All-Male Advisory Group To Support Canada's National Women's Teams Despite Hockey Canada's Own Commitments

Hockey Canada is bringing in a group of NHL experienced men to serve as their new National Teams Advisory Group. While the five men will work to support Canada's men's national programs, an area they bring considerable experience to, they'll also be tasked with helping to guide Canada's women's national teams and para hockey teams, areas in which the group has no international experience.

The volunteer Advisory Group includes Steve Yzerman, Shane Done, Doug Armstrong, Brad Treliving, and Bruce Cassidy.

“We are excited and grateful that Steve, Doug, Brad, Shane and Bruce will serve on the National Teams Advisory Group and will bring their experience at the NHL and international levels to all aspects of Hockey Canada’s hockey operations,” said Scott Salmond, senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations. “All five have extensive knowledge of the game, incredible hockey résumés and leadership abilities, and their winning pedigrees will greatly benefit our national teams as we continue to find ways to improve and strive for excellence on the international stage.”

Despite the praise from Salmond and Hockey Canada president and CEO Katherine Henderson, who touted the "years of experience and success" the group brings, the appointment of the new Advisory Group starkly contradicts Hockey Canada's own Rise As One document.

Rise As One was released less than a year ago in December 2025, self-proclaimed "the blueprint for building women's and girls' hockey in Canada." The document identified six key barriers and set strategic plans, including 14 formal recommendations, to remove those barriers and grow the sport for women and girls in Canada. 

One of those recommendations looking to "advance gender equity by mandates and monitoring" asserts Hockey Canada will ensure "proper representation in leadership roles throughout the game, including coaches, officials and administrators, to have women and girls represented more equitably."

The hires also oppose another Rise As One recommendation looking to "enhance leadership and coaching pathways for women." Within this section of Hockey Canada's own document, the governing body states that successful completion of this recommendation looks like "Increased representation of women in coaching and leadership roles, including as officials and administrators, across all levels of hockey and supported by accessible development pathways, targeted training and positive experiences that ultimately inspire both new and retiring players to transition into leadership positions."

Hockey Canada's new National Teams Advisory Group however, has five men and no women involved. This includes two former national team players in Shane Doan and Steve Yzerman, seeing men "transition into leadership positions" while excluding Canada's long list of qualified former women's national team players.

Bruce Cassidy is the only member of Hockey Canada's new National Teams Advisory Group to ever work in women's hockey, joining Canada's national women's team as an advisor to general manager Daniele Sauvageau on September 24, 2026.  Aside from Cassidy's brief tenure, no member of the advisory group has worked in women's hockey, nor with Canada's national women's teams.

The development pathways, barriers, and challenges facing women's hockey in Canada are drastically different than the well supported and well defined boys' and men's hockey systems in Canada, an assertion Hockey Canada's Rise As One document supports. No member of Canada's advisory committee has worked within those pathways and systems to support women and girls before Cassidy's hire.

Cassidy will work as advisor for the women's program, Doan with the para ice hockey team, and Yzerman, Armstrong, and Treliving are advisors for the men's program. Even within this set up, Canada's men's teams are getting three times the support of the women's program. Canada's women's para ice hockey national team is currently not considered a member of Hockey Canada despite entering their second World Championship this month.

Hockey Canada, when asked for comment on the lack of women involved in the Advisory Group, clarified the roles of each, including Cassidy working with the women's national team leading up to the World Championships, and the trio of men supporting the men's national programs aiding in the selection of Canada's men's national team management groups, player evaluation for the World Juniors, and leadership training for national team captains.

Hockey Canada also told The Hockey News that this group of volunteer advisors is expected to grow.

"We anticipate that the scope of the volunteer group will expand moving forward, and we will continue to evaluate its capability to best support our athletes, coaches and staff on and off the ice," a Hockey Canada representative wrote to The Hockey News. 

Currently however, Hockey Canada's newest additions belie the proposed directions of Rise As One in terms of representation, development, equitable practices, and leadership opportunities.

According to Hockey Canada's Rise As One document, achievement of equity within Hockey Canada's leadership roles looks like having "Women and girls are equitably represented in leadership and decision-making roles nationwide, with opportunities for development and advancement accessible, visible and actively supported across Canada."

Since the release of Rise As One, Hockey Canada has made multiple steps to build out additional opportunities for men and boys beyond those they've provided to women and girls. This included the early launch of Hockey Canada's first development hub, which provided disproportionately more opportunities for boys and men in hockey compared to limited offerings for girls and women.

It was a first step that also contradicted Rise As One, which stated that women and girls have "Experiences that resources are disproportionately allocated to men’s hockey." The early launch of the development hub also conflicted Rise As One's "Education and Training" barriers identified, which stated that there is "Limited access to training programs, facilities and resources for women and girls."

At Canada's recent pre-tournament game in Windsor, Ontario, Hockey Canada handed out Rise As One stickers and toque's to those in attendance, while members of Canada's national team were also wearing Rise As One stickers on their helmets.

Canada's national women's team is set to open the 2026 World Championships November 6 in Denmark facing Sweden.