Kori Cheverie returns to NS after joining the Pittsburgh Penguins as a guest coach

It may not be a full-time NHL coaching gig, but Kori Cheverie made hockey history in Nova Scotia.

The 36-year-old from New Glasgow became the first woman from the county to be invited to serve as a coach on an NHL team. She was recently invited to Pittsburgh development camp as a guest coach and will occasionally join the team at training camp and during the regular season.

“I was in Pittsburgh for five or six days, staying in a hotel across the street from their practice facility,” said Cheverie, now back at her home in New Glasgow. “The next step is to go to the team’s main training camp in September.”

Cheverie played college hockey in Nova Scotia with Saint Mary’s University where she was a team captain and an academic All-Canadian. From there, she played several seasons in a professional women’s league.

She then became the first woman hired as a full-time coaching role in U Sports men’s ice hockey history when she took a job with the Ryerson Rams.

She later became an assistant coach with the Canadian national women’s team – a role she still holds. She is also the head coach of the women’s national development team.

Cheverie says there’s really no difference between coaching men and women.

Long list of achievements

“I try to approach my coaching the same way, regardless of gender,” Cheverie said. “I try to adapt it to the individual needs of each player. For me that is something that is very important.”

Cheverie made Canadian hockey history last year when she served as an assistant coach with the all-male Canadian team during the IIHF Under-18 Championships played in Germany.

This winter, she was the head coach of the Nova Scotia girls’ team that went to the finals of the Canada Games in PEI

Cheverie’s latest role in Pittsburgh, teaming with Nova Scotia superstar Sidney Crosby, is another proud moment in what is already proving to be an illustrious coaching career.

“I’m obviously quite proud of this opportunity and it’s an exciting new challenge and chapter for me,” said Cheverie.

Cheverie says she hopes she can help other young female coaches who have ambitions to move up the ranks.

One thing Cheverie hasn’t done is attend the Olympics. She was an assistant on the 2022 Canada women’s team, but was unable to travel to Beijing because she contracted COVID-19 a week before the event started.

She was still virtually coaching the team when the team won Olympic gold.

Cheverie says going to the 2026 Olympics in Italy would be a career highlight.