How hockey helped Toronto Sceptres coach Troy Ryan find a way out of poverty

As he waited at a gate to enter the Olympic opening ceremonies, Troy Ryan's mind flashed back to the people who helped him get here.

There was the teacher back in Spryfield, N.S., who told Ryan he wouldn't give him a passing grade unless he signed up for all the sports at school, knowing it would keep him out of trouble.

His mother, who always found a way to help Ryan raise the money to play sports, and taught him the value of hard work. Along with his sister — the most consistent person in his life.

The minor hockey coach who taught him how to put shingles on a roof, exchanging the labour for the cost of Ryan's hockey school fees.

The friends' parents who had him over for supper or drove him to hockey practice.

And the friend who convinced him to tag along to the University of New Brunswick to try out for the hockey team three decades earlier, when Ryan figured he'd stay in Halifax and find work at a sports store.

All played a role in getting Ryan to the Olympics, where he'd lead the Canadian women's national team to a gold medal as its head coach. He thought of them watching at home, pointing him out on TV as the Canadians came into frame.

"You just kind of shake your head and just try to appreciate it as much as you can," Ryan said in an interview with CBC Sports. "And remember a lot of the people along the way that just because you get to go there, they all probably feel a little bit more part of it."

Ryan will lead the Canadian women's team into another Olympics in 2026, this time in Milano-Cortina, Italy.

He's also head coach of the PWHL's Toronto Sceptres, and the opportunity to be part of that league from the ground floor, knowing the work that went into creating it, isn't lost on him. He was more emotional to be