- Bruce Cassidy is joining Canada’s National Women’s Team as an advisor to the management group
- Kori Cheverie takes the bench after Troy Ryan stepped down following the Milan Cortina Olympics
- Read below for the full staff, the selection camp dates and when Canada meets the United States
Bruce Cassidy has a hockey job again. It just is not the one anybody expected.
Hockey Canada announced Thursday that the Stanley Cup-winning coach is joining the management group of Canada’s National Women’s Team as an advisor to general manager Danièle Sauvageau. The same release handed the bench to Kori Cheverie, who coached the Montreal Victoire to the Walter Cup last season.
Cheverie gets Canada for the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship and the rest of the 2026-27 season. Here is the staff Hockey Canada put out:
Caroline Ouellette, Cheverie’s assistant in Montreal, and PWHL Hamilton head coach Kris Sparre flank her on the graphic. Cheverie is 39 and has been inside this program for years. She was an assistant under Troy Ryan at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February and on the bench for gold in Beijing in 2022. Ryan stepped down after six years in charge.
The new coach talked about what the job means to a kid from small-town Nova Scotia.
“Growing up playing hockey in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, I had big dreams of one day being part of Team Canada. I didn’t know then that my path would be through coaching, and I am extremely grateful that this journey has now given me the opportunity to lead this program,” Cheverie said in a statement.
Cassidy is the outlier here. Every other name Hockey Canada listed comes straight out of the PWHL. He won the Cup with Vegas in 2023, took the Jack Adams with Boston in 2020, and served as an assistant under Jon Cooper for Canada’s men in Milan. Vegas let him go last March, which leaves him the most decorated head coach currently without an NHL job.
Take a look at the second graphic, which pairs him with two more hires:
Manon Rhéaume and Michael Hirshfeld slot in as assistant GMs under Sauvageau. Rhéaume is the inaugural general manager of PWHL Detroit and won a pair of world titles plus 1998 Olympic silver as a goaltender. Hirshfeld is entering his fourth season running the Ottawa Charge.
Sauvageau explained why she wanted Cassidy around her coaches.
“Bringing Bruce onto our staff is a win for our program. His wealth of elite hockey experience and deep-rooted legacy with Hockey Canada make him an invaluable asset,” Sauvageau said. “We are fortunate to have his leadership guiding our coaches and support staff as we establish a standard.”
The calendar gets busy in a hurry:
- Oct. 8-14: Selection camp in Quebec City, with intra-squad games Oct. 12 and 14 at Centre Vidéotron
- Oct. 28: Canada hosts the United States in Windsor, the only pre-tournament meeting on home ice
- Nov. 6-16: IIHF Women’s World Championship in Esbjerg, Denmark
Canada took silver in Milan and has been chasing the Americans ever since. Cheverie is the first woman to coach a Walter Cup winner, and now she inherits that gap with a Stanley Cup winner sitting behind her in the front office.
