Italy's women's national team will have a new head coach as the federation announced Montreal's Eric Bouchard as new head coach ahead of the 2026 Olympics. It's another in a growing number of Quebec connections guiding the team.
The Italian women’s national hockey team has made a major change some three months before its first game against France at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
It’s been announced on Tuesday by the Italian Ice Sports Federation that Montreal native Eric Bouchard has been named head coach of Team Italy for the next Olympic Games in Milano Cortina.
Bouchard, 33, was approached by the team general manager Daniele Sauvageau about a month ago, but the decision was made official and announced to the players only last week. It needed to be approved by Bouchard’s current employer, the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataracts, as well as the Italian federation.
In Bouchard, Team Italy gets someone who’s been in coaching for more than a decade. He has been head coach at the junior AAA level, assistant coach with the Val-d’Or Foreurs of the QMJHL and is an assistant coach for the Shawinigan in the Q since 2023. He’s also been involved with women’s hockey. He was an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiennes of the defunct CWHL in 2014-15 and 2017-18, and for three years now, he’s the head coach of the Centre 21.02 summer women’s hockey camps.
At those camps, Bouchard works with pro level players such as Marie-Philip Poulin, but also NCAA and U Sports players, as well as Collegial (CEGEP) players. He’s also in a relationship with Montreal Victoire’s Kelly-Ann Nadeau’s for a long time now, so women’s hockey has become part of his life. It's a resume that helped him to get the job.
“We were looking for someone who was available to do it, who wanted to do it, and of course, someone who knows what a woman athlete is and who’s already worked with them,” explained team leader Daniele Sauvageau to The Hockey News. “Eric was that guy and I want to thank the Shawinigan Cataracts for letting him do that.”
A Fitting Schedule
At the end of the day, Bouchard won’t miss that many games with Shawinigan.
“Next week, I’m flying to Italy for a one-week training camp and to meet with the players, the staff, the federation, but I’m coming back in the middle of the week, so I’m going to miss only two games,” said Bouchard in a phone interview. “And since Team Italy will have a full centralization in Montreal from November 24 until the Olympics, I am not missing any other games, but those during the Olympics.”
Bouchard will be on the road with Shawinigan, but since the team has no huge stretch playing away during the week, and that most of Italy’s training will be from Monday to Friday, Bouchard won’t be missing many practices with his new team. And that will be the case, he’ll be leaving those to his coaching staff, with whom he will be in constant communication. When at home, Shawinigan’s practices will be in the morning and Team Italy in the afternoon, so he will be able to manage them all.
Stephanie Poirier Will Stay With the Team
When Daniele Sauvageau was named the leader of Team Italy in 2023, she asked Stephanie Poirier, who was an assistant coach with the Montreal Carabins women’s hockey team and in charge of Sauvageau's Centre 21.02, to help her with this new project. So, the two of them knew each other for a long time.
Poirier ended up coaching the team, but that wasn’t the idea at first.
“Daniele asked me to help her with one camp at the beginning,” said Poirier, when contacted by THN. “But the project kept growing and I ended up coaching the team.”
Poirier was the team’s head coach when Italy won the gold medal at the World Championships (Division 1, Group B) last April.
According to Poirier, her not being a full-time coach for two years now is the reason why Bouchard was hired. She would have been the only head coach at the Olympics not working full-time behind a bench. On top of managing the Centre 21.02, she was an assistant coach with the Montreal Carabins from the 2015 to 2023. But in April 2024, she was named Director of women’s hockey and development for Hockey Quebec.
Ironically, it was Poirier who hired Bouchard at the Centre 21.02.
Although she won’t be behind the bench at the Olympics, she will still be involved with the team and will be there in Italy in February. Among her tasks, she’s in charge of organizing camps and the logistic behind them. For example, when Team Italy will be in Montreal for its centralization and to play exhibition games against RSEQ university teams, she’s the one taking care of the schedule, the accommodations, services, transport, etc.
Team Quebec Within Team Italy
Sauvageau, Bouchard, and Poirier won’t be the only people from the province of Quebec involved with the team. Among the coaching staff, there will be Alexandre Tremblay, Francis Paré, and Karel St-Laurent, while players Kayla Tutino and Kristen Guerriero are both from Montreal.
“I agreed to be the leader of Team Italy just before the PWHL was created,” said Sauvageau. “So, when you’re working from far away, you want to be around people you know and you can trust. Also, I wanted to give people from Quebec the opportunity of experiencing the Olympics.”
The last time Italy was represented in the women’s hockey Olympic tournament was in 2006, when the Olympics were in Turin. For Bouchard, it’s a new challenge that he’s ready to tackle.
“I know that the team is the underdog, but our goal is to dominate the details. Back check, shot block commitment, being first on pucks. In a short-term tournament, that’s how you can get under your opponent’s skin and have a better chance of succeeding."