The first thing Kaylee Grant did when she moved to Yellowknife was find a hockey team.

The operating engineer took a one-year term to gain experience in her industry. Twelve years later, she’s still in the Northwest Territories and hockey has been a reason why she calls it home.

“You gravitate to what you know, and I knew sports,” Grant says. “When you join a sport, you instantly have 17 friends and a group where you feel accepted through a common goal and interest. When I moved to the North, I didn’t know how else to meet friends, so I went to the rink right away.”

Grant grew up around the rink in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The community was also a hockey hotbed, supporting its Junior A, Junior B and university teams. Being around that passion and community made hockey an important part of her life.

“Playing hockey is what we did,” Grant says. “The community rallied behind our teams and the rinks were full, the atmosphere was great, and hockey was so prominent.”

She played minor hockey in Nova Scotia before moving to Newfoundland and Labrador to play at Memorial University. At 23 years old, she made the move to Yellowknife and knew she would find her community inside a rink.

“I find that the easiest thing to do when you come to a new place to meet people is through sport,” she says. “With joining a hockey team, I was already creating a group of people that were like-minded in interests and similar age. Plus, there are so many opportunities in the North to grow as coaches, players and mentors that have been so helpful.”

Grant’s love for the game wasn’t just as a player—she expanded her knowledge by getting into coaching while in Nova Scotia. She started as an off-ice coordinator with the Antigonish Bulldogs women’s under-18 team.

She did her Coach Development 1 training before getting her High Performance 1 training and evaluation certification. She continued to pursue additional coaching certification and training over the years to educate herself and give back to her community.

“I think seeing the female game continuously grow and develop that keeps me interested,” Grant says. “I love to see the progress in my players. I love seeing these players grow and adapt as individuals. Seeing them get involved in coaching is the coolest part.”

Her coaching philosophy is to develop a player’s passion for the game, be a role model and create an environment that is positive for women and girls.

Coaching and mentoring young girls are important to Grant, and she saw that path was through high-level opportunities, particularly by becoming a facilitator to drive more players into the coaching route. She has been working with Hockey North and the Hockey Canada Women Master Coach Developer program, which is focused on removing barriers to coaching education for women.

“Kaylee has volunteered at pretty much every level and she’s getting more involved with training coaches and being a clinician, which is an amazing progression for her,” says Kyle Kugler, executive director of Hockey North and a close friend of Grant. “She’s a great ambassador for hockey by giving back to other coaches through her experiences and helping with their development.”

Through being a volunteer coach, Grant has been able to experience some highlights with her teams, including as head coach for the Arctic Winter Games and Canada Winter Games, and as an assistant coach for Team North at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship.

“Hockey North has given me so many opportunities and having that support has impacted me as a coach,” Grant says. “I enjoyed every year with those territorial teams and those experiences are a very big reason why I stay here – the coaching opportunities and knowing that we continually have room to grow.”

Another event that Grant was a key volunteer for was the inaugural One For All festival held in Yellowknife in February. It was a four-day event for women and girls from across the N.W.T. and Nunavut that included goaltending clinics, on-ice scrimmages and other off-ice experiences. The event was launched in partnership with Hockey Canada and Hockey North to celebrate the sport and grow grassroots hockey in the North.

“Kaylee is one of our co-leads in the North, and when we set out to deliver this programming in Yellowknife, it was a no-brainer that she would be involved. And typical Kaylee, she just runs with a task and completely owns it,” says Katie Greenway, manager of women’s and girls’ hockey with Hockey Canada. “To have champions like Kaylee that dedicate themselves to their community and sport is so important.”

Giving back through coaching is just what Grant does—it’s like a hobby for her and she does it for others and to see more women in the sport, not for what it could bring to her.

“I’ve known Kaylee for a few years now and she has so much on her plate, but she never says no,” Greenway says. “She doesn’t do it for the accolades, but out of the goodness of her heart with a smile on her face. She’s fantastic and is really impacting everyone that she comes across.”

Grant’s impact on hockey in the North has been felt by many of the girls she has coached, mentored and played with over the past 12 years, but it’s the bigger picture that is most important to her.

“I’m not going to say that myself, individually, has drastically impacted female hockey in the North. I think I am a very small portion of what’s been going on in the North in the last 10 years,” Grant says. “I would like to think that I have helped develop more female coaches and I’ve been a good role model. I think if I have impacted hockey in the North, its pushing players to want to coach a little bit, but it’s a collective—everyone has left their mark on the female game.”

For Kugler, as the lone administrator for Hockey North, having volunteers like Kaylee is so critical to the work and development of hockey players.

“I think volunteers are essential for the delivery of anything in small communities in the North,” he says. “[Kaylee] takes on more than we even realize. Coaches have a huge influence on teams and athletes and she’s a positive role model and advocate for female hockey. She’s selfless with her time and she’s just an awesome person.”

Interested in becoming a coach? Visit HockeyCanada.ca/Coaching, or contact your local hockey association or Hockey Canada Member for more information.

While Canada’s National Women’s Team got on the ice for the first time at training camp last month, more than 6,100 people involved in hockey – players, coaches and parents – participated in the Pond to Podium Development Series.

Participants at all levels of the game connected directly with national team athletes and staff through 16 webinars that included skills sessions, holistic hockey training sessions, panel discussions and We Are Coaches clinics led by Hockey Canada women master coach developers.

“The participation of girls and women at all levels of hockey elevates our game and creates a thriving sport system,” says Teal Gove, manager of hockey development with Hockey Canada. “We hope the Pond to Podium Development Series encouraged all participants, in whatever their role, to strive for their personal podium so they can continue to gain all of the benefits hockey has to offer along the way.”

What did the participants take away from Pond to Podium? Check out a few testimonials.

“I was excited to attend the Core Values of Leadership session that was run by Gina Kingsbury. There were two areas that I felt made me better understand how I can become a better leader for my teammates. First and foremost, I learned it is important to be myself and not change who I am. Although I have the honour of wearing a letter on my jersey, I do not have to be serious all the time. I learned that it is important to have a balance with having fun with my teammates, connecting with them and being serious when I need to be. Secondly, I learned it is important to learn who my teammates are personally, to understand who they are on and off the ice. As a leader, it is important to create friendship and trust with your teammates, to ensure they feel comfortable talking to me. The session has given me a different perspective of what leadership is and how I can apply what I have learned to be a better leader, a better athlete and a better student.”

-- Ava Irwin, player (Burlington Girls Hockey Club)

“In the never-ending pursuit of being their best, highly-motivated coaches (from house league to national teams) seek information, advice and feedback. Ideally, you want to get those things from people with outstanding credentials and the right values. Hockey Canada’s Pond to Podium Development Series brought the best in girls and women’s hockey to our computer/phone screen. From Tara Watchorn’s A, B, Cs of playing defence to Howie Draper’s four Fs (fun, fast, fight, family) to Kori Cheverie and Vicky Sunohara addressing the importance of making the game enjoyable for their players, Pond to Podium is informative, insightful and interactive.”

-- Steve McAllister, coach (Kincardine Minor Hockey Association)

“As a parent of a young girl, it was inspirational to hear what leaders at the highest levels, such as Gina Kingsbury and Teal Gove, believe in. Having not been on the ice with her teammates during the pandemic, these webinars reinvigorated my daughter's passion for hockey and reminded her why she loves the game. The advice she received from two tremendous role models advanced her knowledge of the game, which will in turn motivate her and her team when they return to the ice.”

-- Melina Ducharme, parent (Burlington Girls Hockey Club)

“Watching the Pond to Podium sessions became a family affair! My U18 daughter (a defenceman), my U15 son (a goaltender) and I all thoroughly enjoyed the webinars. They were well-organized with very knowledgeable presenters who covered a wide range of useful teaching points and concepts that can be easily incorporated into practices or into a player’s regimen. I especially enjoyed Tara Watchorn’s concept of communicating the purpose of drills so players understand why and can more readily internalize the lesson (Developing Defence); Jessica Campbell’s philosophy of continuous development of skating skills being essential for all players to get a leg up in the game (Specialized Skating Skills); Gord Woodhall’s identification of the foundation of stance in everything a goalie does (Goaltending); and Paula McQuaid’s assertion that confidence and mental toughness are learned skills that can be improved through understanding what one can control, reframing situations positively and managing one’s emotions (Mental Training). A wealth of great ideas and lessons for players and coaches to take their game to the next level!”

-- Jeff Partrick, coach (Gloucester-Cumberland Girls Hockey Association)

“I thoroughly enjoyed the We Are Coaches programming during the Pond to Podium series. I have taken coach courses in the past, but this was my first experience in an all-women coaching program geared toward coaching women. I took so much more away from this than I have in previous courses. It made me think about things that I hadn’t thought of, and the group dynamic created an atmosphere that allowed for collaboration between coaches across our country. It was motivating, inspiring and what I think is needed to get more women involved in coaching and, ultimately, to continue to grow the women’s game. Thank you so much for this opportunity!”

-- Kristy Provost, coach (Nampa Minor Hockey Association)

“The broad scope and variety of the Pond to Podium topics was impressive. Athletes, coaches and parents could all learn from the various sessions. For our athletes to hear from women at the highest levels speaking openly and honestly about their experience, the ups and downs they have gone through, was very impactful. I love that the focus for the players was off the ice (mental, leadership and off-ice workouts) and all were topics within their control to take ownership of and work on to improve. The sessions were inspiring to those of us who love the game, who are proud to be a part of Hockey Canada and who are driven to keep getting better.”

-- Ryan Essex, coach (Central York Girls Hockey Association)

Would you like to be kept in the know regarding the next Pond to Podium Development Series? Register below to receive more information as it becomes available.

Callie Langmead’s passion for coaching comes from personal experience.

Growing up in Flatrock, N.L., Langmead played hockey with the boys because there wasn’t a girls’ team. Over the past 12 years, she has helped coach various Northeast Eagles Minor Hockey Association (NEMHA) teams out of Torbay, N.L.

Three years ago, Langmead, along with fellow coach Bill Everson and NEMHA female director Harold Kelly, created an all-girls program within the association, and they haven’t looked back.

“When I played, I had to go to a different organization to play girls hockey,” says Langmead. “There weren’t enough girls in our area, but we have grown since then.”

The women’s hockey program started with a U15 team and two U12 teams; today, it includes four in U9, three in U12, and one each in U15 and U20.

“It is great to see how much girls’ hockey has grown in our area since we started the program just three years ago,” she says.

Her leadership in the program and guidance behind the bench helped Langmead win the BFL Female Coach of the Year Award (Community) for Newfoundland and Labrador.

“It was so cool to be recognized. I didn’t expect it,” Langmead says. “I coach because I love it. It was so nice to see that people appreciate all the effort and work I’ve put in.”

Langmead hopes to inspire the players she coaches through her own experiences and dedication to the game. She left the East Coast in high school to play prep-school hockey at Balmoral Hall in Winnipeg before returning home for university.

“The girls know I went away for hockey, and I want to show them that there are opportunities for them to play hockey off the island,” she says. “I just want to give back to the girls I coach. My coaches impacted me growing up and not just my game, and I hope I am doing that for them.”

Everson nominated Langmead for the award and said it was “heartwarming” to see her win.

“I get to see the work and dedication she puts into the game,” he says. “[The players] all love Callie. I don’t know how to explain it – they are all drawn to her. When she speaks, they all listen.”

It was fitting for Langmead to win the award, Everson says, since he and Kelly had been thinking of ways to recognize her for all she has done for the NEMHA.

“We’ve been talking the last couple of years on recognizing Callie because of the time she commits to minor hockey, especially the girls. We’ve been trying to think of what we could do for her, and when this came up, it just made sense.”

Langmead’s joy for the game started early as she watched her dad play, but it wasn’t until she was 10 years old that she laced up her own skates and began to play after a friend signed up to play.

“I didn’t even know that girls could play hockey at that age,” she says. “I love that it is becoming normal that girls who are three or four are jumping on the ice, and they belong.”

That sense of belonging and opportunity is what drives Langmead to continue to coach at the grassroots level, so that younger girls feel welcome and connected to the sport.

“Girls should have that equal opportunity that the boys have,” she says. “If you want to play, you can play on an all-girls team, and you can get on the ice when you are young. It is great to see these girls get the opportunity that I didn’t have growing up.”

Langmead shares the same mentality when it comes to having women behind the bench.

“I want to show the girls that not only can they play, but they can grow up and coach too if they want to,” she says. “Being a female coach, especially to teenagers, I can relate to them better. I want them to realize they have the same knowledge and expertise to play and coach.”

Langmead is finishing her master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and starting medical school in August. Still, she hopes to continue coaching with the NEMHA and in addition to teaching power skating at Xtreme Hockey.

“As long as I stay on the ice, I will be happy.”

Great coaching has the potential to inspire an athlete to participate in sports for life. It is in that spirit Hockey Canada has established the Women Master Coach Developer (WMCD) program, an initiative equipping 30 coaching leaders with the training to develop more women in coaching from coast to coast to coast.

“We believe emphasizing and providing instruction will create engaging and welcoming training experiences, remove barriers to coaching education for women and develop role models and leaders within the hockey community,” Teal Gove, manager of hockey development at Hockey Canada, says. “By dramatically increasing the number of women in meaningful coaching roles, we will create the infrastructure needed to support the participation of girls and women in hockey.”

The delegates selected for the WMCD program, which kickstarted in July, are currently completing courses that impart knowledge on facilitating coaching programs, evaluating coaches, keeping girls in sport, making ethical decisions as a coach and what it means to be a master coach developer.

Mercedes Watson, a coach developer with the Greater Toronto Hockey League, has completed two of the five courses thus far. An associate coach with the Toronto Aeros female U18 team, Watson says the Jumpstart Keeping Girls in Sport online module contained some insightful learnings.

“It’s dialling in on girls and what motivates them,” she says. “It is showing research about why girls participate and how to keep girls going as there some interesting differences between them and boys.”

Each one of the women in the program received the contact information for the 29 other ladies undertaking the journey. Linda Massie, the head coach of Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador’s female under-16 team, is intending on taking full advantage of the engagement component of the WMCD program.

“There are some pretty amazing individuals taking this program. I look forward to speaking with them and learning from them as well.”

While a significant portion of course content is delivered via interactive webinars, the 30 delegates will also complete some in-person sessions before the completion of the program. The coaches may also choose to complete the online modules together.

Each of the coaching leaders will be required to collaborate with their member branch to deliver a We Are Coaches women-in-coaching training program in their province or territory at the end of the program to receive WCMD certification.

Taryn Baumgardt, the female hockey coordinator for Hockey Alberta, says the We Are Coaches capstone project will be an empowering experience.

“It will be an opportunity to empower coaches and leaders among women in the game. Hopefully it will help grow the number of coaches as providing young athletes with role models to look up to in the sport will be huge.”

Fort Smith, N.W.T., product Jessica Cox, the lone delegate from Canada’s northern territories, has already delivered coaching clinics and participated in a We Are Coaches program out of a desire to grow the pool of women coaching in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Cox expresses that Hockey Canada is helping her work towards fulfilling this objective through the program.

“This kind of programming speaks to the fact that the organization recognizes the importance of developing coaches across the board, the impact those coaches can have at the grassroots level all the way up to the high-performance level and that good coaching is fundamental to good coaching programs.”

Learn more about Hockey Canada’s coaching programs right here.

What occurred on March 2 in Red Deer, Alta., was so special that it called for a commemorative photo.

Carla MacLeod, Noémie Marin and Delaney Collins – all of whom have extensive experience as players and coaches in Canada’s National Women’s Program – posed outside Servus Arena to celebrate leading their respective provinces to medals at the 2019 Canada Winter Games.

MacLeod’s Team Alberta won gold on home ice with a 2-1 win over Marin’s Team Quebec. Earlier in the day, Collins led Team British Columbia to a 5-4 win over Team Ontario to capture bronze. It marked the first time at the Canada Games or National Women’s Under-18 Championship that all three medal-winning coaches were female.

Sharing the ice with MacLeod and Marin during the medal ceremony is a memory Collins will cherish for a long time.

”I believe we all value each other so much that it was a proud moment for me to have the three medals – gold, silver and bronze – be [awarded to] female head coaches who have worked for Hockey Canada.”

The ties run deep between the three: Collins and MacLeod played together at the IIHF World Women’s Championship; MacLeod and Marin shared the bench with Canada’s National Women’s Development Team in 2017-18; and Collins and Marin were assistant coaches for Canada at the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.

All hired about a year before the puck dropped, Collins, MacLeod and Marin had a clear conviction on what it would take to win in Red Deer. The biggest task for each of them was compiling a cohesive 20-player team that would realize the golden goal.

MacLeod and her coaching staff knew Alberta needed to be the hardest working team.

“We adopted that sort of approach and mentality to everything we did,” says the two-time Olympic gold medallist, who also leads the female Midget prep team at the Edge School in Calgary. “We had a slogan that said, ‘Team culture is hard work and hard work is team culture.’”

The disciplined style of play was evident during the whole tournament. Composure was another element to Alberta’s success. The players did not allow losing two of their first three games to rattle them. They just kept perfecting their process, and that work paid off with playoff wins over B.C. (2-1 in overtime in the semifinals) and Quebec.

Quebec cruised to a 5-0 record to reach the gold medal game. Marin, who coaches the women’s team at John Abbott College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., emphasized filling the roster with resilient players. Her decision-making paid off with rallies in the first two games.

“When you’re down 2-0 seven minutes into a game, it is tough to have the resiliency to stand up and fight, and I thought our girls showed great character by coming back in those games after tough early starts,” she says.

Quebec passed its biggest test by withstanding 38 shots from Team Ontario to earn a 1-0 semifinal win.

Collins, head coach of the Fraser Valley Rush, a female Midget AAA side in B.C., put a premium on identifying players with self-compassion, which is the ability to not let mistakes keep you down.

“We definitely want girls that are hard-working and mentally are able to show a lot of compassion for themselves,” Collins says. “At the end of the day, it is a game of mistakes. So, how do you respond after making a mistake? We are looking for athletes who are open to learning and are not too critical about the mistakes in the game.”

This approach inspired her squad to play an exciting style of hockey dictated by speed and creativity, which earned the province its first women’s hockey medal at the Canada Games since 1991.

The weeks following the Games have afforded MacLeod with time to think about the significance of three female head coaches sweeping the podium. She says a moment like this could be impactful.

“Hopefully, if we are doing our job correctly, the players we are working with today may, in 10-15 years from now, want to coach that team.”

The three award-winning bench bosses all credit Hockey Canada for empowering them to believe they can be successful coaches, and to provide different opportunities along the way.

“It helps us as a coach and even just as a person in the world,” Marin says. “I think Hockey Canada is doing a tremendous job.”

MacLeod says this support is particularly instrumental in helping women in their early years of coaching.

“I have been fortunate in my career to have tremendous mentorship from all sorts of people, and I think building that up will encourage it to continue to occur, and hopefully then if young coaches face a little bit of adversity early in their career, they can manage it and grow from it.”

Hockey Canada is passionate about creating more opportunities for women through its We are Coaches all-female coaching certification events. The initiative strives to provide women with the resources, mentorship and network to succeed. The program also seeks to remove the barriers preventing women from pursuing the coaching profession.

Anyone interested in participating in or hosting an all-female coaching clinic can reach out to the coaching contact who works for their Hockey Canada member branch.

Before the gold medal, the accolades and the countless hours behind the bench coaching high-level hockey, Whitney Juszkiewicz was an improv actor in Vancouver.

“I was on stage every Sunday throwing on an attitude, throwing on an accent, throwing on a persona and going for it,” recalls Juszkiewicz.

Born in Alberta, Juszkiewicz grew up in Edmonton and was deeply involved in hockey, attending St. Francis Xavier High Performance Hockey Academy before enrolling at the University of Saskatchewan, where she studied liberal arts and was a member of the Huskies hockey team. She then studied live performance at Red Deer Polytechnic before embarking on a career in live performance.

“I spent almost eight years in the film, television and theatre industry and I did a lot of stuff in Red Deer,” Juszkiewicz says. “My friends and I then started a theatre company (BullSkit) that specialized in improv and sketch comedy like Saturday Night Live or Second City.”

By 2012, Juszkiewicz was living in Vancouver, running her theatre company, performing improv and providing hockey lessons to kids. It was after one of those lessons that a parent asked if she had ever considered coaching hockey. After thinking it over, Juszkiewicz decided to go for it and soon found herself behind the bench of a Vancouver-area U11 boys’ team.

“I must have done a pretty good job because in my first year I won rookie coach of the year,” she says.

A little more than a decade later, Juszkiewicz is now a respected high-performance hockey coach, having been behind the bench of numerous high-level boys’ and girls’ teams throughout Greater Vancouver, and the owner of Fire and Ice Hockey Development. She has held also held various coaching-related positions with BC Hockey, briefly served as the executive director of the Langley Minor Hockey Association, became a certified Hockey Canada Skills Coach and worked as a female coach mentor with the NHL Coaches’ Association during that time.

“I put the coaching hat on and I haven’t looked back,” says Juszkiewicz, who is also a coach in the B.C. provincial program, an associate coach with a U18 Prep team at the Delta Hockey Academy and head coach of a female U15 AAA team in the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association.

In February, as an assistant coach, Juszkiewicz helped Team BC win its first-ever gold medal in women’s hockey at the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

“It was a privilege to work with those young women, some of whom went on to win gold at the women’s under-18 world championship,” she says. “It was just an unbelievable experience and it will definitely be one of my all-time favourite memories as a coach.”

Same skills, different role

Although Juszkiewicz is no longer performing improv on weekends, she has found that many of the skills she developed as an actor have transferred over into the coaching world.

“[Coaching] hockey is reading the room and understanding that this may not be the right time to really drill in the negatives and that everyone needs a little bit of a bump, they need value,” she says.

In the acting world, Juszkiewicz says, a strong emphasis is placed on organization, understanding objectives and having everyone buy into their roles to ensure everything is successful, just like it is in hockey.

“You have the best shows when everybody understands the objective and I find the coaching world is very much like that,” says Juszkiewicz, who continues to dabble in acting, having appeared as an extra in Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. “Everyone's got a job, everyone's got a special talent that they're bringing; there is a reason why they're there and if we can just dig into those specialties and create a nice, inclusive, safe environment, we're going to have a great time.”

Learning and growing

Over the last four years, Juszkiewicz has been participating in Hockey Canada's Women Master Coach Developer (WMCD) program, an elite initiative that is providing 38 high-performance women’s hockey coaches with the skills they need to deliver clinics and train future facilitators and evaluators as part of an effort to increase the number of women-led coaching programs nationwide.

“It's been able to give me that extra credibility, that extra training and that extra guidance that I find I am now using with all coaches that either I work with or work for me,” Juszkiewicz says about the program, which she is set to complete later this year. “It’s been a wonderful opportunity to understand how to work with people how to train them, how are you going to create a learning environment as opposed to more of a lecture and just listen to what I have to say environment.”

WMCD participants are nominated by Hockey Canada Members and must have completed several certification and training courses to even be considered. One of the biggest benefits of being in WMCD has been connecting with 37 other highly talented women, says Juszkiewicz.

“I am one of the only women in my province in the program. If I didn't have the ability to connect with other girls in other provinces, I would feel pretty lonely and like I was on my own little island. So, I think the best part is that you are getting some of the top minds across the country in terms of female leadership and female hockey getting together and that is very empowering,” she explains. “It's extremely empowering to know that you're not by yourself.”

Juszkiewicz’s hard work and continuous dedication to her craft over the years has paid dividends. In 2021, she was named BFL Female Coach of the Year for British Columbia in the Community category, and in 2022 she was awarded the BC Hockey Development Award for coaching. She says her drive for continuous learning and growth is fueled by her desire to continue coaching in the game she loves.

“If you don't continue pushing yourself to learn and develop, you get stagnant and ultimately you get left behind.”

Coaches are the backbone of the hockey community. Whether you are a regular behind the bench or it’s your first season as a coach, Hockey Canada has a variety of resources available to help you succeed on your coaching journey.

How do I start my coaching journey?

If you want to get started coaching, make Hockey Canada’s National Coach Certification Program (NCCP) your first stop. This program enables coaches to build their coaching tools and knowledge of the game to work effectively with their players. Hockey Canada offers six coaching clinics and five instructional stream areas of focus.

Those looking to be trained to coach in the Community Sport stream can participate in Coach 1 — Intro to Coach or Coach 2 — Coach Level. NCCP certification is not required at either of these levels; a coach will remain trained indefinitely after completing these streams. Register for a coaching clinic or visit your Member website for more information.

Respect in Sport

The Respect in Sport Activity Leader/Coach program is an engaging and easy-to-use online training course that helps hockey coaches and youth leaders recognize, understand and respond to issues of bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination. The course also aims to build a holistic culture of respect within the sports community and provide fundamental training tools to enable all coaches to become even better role models for the young athletes in their care.

In Canadian hockey, more than 230,000 coaches are certified by the Respect Group Inc.

Skills and drills

The Hockey Canada Network gives coaches and players the tools to succeed with drills, skills, videos, practice plans and articles on their tablet or phone. There are over 1,500 drills and more than 100 lesson plans available on the app, with more added throughout the season.

Looking for more drill inspiration? Hockey Canada will frequently post skill videos on its social channels that can be incorporated into practice plans. Search the hashtag #HCSkillsCoach and #HCGoalieCoach on X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and Instagram to find more drill videos to utilize on the ice.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hockey Canada (@hockeycanada)

Drill Hub is another resource available to find skills and drills for players. It is a free resource for coaches to access hundreds of drills and videos. There are also pre-made practice plans available to download, along with templates for game rosters, player stats, scouting reports and more.

Women in coaching

We Are Coaches

As a free, women-only coach program, We Are Coaches was designed to increase the number of trained women coaches in Canada in order to provide mentors and role models for young participants. The program aims to build infrastructure to support and sustain the participation of girls and women in hockey in Canada, develop women role models and leaders within the hockey community and remove barriers to coaching education for women.

Women Master Coach Developer

Launched in 2019, the Women Master Coach Developer (WMCD) program introduces more hockey coaching programs led by women. The program has equipped 38 coach leaders to not only deliver coach clinics, but also train future facilitators and evaluators in each Member.

To participate in the program, delegates can be nominated by their Member each season. Delegates are required to complete multiple trainings and certifications in the program, and upon successful completion, they will take a leadership role to optimize the delivery of the We Are Coaches program and support women coaches within their communities.

Creating Coaches

In 2021, the Hockey Canada Foundation partnered with U SPORTS to launch Creating Coaches, a program designed to increase the number of women in coaching positions in Canada. This two-year mentorship program places a focus on training, mentoring and empowering women behind the bench.

Candidates for the program are nominated by their U SPORTS coaches to participate in Creating Coaches.

How do I get further coaching support?

Are you looking for more support? Do you have a question about coaching in your community? Hockey Canada and its Members have coaching resources and helpful staff available to help you on your coaching journey.

Click here to find the coaching contact information for your Member.

Do you have more questions about coaching? Visit these Frequently Asked Questions pages to learn more about the following topics:

• Becoming a hockey coach
• National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP)
• Respect in Sport

On the ice, Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team completed a three-game sweep of the United States in its summer series for the first time since 2007, but behind the bench, the coaching staff was making a little history.

Head coach Courtney Birchard-Kessel and assistants Stefanie McKeough and Tara Watchorn became the first all-women coaching staff in the history of Canada’s women’s U18 program. The result against the Americans was terrific, but the impact the series will have on growing women’s hockey goes beyond the ice.

“We’re in such a good time for women in coaching positions,” says Watchorn. “With pioneers like Hayley Wickenheiser and Caroline Ouellette, it’s great to see that women are starting to get in on the coaching side now and there’s a path to making coaching a career, which was really tough before. It’s really cool to see that transition where a wave of players who have already had a hockey career now able to move into coaching.”

To add to the accomplishment, all three members of the coaching staff are alumnae of National Women’s Program, having shared the ice together at camps and events over the last decade and a half, including a golden experience with Canada’s National Women’s Development Team at the 2011 MLP Cup, the only time the three wore the Maple Leaf together.

Combined, the three played 183 international games; Birchard-Kessel appeared in three IIHF Women’s World Championships, winning gold in 2012, Watchorn was an Olympic gold medallist in 2014 and played at three women’s worlds, and McKeough was part of the Canadian contingent at the 2009 IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship.

So coming back to the national program and having a reunion of sorts behind the bench meant a little bit extra for the trio.

“Between the three of us, our paths have crossed so many times throughout our own playing careers, and we have a lot of shared experiences and values we learned along the way,” Watchorn says. “For the under-18 age group, they’re so young and for a lot of them, it’s their first high-performance environment. So, for us to be able to understand and anticipate those stressors and telling them to focus on just being present, enjoying the time with teammates and making them better, you’re always going to play better.”

Watchorn has always wanted to be a coach. Even during a successful playing career that included Olympics, women’s worlds and hoisting the Clarkson Cup with the CWHL’s Boston Blades of the CWHL in 2015, Watchorn knew she wanted to pass on the positive experiences she’s had in the game.

“I am so fortunate to be part of cultures and teams that truly changed my life,” says the Newcastle, Ont., native, who is the first-ever head coach of the women’s program at Stonehill College, “so my hope is to create that environment and culture for other young women who can come through and be inspired [and] challenged, and become leaders and people who impact the world.”

Although coaching isn’t always the plan for players, hockey sometimes finds a way back. After hanging up her skates after a five-year college career at the University of Wisconsin (which included an NCAA national title in 2011), McKeough thought coaching was one of the last things she would be doing with her free time.

But the game eventually took her to Sweden, where she was able to get a taste of coaching and was bitten by the bug. To this day, McKeough admits it continues to surprise her every time she walks into the rink as a full-time coach.

“Hockey players are humans first,” the Carlsbad Springs, Ont., product says. “I learned through coaching that we have to help the person before helping the hockey player, and being able to be there for somebody is something that motivates me when I show up at the rink every day.”

As an assistant coach with the University of Ottawa, McKeough gets to work and learn from veteran U SPORTS coaches like Vicky Sunohara (Toronto), Rachel Flanagan (Guelph) and Gee-Gees bench boss Chelsea Grills. They’ve been able to set examples for McKeough previously as a player and now as a coach.

“Vicky was actually one of my coaches at my first U18 camp and Rachel was an assistant coach during one of my years on the under-22 team, so now that I get to work with them, I’ve been able to gain a more deeper respect for what they do as coaches.

“By having those ’If you see it, you can be it‘ situations, I’ve been able to continue to build those relationships with other coaches and the players.”

The growth and visibility of women in coaching and leadership positions continues to grow. Just this summer, Hockey Canada alumna Jessica Campbell was hired as an assistant coach by the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, longtime national team defenceman Laura Fortino took on the same role with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, and 2022 Olympic gold medallists Marie-Philip Poulin and Rebecca Johnston took on player development roles with the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames, respectively.

“Diversity in leadership is so valuable,” Watchorn says. “For people to bring different backgrounds, and to be able to relate to the players, it’s just so important. If you see it, you can be it.”

My first introduction with the women’s game was many years ago when I was playing hockey at the University of New Brunswick in the mid-1990s. They didn’t have a women’s varsity team, but they had a club team, and every once in a while, the team needed extra support with coaching. So, for a brief time while I was playing, I jumped on the ice to help.

After that, I started to build my own coaching career on the men’s side. I was actually in Calgary working at Hockey Canada’s under-17 camp and I received a call from Darren Sutherland at Hockey Nova Scotia. He said they had to make a last-minute coaching change for their Canada Winter Games women’s hockey team, and called me first to see if I had anyone I would recommend. I think I gave them three names, but two weren’t available and one wasn’t interested, so they called me back and just asked me if I would be interested. I jumped at the opportunity and I coached at that Canada Winter Games in 2015.

The following year, that group of women I coached at the Canada Winter Games got together and wrote a letter to Hockey Nova Scotia to recommend me or nominate me for a coaching award, and I ended up winning that award. It’s kind of a cheesy part of the story, but they were playing on my heartstrings a little bit and I got hooked to women’s hockey right away.

One of the biggest reasons why I love coaching in women’s hockey is the passion they have for the game. The other part is just the high-performance side of it—when you’re coaching these women, they are true professionals. They invest almost all their time in their craft. But it really comes down to their passion. The passion they have for the game, the passion they have to play for their country and the passion they have for each other really separates them from anybody else that I’ve ever coached. They are just a special group of athletes.

I honestly feel spoiled all the time working with Canada’s National Women’s Team. Every day is fun working with these players and staff. I think the biggest thing driving me as a coach is I still think this group has room to grow. I think we’ve taken huge strides in the right direction. We’re a better team now than we have been in the past. They genuinely care about each other’s success, and they share in those successes. I just still think there’s room to improve, and if I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be doing my job.

Some of the best parts about coaching this team are things no one would ever see. Like when you have a video session with an athlete and you bridge a gap with them and you can see them excel in that area on the ice. It’s just that little look you get when they come off the ice after they’ve accomplished something that you’ve discussed with them. Those moments to me are the real special ones. The wins and all that, that’s obviously fun, but a lot of the times they’re more of a relief than they are a high moment. It’s the little moments along the way.

I remember one special moment at the Olympics in Beijing. Because of COVID-19, the athletes had to put the medals around each other’s necks. That was just so unique and special. You look at each one while they’re doing it, and you just have a story in your head for each of those people. Maybe it’s an obstacle they had to overcome to be in that situation. Several of them had been released from the team prior to world championships, and they did what they could to get back into the mix. So, I remember just almost checking out mentally during that five-minute span of the medal ceremony and just reflecting on some of the cool stories that each person had to overcome to get to that moment. To see them getting an Olympic gold medal around their necks from one of their teammates was a pretty cool experience.

Mike Johnston coached me at the University of New Brunswick. He’s actually Rebecca Johnston’s uncle, which is funny. When I first started coaching, he told me no matter what I do in hockey, always have your province’s back. A lot of people, when they first get that opportunity in U18 or junior hockey, they forget about their provincial program. I looked up to him so much when I was younger, so I always made sure that no matter what job I had in the game, if Hockey Nova Scotia ever reached out to me, I’d be there to volunteer and to help. If I had went along my route of coaching in junior hockey or university hockey, I never would have had the experiences that ended up benefitting me the most with this job. The best experiences I had with my provincial Member were participating in short-term events, working with the best players and coaches, and gaining more high-performance experience.

Another good piece of advice I got a long time ago was simple—meet people where they’re at, even at the national team level. There are athletes coming in that are four-time Olympians, then there are some that are just hoping to get centralized or make a world championship team. As a coach, it’s so important to understand the different dynamics, and the dynamics in the women’s game tend to be much different than in the men’s game.

When I first started coaching, one of the typical questions people asked me was the difference between coaching men and coaching women. I think a lot of people make a mistake in trying to put an umbrella over their group. I always thought good coaches coach their athletes as individuals. Take the time to get to know your athletes and know what goals they have and what they want to achieve. Right now, we are trying to build our program to win a gold medal at the 2026 Olympic Games. In order to get there, I think we need to really take care of a lot of the individual stories that are involved on our team. That will be a bit more of my focus in these first few years of the quad as we get ready for 2026.