“An incredibly quick turnaround” - How U SPORTS teams are adapting as coaches leave for PWHL

With the PWHL leaning on several now former USports coaches to fill positions across the league, it's created "an incredibly quick turnaround" for several USports programs and their new coaches.

For 26 years, Howie Draper was a constant presence for the Alberta Pandas women’s hockey program. Each year, he led a group hoping to compete for a Canada West title at a school dedicated to success in men’s and women’s hockey.

When opening day came around for the 2023-24 season, Draper, albeit woven in the fabric of the Pandas’ program, wasn’t on the bench. Instead, Darren Bilawchuk stood in charge, and has led the Pandas to a 3-1 record in their first four games.

Draper, among others, has left the Canadian university game to join the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in its inaugural season — the departures leave voids across U SPORTS.

“Being on the bench, you have a bit of a routine, and some of that changed, but once we got into the game, the girls responded to that, and It was a big weekend for us coming out of the gate,” interim Pandas head coach Bilawchuk told The Hockey News about a win and a loss against the reigning Canada West champion UBC Thunderbirds.

“Just because [Draper] isn’t physically here doesn’t mean he isn’t a part of this program. He’s woven himself into this, and the culture he set lives on. Whether he's here or not, every player he's touched carries on the culture and tradition of this program.”

Bilawchuk is one of four assistant coaches in Canadian university women’s hockey who have been thrown into the top role on an interim basis for this season after long-time head coaches were hired to jobs in the newly founded PWHL.

Draper, now the head coach of the PWHL New York franchise, left the comfortable confines of Alberta’s Clare Drake Arena to take on the new venture. Meanwhile, former Dalhousie Tigers head coach Troy Ryan joined PWHL Toronto, and ex-Calgary Dinos bench boss Carla MacLeod signed on as PWHL Ottawa’s head coach.

The PWHL announced the head coaching trio on Sept. 15, while the Guelph Gryphons also took on a quick change as their head coach of 16 seasons, Rachel Flanagan, joined Ryan’s Toronto staff as an assistant on Oct. 5.

With some top coaches leaving for the professional game, it's been a quick adjustment period for U SPORTS programs as they begin their seasons..

Taking roles on U SPORTS benches alongside Bilawchuk at Alberta are long-time assistants Josh Gosling at Calgary, Keifer House at Dalhousie and Katie Mora at Guelph.

“It was an incredibly quick turnaround; it was about a week before the announcement that we found out and informed the school and got the ball rolling on the interim role,” Calgary’s Gosling told The Hockey News, having been an assistant on MacLeod staff for three seasons.

“The university thought it'd be great for me to continue, to provide some stability for a program, which has been fantastic.”

While each interim coach was familiar with their teams, the change so close to the season shook up student-athletes, and altered the tone for the season as plans were reworked at the last minute.

For the Dalhousie Tigers, however, the situation hasn’t shifted too much.

Although Ryan led the group since 2020, he missed the majority of the 2021-22 season, the return from the COVID-19 off-year, as he joined Team Canada full-time for the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

A former Tiger himself, House has been Ryan’s assistant through the full tenure and has taken on significant head coaching duties as Ryan led Canada to international accolades.

“Some curveballs and changes in plans are nothing unprecedented for the position,” House told The Hockey News. “That's kind of where we are right now, just trying to get our feet under us for the season and to ensure we're building in the right direction.”

While the shift from an assistant coaching level to the head coaching role isn’t a massive move on the hockey front, the primary responsibilities of day-to-day work offer an enormous shift in the habits of the new coaches. No longer are they solely responsible for the hockey side, but taking care of the team's administrative tasks while helping student-athletes navigate a complicated time in their sporting and academic careers.

At each school, the start of the season has come with a transition period, with the previous head coaches making themselves available to help in the interim transition. At Calgary and Guelph, MacLeod and Flanagan remain with the programs for the first portions of the season while other coaches help out from afar.

Now, the focus shifts to the rest of the season for the interim coaches and the application process for the full-time head coaching role. Outside of Guelph’s situation, which is a one-year leave for Flanagan to pursue the PWHL Toronto opportunity, there are head coaching vacancies at the three other programs.

“That’s the goal, it’s been two years of work put into this program, and I think we’ve done a good job of building off previous coaches,” Gosling said. “We continue just trying to push the bar and the standard here, and I think it's going to be really positive this season and hopefully moving forward.”

At the same time, those moving onto the PWHL place their faith in the league as they jump from the relative security of university head coaching into a women’s pro game that has struggled to find stability in North America. Still, it’s an enticing and celebratory opportunity for all involved.

“When it looked like there was an opportunity for me to join as a coach and that the league was happening, I thought I might want to wait a couple of years to see how it all goes, but there are a lot of people who are putting faith into this league, and I wanted to be one of those people,” Flanagan said.

“I think people underestimate the coaching in U SPORTS women’s hockey; it’s some of the best coaches in the country, and now this opens the door to further opportunity for hopefully more women to get into coaching.”