Cheverie continues building impressive coaching résumé

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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