has also been the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League.
Willie has also coach Canada to gold at the Spengler Cup in 2017 and bronze at 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
