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PWHL New York has a new head coach in Greg Fargo, and a new crop of talented players. According to Fargo and GM Pascal Daoust, they've laid the foundation, now it's time to build a winner.

Greg Fargo talks about what his hopes are in taking the PWHL New York head coaching job and building a winner in the top pro women's hockey league in the world.

Very early in his first press conference Tuesday as the new head coach of PWHL New York, Greg Fargo unwittingly laid to rest all the speculation and intrigue surrounding how his hire might have impacted the first pick in what was then the rapidly approaching draft.

The longtime women's hockey coach at Colgate University had no sooner accepted the position offered to him by New York general manager Pascal Daoust on June 7 when speculation swirled on social media as to what might happen on the evening of June 10.

Would the naming of Fargo dramatically change the dynamics of the selection process for New York and move one of his Raiders' players, Danielle Serdachny, into the forefront ahead of the widely anticipated announcement of Sarah Fillier as the No. 1 choice?

Serdechny was going to be a high first-round pick in the draft regardless, but right up to New York going on the clock there were those wondering if the pendulum might swing in her favor over Fillier because of Fargo's familiarity with his standout forward.

But as he referenced often in answering questions from the media, Fargo expressed his excitement at the thought of coaching the cream of the women's hockey crop and that starts with Fillier.

In fact, Fargo made it clear -- while not stating it specifically -- within the first few minutes of the video conference with reporters that Fillier was never in danger of not going off the board first.

"I've had the opportunity to watch Sarah play from a different bench for a number of years now, and you know she is just such a dynamic player," Fargo said during the nearly hour-long Zoom call. "I think when she's on the ice and is around the pocket, it feels like she can change the game at any given moment. She has that special ability, unlike so many."

Fargo noted that he is looking forward to watching Fillier elevate her game from the collegiate to the pro level.

"What I'm most excited about is to get to work with Sarah on a daily basis," he said. "Helping her to figure out where she wants to take her game next and then partner with her to roll up our sleeves and ... help her be a great leader, a great role model and a great teammate and try to bring New York its first Walter Cup championship."

However, it's not only Fillier that excites Fargo. Over the summer, he plans to meet with every player on the New York roster -- from the draft picks to the veterans to any free agents New York might bring into the fold as that signing period begins on June 21 --and get to know them better both as athletes and as individuals.

"I get to work with the best players in the world ... and build relationships with them and help them achieve their maximum potential," said Fargo, who was joined at the press conference by Daoust as the two laid out their vision for year two of PWHL hockey in The Big Apple. "That starts over the months ahead when I will sit down with each one of them and start to create a winning style of play and culture."

That, Fargo continued, means rolling up his sleeves, putting one foot in front of the other and spending the next several months leading up to training camp familiarizing himself with all aspects of PWHL New York and how he wants to develop its culture.

"I want to create a great environment where ... everybody understands what their assignments are," he said. "I'm a firm believer that if we do things the right way, the winning will take care of itself. And so that's what we're gonna try to do."

But getting back to the suspense of draft night and the days leading up to it, Daoust for his part never wavered from wanting Fillier despite the pot that was stirred by his Fargo announcement.

And depending on one's perspective, it might have been as much a stroke of genius as his eight picks that will take the ice for the start of training camp which Daoust expects to start in mid-November.

"This (PWHL) is the best pro league in the world and the best players need to compete to be the best they can be," Daoust said. "They need to have the best roles ... and they need to commit to something bigger than each of us. So we need to cook and prepare all the ingredients slowly so that we can have something on the table come November."

Daoust, in fact, compared putting all the pieces of the roster puzzle together to cooking up a fine meal.

"We've headed to the grocery store now with a new cart, and we're going to get the ingredients and we're gonna cook a new meal," said Daoust, who went on to point out that those ingredients are found in both the talent and experience aisles.

"We're going to use the same values because those values are the foundation and the culture that we need to bring (to the season)," he said. "The consistency of how we behave ... how we train, how we receive, how we share, how we work. This is the consistency we're looking for. We want the players to reach their full potential."

Fargo said he couldn't agree more with Daoust, and laid out his game plan for how he would coach New York and instill in his players a commitment to positivity while eliminating the pitfalls that left the 2023-2024 club in last place in the PWHL standings.

Although the ultimate roster makeup will not be known for several months and even through training camp in November, Fargo emphasized that PWHL New York will have its own unique identity in terms of character and personality.

"I see this team being one that is really aligned both from a style of play standpoint and a value standpoint," Fargo said. "There's a real hunger for growth among the players both as individuals and teammates and, while who will make up that final roster will not be known until we get going, I think there is a general sense of the (type of team) we want to be."

Starting with that New York style of play that will be fine tuned once training camp gets underway, Fargo envisions a roster filled with players confident in their abilities and determined to reach their very best skill capabilities.

"I think (those players I've talked to so far) are really energized, and inspired to have a great season and get off to the right start," he said. "There is depth at every position on this roster. Through the draft we've been able to add some really key components to our team and you're going to see players who are emerging and evolving into new roles as time goes on."

Fargo believes there is a "great foundation" and plenty of time to add building blocks with PWHL New York's second season still five months away.

And while he delivered outstanding results over his 12 years at Colgate -- where he led the Raiders to seven 20-win seasons, five NCAA tournament berths, four ECAC Hockey championships, three regional finals and two Frozen Fours -- Fargo is well aware that life in the PWHL presents its own set of challenges.

The highest winning percentage and winningest coach in Colgate women's hockey program history (255-147-34 record) said he is up to that challenge.

"It's an end result type of situation," Fargo said. "You want to stay very process oriented and control the things that are within your control. At the same time, you want to be reflective as to what's working and what's going well but also be (mindful) of the areas that you collectively as a team can continue to improve on."

So what specifically can fans look forward to in terms of what the 2024-2025 version of PWHL New York will bring to the ice on each shift?

"I think for us it starts with being a puck possession team," said Fargo, who turned that style of play at Colgate into a winning formula for success. "We want to have the mindset that it's our puck and we want to do everything that we can to keep it and possess it. And when we don't have it, we want to be really quick to attack and get it back. I anticipate bringing a lot of these core beliefs along with me (from Colgate) to PWHL New York."

That will start with in-depth meetings with players and staff over the summer.

"We'll take a deep dive and look deeper into some areas where we can grow as an organization and be excited over the possibilities to come," Fargo said.

Those possibilities are endless in the eyes of both Daoust and Fargo.

"We both know there's a lot of talent and ability on the roster," Fargo said. "I think it's our job just to put everybody in the right position so that they can be their best selves.

"That's what we're going to put a lot of time and attention to in the off-season ahead. We want to really peel back the layers and see how we can move the needle forward with (our goal) to win the Walter Cup."