Boston Fleet sign Toronto-area native Kris Sparre to coach PWHL club

The Boston Fleet have hired Kris Sparre as the second head coach in the Professional Women's Hockey League franchise's history.

Sparre, a 38-year-old veteran assistant with no experience in the women's game, replaces Courtney Kessel, who had a 27-19-8 record and a Walter Cup Finals appearance before leaving to take over at Princeton. Her departure leaves only two female head coaches among the PWHL's eight teams.

"This is a league that has tremendous momentum right now. And to be able to work in a city like Boston, that has such a rich tradition in winning, and building successful teams, is something I don't take lightly and am tremendously excited about," Sparre said Wednesday at his introductory news conference in Wellesley, Mass. "I want to carry on that tradition. I want to make the Boston Fleet a championship-level program that we can all be proud of."

A Toronto-area native, Sparre played nine seasons as a forward in the minor leagues and in Germany and coached in the Ontario Hockey League, American Hockey League and Austria's top league. He was an assistant coach for Red Bull Salzburg from 2019-21 before spending three seasons with the San Diego Gulls, the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks.

Making the move to women's hockey gave him the chance to deal with the sport's elite.

"It was important for me that I wanted to work with the highest level of athletes possible," he said. "They're motivated people. They want to get better. That's my skillset; that's my wheelhouse. That's where I want to live. And so, when this opportunity came up, I didn't look at it as 'men's [vs.] women's.' I looked at as the best option to work with the best in the world."

Fleet general manager Danielle Marmer said Sparre's experience in the