League closing in on seeing first female coach
Kori Cheverie reflects fondly on the conversations she had with her grandfather growing up in Nova Scotia, where he encouraged her to believe anything was attainable in sports.
First woman to play for the Toronto Blue Jays? Sure. Hoist the Stanley Cup over her head while representing the Toronto Maple Leafs? Go for it.
Though doing so as a player is now out of the question, Cheverie’s gender-breaking aspirations appear far more achievable today to the 34-yearold, who has spent the past five years chipping away at hockey’s male-only coaching barrier.
In 2017, Cheverie became the first female assistant coach of a men’s hockey team at the Canadian university level (at Ryerson). This month, after serving as an assistant on the Canadian women’s Olympic championship team, she completed a stint as Hockey Canada’s first woman behind the bench of a men’s team at the Under-18 world championships.
“It’s kind of funny, looking back and reflecting on those conversations as a kid, because I am the first to do quite a few things on the men’s side of hockey,” said Cheverie, recalling the talks with her grandfather, Jack Rehill. “They speak to the limitless childhood that I had growing up, and what I was told I could be capable of.”
And she’s not done dreaming.
Cheverie’s ascension coupled with the growing number of women entering pro hockey management and developmental roles has rapidly sped the timetable
on when — not if — there will be a woman working behind an NHL bench.
As much as Pittsburgh Penguins president Brian Burke believes the glass ceiling should have been shattered yesterday, he balances his impatience by noting the inroads the league is making to blow up its image as an old boys club.
“I think it’s basically we’ve been bound by our past, which is white people playing hockey and going into management,” Burke told The Associated Press.
“It might be a slower build than people like,” he added. “But I’m greatly encouraged by the change in the last two years of the role of women in hockey, which has gone from nonexistent to significant in a very short time.”
In four years since Hayley Wickenheiser opened the door by becoming the Toronto Maple Leafs’ assistant director of player development, the league’s female hockey-related ranks have increased to nearly 30. And that doesn’t include five NHL teams featuring
female presidents.
The Penguins are among the NHL teams leading the way. With two women already on their hockey staff, the Penguins expanded the list by naming U.S. Olympian Amanda Kessel as the first participant in the team’s executive management program last month. Vancouver is the first NHL team to hire not one but two assistant general managers in Cammi Granato and Emilie Castonguay.
“I think it’s pretty nearsighted if people didn’t think that ultimately there’d be some sort of equalization between genders, not just in hockey but in every industry,” NHL Coaches’ Association president Lindsay Artkin said. “It wouldn’t be unrealistic to see a female hired in the NHL after next season.”
The NHLCA has played a role in fast-tracking the movement. With the backing of her male coaching membership, Artkin launched a female developmental program two years ago.