Canadian women's hockey coach treasures experience at UNB

Article content

When Troy Ryan skated in his university days, the Spryfield, N.S., native was eager to impress and ultimately found his way into the lineup for the University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team in 1993-94.

And while his 37-game career at the Aitken Centre was somewhat brief, his appreciation all these years later for his first varsity coach Mike Johnston remains a staple of his own career behind the bench.

It’s a career that added another highlight last week as head coach of the Canadian Women’s hockey team that captured the world title with a thrilling 6-5 overtime triumph over the United States.

It is another significant feat in a rich collection of coaching accomplishments for Ryan, which includes a gold medal triumph at the 2022 Olympics in China with Team Canada, in one of more than 20 events he’s enjoyed with national team programs.

For someone’s whose life had transformed into a full-time coach, the days in Fredericton set the table.

Particularly, it was his interactions and appreciation for Johnston, who wrapped up his six-year UNB tenure at the end of Ryan’s first year with the team.

“It still plays a big part for me,” said Ryan, now 52, of his UNB experience as a player. “I can honestly say there is probably a zero per cent chance I would have been coaching, if it wasn’t for my time at UNB to be honest with you. It was a time that allowed me to grow up a little bit.

“I was also exposed to Mike Johnston, who was coaching at the time and he showed me the different values and just what it takes to be a coach and the details that goes into it. He gave me a whole new appreciation for the work that goes into it. After my time at UNB, I knew right away I wanted to coach and I wanted to coach for a career.”

Ryan’s coaching history includes two years as head coach of St. Thomas men’s program, duty with the Campbellton Tigers of the Maritime Junior League as well as a number of other postings in both and men’s and women’s programming with the national teams.

He was named the national women’s team’s head coach in 2021 and in addition, is behind the bench for the Toronto franchise in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Johnston went on to coach many national teams, has a two-year stint in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins as head coach, assistant duties with Vancouver and Los Angeles and for the past eight seasons, has served as general manager and head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winter Hawks, one of the favourites for this year’s WHL crown.

“I remember in my early early years of coaching, I met him at a coaching seminar and he told me that a lot of coaches, when they started doing it for a career, they kind of forget about their provincial branch, or their regional branch,” Ryan said.

“He said some of the best experiences he’s ever had was coaching those types of teams because you are getting exposed to different players and coaches and the short-term event is key. Now, I probably have more experience or I am more known for my short-term event stuff than I did from my regular club stuff. If it wasn’t for Mike and UNB, I definitely wouldn’t be coaching.”

Last week, the Canadian women outlasted the Americans in the final after falling in 1-0 in overtime in a decidedly different style game in the preliminary round.

Ryan says cohesion, experience and commitment were the keys of the victory, led by Captain Canada Marie-Philip Poulin. The leadership team and Ryan have a strong relationship that leads to an open forum for opinions to be expressed and for collaboration.

“This core legitimately cares about each other and honestly loves each other so much, that they’re willing to sacrifice so much of their individuality for the betterment of the team,” Ryan said. “When I say that, it is like I am cheapening it because it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before. You can ask any one of them to play any role and they would do it with a smile on their face because they want to be part of this group.”

After the gold medal win, Ryan was back to the PHWL, where he is the Toronto coach. On Saturday, Toronto edged Montreal 3-2 in overtime before 21,105 fans at the Bell Centre, another new attendance record for the league.