Troy Ryan confirmed as Canadian women's hockey head coach for 2026 Olympics
Ryan was behind the bench in Beijing in 2022 when the Canadian women reclaimed hockey gold from the United States in a 3-2 final.
The U.S. had beaten Canada 3-2 in a shootout for the title in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where Ryan was an assistant coach.
Hockey Canada's announcement Thursday confirmed Ryan's return, although he'd signed an unprecedented four-year extension in 2022 that would make him the longest-tenured coach of the national women's team.
Ryan navigated Canada to both an Olympic gold medal in Beijing and world championship wins in 2021, 2022 and 2024 after taking over midway through the 2019-20 season for Perry Pearn.
Canada lost this year's world championship final 4-3 in overtime to the U.S. in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.
Korie Cheverie, former national team forward Caroline Ouellette and Britni Smith will be Ryan's assistant coaches in Italy, with Brad Kirkwood serving as goaltending consultant, Hockey Canada said in a statement.
The coaches were chosen by women's team general manager Gina Kingsbury in consultation with Hockey Canada president and chief executive officer Katherine Henderson and senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations Scott Salmond.
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"It is always an honour and privilege to be in this leadership position as we set our expectations and goals for the Olympics," Ryan said.
"We have a tremendous coaching staff that is committed to the vision and process, and I am excited for the journey ahead. We know our athletes are motivated to compete, and we are eager to begin the work towards achieving something extraordinary in seven months time."
Canada won a silver medal in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, where women's hockey made its Olympic debut. Four straight gold medals followed in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
Canada's preparation for Italy will be different than previous Olympic Games because of the Professional Women's Hockey League starting its third season.
Hockey Canada will fit training blocks around the PWHL's schedule. Ryan is head coach of the PWHL's Toronto Sceptres. Cheverie is head coach and Ouellette an assistant coach of the Montreal Victoire.
"We have made a conscious effort to create an environment for our athletes where consistency among our coaches creates trust and accountability in each other," Kingsbury said.
"Our staff are experienced, detail-oriented and passionate as they give our team the confidence to grow, compete and meet the challenges of both short-term and long-term competition. We continue to build something special with our group and we are excited to see it all come together as we compete for a gold medal in Milan."
Cheverie of New Glasgow, N.S., was Ryan's assistant in the 2022 Olympic Games and for every world championship since 2021.
Montreal's Ouellette, a four-time Olympic and six-time world gold medallist, has been Ryan's assistant in four straight world championships.
Smith of Port Perry, Ont., coached at Syracuse University for the past three seasons and was Ryan's assistant at this year's world championship.
Calgary's Kirkwood has been the team's goaltending consultant for the last decade and works with Ryan and the Sceptres as a goaltending assistant coach.
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