Troy Ryan, Carla Macleod, Kori Cheverie named Canada’s PWHL head coaches
Piece by piece, the Professional Women’s Hockey League continues to be built.
On Friday, the PWHL named the six head coaches who will manage the league’s inaugural teams, with Kori Cheverie taking over the Montreal franchise, Carla MacLeod leading Ottawa and Troy Ryan assuming control of Toronto.
Courtney Kessel (Boston), Charlie Burggraf (Minnesota) and Howie Draper (New York) are the other three names announced.
All head coaches and general managers will be present during the PWHL draft, taking place on Monday in downtown Toronto at CBC headquarters.
Live streaming coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. It will also be available on radio-canada.ca/sports and the Radio-Canada info app, and for international audiences on CBC Sports’ and Radio-Canada’s YouTube pages.
Jayna Hefford, PWHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, says the group “have demonstrated leadership and a commitment to player development at all levels of women’s hockey.”
Ryan took over as head coach of the Canadian women’s team during the 2019-20 season.
He navigated the squad to Olympic gold in 2022, back-to-back world titles in 2021 and 2022, and world silver this year in Brampton, Ont. Ryan signed a four-year contract extension with Hockey Canada last year.
The appointments shake up the university coaching ranks in Alberta as MacLeod, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in women’s hockey, and Draper will leave their coaching jobs with Calgary and Alberta respectively.
MacLeod led the Czech Republic to two world championships bronze medals in 2022 and 2023 for the country’s first podiums in the tournament. The Calgary native remains under contract with the European side until 2026 Milano-Cortina.
Cheverie, who hails from New Glasgow, N.S., has been part of Ryan’s international coaching staff since 2020.
Her list of honours include the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Clarkson Cup in 2014 as a forward with the Toronto Furies and leading Nova Scotia to a silver medal in the 2023 Canada Winter Games as a head coach.
Cheverie also enjoyed success in the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, winning the 2022-23 Secret Cup with Team Harvey’s as an assistant head coach.
WATCH | Hefford discusses PWHL with CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux:
CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux sits down with the PWHL’s SVP of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford after their announcement of the founding six franchises.
