Toronto Hires Canadian National Head Coach

From Country to Club

The newly-announced Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) is getting into high gear, with roster announcements, the draft and free agency all happening this month.

Now, it appears as though Toronto's as-yet-unnamed PWHL franchise will hire Troy Ryan, current head coach of the Canadian women's national team, to be their first-ever bench boss.



Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reports that Marek, 51, will likely be the Toronto PWHL team's first head coach.

Strong Coaching Résumé

Ryan comes to the Toronto franchise with a winning pedigree in the women's game, having coached the Canadian national women's team at the 2022 Winter Olympics (he'd previously been an assistant for the women's team at the 2018 games).

The Nova Scotia native had also previously coached the women's team to a gold medal at the 2021 Women's World Championship. He also serves as head coach of the Dalhousie Tigers, the women's team at Dalhousie University.

Working under newly-announced GM Gina Kingsbury, Ryan will be working with a team that already includes Sarah Nurse, Renata Fast and Blayre Turnbull, each of whom have played under him on the women's national team. It's believed that he'll likely continue coaching the national team, even if that means giving up his post at Dalhousie.