Cheverie continues building impressive coaching résumé

Winning Olympic gold under unusual circumstances. Being the first woman to coach one of Canada’s national men’s teams. Taking on her first head coaching role with Hockey Canada.

It’s already been a remarkable year for Kori Cheverie. But when asked what opportunities may be down the road for her, Gina Kingsbury, director of hockey operations for Canada’s women’s program, has a straightforward answer.

“I think the future is unlimited for her.”

Cheverie, who is an assistant coach with Canada’s women’s national team and will be with the squad for the upcoming IIHF Women’s World Championship, was recently named head coach of the development team, which serves as a bridge between the under-18 program and the senior team.

“She was definitely an easy choice for us to put her in that position,” Kingsbury said in a phone interview with TSN.

While Kingsbury felt it was critical to give Cheverie head coaching experience, she also points to the importance of having alignment between the development and senior teams.

“For us, it was key to put a coach in that position that spoke the same language as the senior program, that had experience with the senior program, so that they can pass that on to that age group and ensure that the next generation of athletes that's knocking on the door of the senior team had a bit of a glimpse of what the senior level sounds like, looks like, from a coach perspective,” Kingsbury said.

Cheverie had previously been head coach of Team Ontario Red at the 2019 National Women’s Under-18 Championship, where the squad won gold, as well as a pair of under-18 teams in Toronto. The development team role is her first time taking the helm at the national team level.

She admits there were nerves heading into camp this month in Calgary, where the senior team, development team, and under-18 team are all taking part.

“Once you get here, the environment is great – they set you up to succeed,” Cheverie told TSN. “It's definitely a big step and a big jump in my career that I'm excited for.”

A native of New Glasgow, N.S., Cheverie is no stranger to making history. She was the first woman to be named a full-time coach of a U Sports men’s hockey program when she joined the Ryerson University’s men’s hockey team as an assistant in 2016 (the school has since changed its name to Toronto Metropolitan University).

Earlier this year, she became the first woman to serve as a coach with one of Canada’s national men’s teams when she was named to the staff as an assistant for the IIHF U18 World Championship in April.

But Cheverie didn’t view it as a trailblazing opportunity. It was simply a steppingstone for her career.

“I'm 35 years old – I have to be doing things that set myself up for success long term,” she said. “And if it happens to be a first, then that's great, but that's definitely not a mandate that I'm out there seeking. It's just I want to be the best coach.”

Although the U18 team ended up bowing out in the quarter-finals after a 6-5 overtime loss to Finland, Cheverie still cherishes the experience.

“Just being in a new environment on the men's side and coaching players who are going to get drafted to the NHL, working with them for two weeks – it was kind of cool to be a part of their process and to see where those players end up,” she said.

Kingsbury says she sees plenty of opportunities for Cheverie with either men’s or women’s hockey.

“I think she's just an outstanding coach,” she said. “She sees the game very well. She's a hard worker…. She has a great approach on building relationships with the athletes and building that trust and wanting to help them grow as individual athletes in their quest of making teams or being as good as they possibly can be.”

Caroline Ouellette, who joined the staff of the women’s national team this year as an assistant coach, played against Cheverie for years in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

“You could tell back then that she was a very smart and tough player,” Ouellette told TSN. “I'm not surprised that she became a coach. She was a natural leader, very vocal, and it's been great to work with her and learn from her.”

Cheverie’s involvement on the men’s side comes at a time when more women than ever have taken on roles in the NHL. Earlier this year, the Vancouver Canucks hired Émilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato as assistant general managers, and last month the Toronto Maple Leafs followed suit when they promoted Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser to the same role. In June, Marie-Philip Poulin joined the Montreal Canadiens’ front office as a player development consultant.

“I hope it's a turning point,” Kingsbury said. “I do think there's incredible value in getting a different vantage point or a different lens on things. It just makes you better in the end. And hopefully, there's more and more females that play some of those roles on the men's side.”

Despite the new opportunities Cheverie has enjoyed in the past few months, she had to begin the year under difficult circumstances, when a positive COVID-19 test prevented her from travelling to the Beijing Olympics with the women’s national team.

“I think I just tried to put myself in that mindset of being a good teammate,” she said. “‘Yeah, it sucks for you. But right now, it's not about you. You’ve gotta win a gold medal.’”

Cheverie adapted her sleeping schedule to match the 12-hour time difference, which usually meant taking naps – three hours on, three hours off. She attended all team meetings via Zoom and would have video prepared to share with the players.

“It definitely was a different experience, but I wouldn't change it, at this point,” she said. “I would have loved to be there, but the ability I had to reach the players over FaceTime and have video sessions with them was probably more than if I had been there, been on the ground, going through the day-to-day logistics that needs to happen when you're at an event of that magnitude.”

“She was heavily involved still from a distance,” Kingsbury added. “And when you look back at our whole process, we spent several months together preparing, living together to get to the point of competing in Olympic Games, and she was a huge part of the build of our team.”

When the team won gold, several of the players grabbed a phone and called Cheverie via FaceTime.

“That was kind of like the golden moment for me,” she said.

Cheverie will be looking for another golden moment as she and team prepares for this year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship, which begins Aug. 25 in Denmark.

After that, Kingsbury sees no shortages of opportunities on the horizon for Cheverie.

“I think she's just building, taking in as much as possible, taking in as many critical experiences as she possibly can,” she said. “When those opportunities will come – and they will come – I think she'll be ready to take them on.”