Danièle Sauvageau, who coached Canadian women's hockey team to 1st gold medal, returns as new GM

Danièle Sauvageau steered Canada to its first Olympic gold medal in women's hockey in 2002. She's been tasked with doing it again in 2030.

Hockey Canada unveiled the 64-year-old from Montreal as the next general manager of the national women's team Wednesday.

She was coach and GM of the Canadian team that claimed gold in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Sauvageau will remain the general manager of the Professional Women's Hockey League's Montreal Victoire and fill both roles for the 2026-27 season.

But Hockey Canada said in a statement it expects Sauvageau to be a full-time GM and vice-president of hockey operations of the national team starting next year and for the remaining three years of her contract.

Sauvageau doesn't see rejoining Hockey Canada as a return to what's familiar because the elite women's hockey landscape is completely different than it was 24 years ago.

"Things are different today, different people, different landscape, especially on the women's side, and it's just a matter of what is the next step?" Sauvageau said.

"Every project or job — I never really call it a job in women's hockey because I've been involved for 40 years now — is to have an impact, to have an impact based on my strengths and then choose people to work alongside the players.

"They're part of a big project like this. Make sure we deliver quality because they're amazing athletes and (among) the best athletes in any sport in the world."

In 2025, Sauvageau was the first woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. In addition to Olympic gold in 2002, she coached Canada's women to world championships in 1999 and 2001.

The former Montreal police officer was the first female coach in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League when she