Ryan to coach Canada at Olympics

Add Olympic head coach to Troy Ryan's ever-growing coaching resume.

To no one's surprise, the 49-year-old from Spryfield — who's entering his third season as head coach of Canada's national women's hockey team — will lead Team Canada at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Hockey Canada made the announcement on Thursday.

“It is an honour and privilege to be entrusted with this leadership opportunity,” Ryan said in a news release.

“Hockey Canada has put together a tremendous staff to share this journey with. We are very excited to get to work with such an amazing and committed group of elite athletes on a daily basis as we prepare for Beijing 2022.”

Joining Ryan behind the bench are assistants Kori Cheverie of New Glasgow and Jim Midgley, the former Saint Mary's Huskies player and ex-halifax Mooseheads head coach.

On Wednesday, Hockey Canada announced the 28 players selected to centralize in Calgary to prepare for the 2022 Games. Among them are Olympic veteran forwards Jill Saulnier of Halifax and Blayre Turnbull of Stellarton.

Players and staff will relocate to Calgary at the end of July. The final 23-player Olympic roster is tentatively scheduled to be unveiled in late December.

Ryan and Cheverie, along with assistant Dough Derraugh and goaltending coach Brad Kirkwood are part of the coaching staff for the 2021 IIHF women's world championship, which was originally scheduled for this month in Halifax and Truro but was postponed by Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin because of the most-recent COVID-19 outbreak.

The women's worlds are now set to take place Aug. 20-31 at a site yet to be determined by Hockey Canada.

Ryan is no stranger to the Olympic experience. He was an assistant coach in 2018 when Canada claimed silver at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Former national team player Gina Kingsbury, who's now the director of women's national teams, said Ryan has provided the program “with consistency.”

“We feel he is well-suited to lead us through the 2021-22 season and to our ultimate goal of winning an Olympic gold medal,” Kingsbury said in the news release.

“This four-year Olympic quad has challenged our coaching staff with adjustments to the changing landscape of our game. With limited time for competition, our coaching staff has bonded quickly, which is what we need in both shortterm and long-term competition.”

The national team's 202122 season will include games against the United States, junior A teams from Alberta and a potential series against Finland. A full centralization scheduled will be released by Hockey Canada at a later date.

Dr. Tina Atkinson of Shelburne is part of the national squad's support staff as team physician.

HOCKEY CANADA Troy Ryan of Spryfield watches practice during a Hockey Canada's national women's team training camp in Calgary in January. Ryan was named head coach of the Canadian Olympic women's hockey team on Thursday.