HERNING, Denmark –
Troy Ryan will coach Canada’s women’s ice hockey team at the next Winter Olympics.
The 50-year-old, from Spryfield, NS, and Hockey Canada have agreed an unprecedented four-year extension that keeps Ryan behind Canada’s bench until Milan and Cortina, Italy, in 2026.
Ryan navigated Canada to both an Olympic gold medal in Beijing in February and a World Championship in 2021 after taking over for Perry Pearn midway through the 2019-20 season.
“We want to play for him. We want to go that extra mile for him,” Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin told The Canadian Press. “When a coach has the pulse of the team, I think that’s something very special.
“We’re lucky he’s back with us for a long time now.”
Ryan and the Canadians opened the 2022 World Cup on Thursday against Finland in Herning, Denmark.
Ryan’s extension makes him the longest-serving head coach of a women’s national team.
Melody Davidson coached Canada several times from 1997 to 2010 – and to Olympic gold in both 2006 and 2010 – but not continuously as others rotated through the job during that time span.
Canada reclaimed Olympic gold in Beijing after losing to the United States in a penalty shootout in 2018, and won its first world title in almost a decade in Calgary last year under Ryan.
He spent his first full season at the helm of Zoom calls with players as the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out international competition and halted training camps.
“What he was able to accomplish with this team in two years, two years of which was the pandemic but one of which was literally virtual calls, a season that was very disruptive for him to be able to shoot that to be able to do as well as he did at the Olympics, is extremely impressive,” said Hockey Canada Director of Hockey Operations Gina Kingsbury.
“This change in the way we play has really evolved over the past few years and the common denominator would be him.”
Since assuming his post, Ryan’s record as head coach is 27-2-2 in women’s international hockey, including a 12-2-2 against archrival USA
He believes his long mandate brings stability to the national program.
“I’m trying to build something that’s even better than it already is,” Ryan said. “I think there’s a certain consistency to everyone, from Gina Kingsbury to the staff and the athletes.
“When a coach communicates with an athlete, they know I’m going to see it through because I’m going to be the person that’s going to be here.”
Canada’s players give Ryan the stamp of approval on several fronts, not the least of which is permission to make mistakes in the name of offense while at the same time adhering to his systems.
“I feel like I can be myself. I’m never afraid to make mistakes,” said defender and three-time Olympian Jocelyne Larocque.
“I really think in the past we’ve played not to lose and then you just don’t take the risks that have to happen to be successful.
“This environment encourages creativity, it encourages people to be themselves, and it encourages people to take calculated risks.
“Not running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but playing within a structure, but there’s so much freedom to be creative.”
As then general manager of the national team, Davidson brought Ryan on board as Laura Schuler’s assistant coach for the 2017 World Cup and 2018 Olympics.
“Personally, I know that to be honest, he was instrumental in my making the Olympic team in 2018,” said forward Sarah Nurse.
“As players, we put ourselves in our own heads. He has a unique way of calming us down and connecting with each of us as individuals.”
Another World Championship just six months after the Olympic finals in February – the first women’s championship in an Olympic year – plus this month’s 142-man summer camp in Calgary, which doubled as his selection camp, gave Ryan a head start for the next four-year Olympic tournament.
Kingsbury said Ryan agreed to an extension shortly after the Beijing Winter Games.
Kingsbury and Canada players have raised concerns about the financial future of their program in light of the federal government’s freeze on funding from Hockey Canada.
Canada’s ice hockey association was in an uproar in May after allegations of sexual assault against members of the 2018 junior team became public.
Ryan will coach Canada this winter in a seven-game Rivalry Series with the United States, as well as at the 2023 World Cup in Canada at a venue to be named.
The USA will host the 2024 World Cup.
Hockey Canada traditionally centralizes the women in Calgary for six months for training and games ahead of the Winter Olympics.
But if national team players, most of whom are members of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHA), get their desired Pro League by then, centralization could look different in 2025-26, Kingsbury said.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 25, 2022.