CALGARY, Alta. –Hockey Canada
has unveiled the coaching staffs for Canada’s National Women’s Team,
Canada’s National Women’s Development Team and Canada’s National Women’s
Under-18 Team for the 2023-24 season, with seven alumnae among those behind
the bench.

Troy Ryan (Spryfield, NS) returns for his fourth year
behind the bench as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Team, joined by
assistant coaches Kori Cheverie (New Glasgow, NS),

Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, QC/Concordia University, RSEQ)

and Courtney Birchard-Kessel (Mississauga, ON/Boston University, HE),
as well as goaltending consultant

Brad Kirkwood (Calgary, AB)

and video coach Andrew Boucher (Timmins, ON).

“We’re excited about the coaching staff, including a number of alumnae, we
have assembled for our women’s programs for the upcoming season,” said
Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, QC), vice-president of
hockey operations. “We are grateful for the commitment many of our coaches
make to return year after year to lead and develop our athletes, and look
forward to the leadership and expertise they will bring in leading our
teams on the international stage.”

Ryan recently became the first coach to serve on the
coaching staff for both Canada’s National Men’s Team and Canada’s National
Women’s Team, winning a gold medal as an assistant at the 2023 IIHF World
Championship and silver as head coach at the 2023 IIHF Women’s World
Championship. Ryan is going into his fifth season as head coach of the
National Women’s Team after serving as an assistant coach for nearly four
seasons (2016-19). Ryan coached Team Canada to back-to-back gold medals at
the IIHF Women’s World Championship (2021, 2022), in addition to a gold
medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. He also earned a silver medal at
the 2018 Olympics, silver Women’s Worlds in 2017 and bronze in 2019.

Cheverie won a silver medal as an assistant coach with
Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
She also added gold medals as an assistant at Women’s Worlds in 2021 and
2022, and at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Cheverie became the first woman
to serve on the coaching staff with one of Canada’s national men’s teams at
the 2022 IIHF U18 World Championship. Nationally, she won a silver medal as
head coach of Team Nova Scotia at the 2023 Canada Winter Games, the
province’s first-ever medal in women’s hockey. She was also the first woman
hired as a full-time assistant coach in U SPORTS with the Ryerson
University men’s hockey team for five seasons (2016-21).

Ouellette was recently announced as an honoured member of
the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023. In May, she was also inducted into
the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame. She is
entering her third season as the associate head coach at Concordia
University. Internationally, she won a silver medal as an assistant coach
with Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2023 IIHF Women’s World
Championship, along with gold in 2022 and bronze in 2019. As a player, she
won four Olympic gold medals and six world championships during an
illustrious 17-year international career.

Birchard-Kessel is entering her first year as an assistant
coach at Boston University. Prior to joining BU, she spent four seasons as
an assistant coach with the Princeton University women’s hockey team
(2019-23). She won a gold medal as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s
Under-18 Team at the 2023 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, and gold as
an assistant at U18 Women’s Worlds in 2019, and has been an assistant with
Canada’s National Women’s Development Team on two occasions (2017, 2019).

Canada’s National Women’s Team will head to southern Ontario for its Fall
Festival training camp from Sept. 10-17, in preparation for the 2023-24
season, which includes the Rivalry Series, with dates and locations to be
announced in the future. The season will conclude with the 2024 IIHF
Women’s World Championship, tentatively scheduled for April 2024 in Utica,
New York.

For a full list of staff for Canada’s National Women’s Team and a list of camp support staff, please click here.

Cheverie returns as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s
Development Team, alongside assistant coaches

Rachel Flanagan (Pontypool, ON/University of Guelph, OUA)

, Noémie Marin (Acton Vale, QC/John Abbott College, CEGEP)
and Cassandra Turner (Campbellford, ON/Quinnipiac University, ECAC),
as well as goaltending coach

Sheldon Goertzen (Saskatoon, SK/University of Saskatchewan, CW)

and Boucher as video coach.

Flanagan recently completed her 16th season as head coach of
the University of Guelph women’s hockey team. During her tenure, Flanagan
has led the Gryphons to a U SPORTS national title in 2019, in addition to
three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) titles, and she has been named the
OUA Coach of the Year on five occasions. She served as an assistant coach
with Canada’s National Women’s Team during the Rivalry Series in December
2022, has served as an assistant with Canada’s National Women’s Development
Team three times (2011, 2012, 2022) and was recognized as a BFL Female
Coach of the Year in 2020-21.

Marin is entering her ninth season as the women’s hockey
head coach at John Abbott College. She was previously the head coach of
Kuper Academy (2012-14). Marin led the development team as head coach
during the 2016-17 season and was an assistant with Canada’s National
Women’s Under-18 Team at the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. On
the national stage, she was an assistant with Quebec at the 2015 National
Women’s Under-18 Championship and led Quebec to silver as head coach at the
2019 Canada Winter Games.

Turner is entering her ninth season as head coach of
Quinnipiac’s women’s hockey team, having led the Bobcats to the
quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons. In
2015-16, her first season as head coach, she led the team to 30 wins, an
NCAA record for wins by a first-year women’s hockey head coach. Turner
captured a silver medal as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Under-18
Team at the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, and won gold as an
assistant in 2014.

Following her role as an assistant coach during the 2022-23 season,
Tara Watchorn (Newcastle, ON/Boston University, HE) takes
the reins as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team. She
will be joined by assistant coaches

Stefanie McKeough (Carlsbad Springs, ON/University of Ottawa, OUA)

and

Vicky Sunohara (Scarborough, ON/University of Toronto, OUA)

, as well as goaltending coach Gord Woodhall

(Winnipeg, MB/Winnipeg, MFHL)

and video coach Stef Thomson (Oshawa, ON)

Watchorn was named head coach of Boston University in April,
becoming the first alumna of the women’s program to serve as its head
coach. She served as the first head coach of Stonehill College’s women’s
hockey team (2021-23), earning NEWHA Coach of the Year honours in the
program’s inaugural season. Prior to joining Stonehill, Watchorn served as
an assistant coach with BU for four seasons (2017-20). A 2014 Olympic gold
medallist as a player, she won back-to-back gold medals as an assistant
coach with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team at the IIHF U18 Women’s
World Championship in 2022 and 2023.

McKeough recently completed her third season as an assistant
coach with the University of Ottawa women’s hockey team. Prior to joining
the Gee-Gees, she served as head coach of Göteborg HC of the Svenka
Damhockeyligen (SDHL) in Sweden during the 2020 season following two years
as an assistant. As a player, McKeough won a silver medal with Canada at
the 2009 IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship.

Sunohara is entering her 13th season as head coach of the
University of Toronto women’s hockey team, winning both OUA and U SPORTS
Coach of the Year honours in three consecutive seasons (2020-23) and
leading the Blues to the OUA championship last spring. She won a gold medal
as an assistant coach at the 2022 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.
Internationally, Sunohara won two Olympic gold medals in addition to seven
world championship golds, and ranks 10th in all-time Team Canada scoring
with 119 points (56-63—119) in 164 career games.

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team will gather in St. Catharines,
Ont., for selection camp from Aug. 9-13 in advance of a three-game series
against the United States, Aug. 14-20 in Lake Placid, New York. It will
chase a third-consecutive gold medal at the 2024 IIHF U18 Women’s World
Championship in Switzerland, Jan. 6-14.

For a full list of staff for Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team and a list of camp support staff, please click here.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s
Program, please visit

HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along via social media on

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