|
Coyotes hire NHL's 1st full-time female assistant coach
Send a link to a friend
 [August 25, 2016]
The Sports Xchange
The Arizona Coyotes announced three
coaching hires Wednesday, but one stands out in the crowd.
The Coyotes announced that Mike Van Ryn (development coach), Steve
Potvin (skills coach) and Dawn Braid (skating coach) would be added
to the full-time staff.
The hiring of Braid in a full-time capacity is noteworthy because
she is the first full-time female coach in the NHL.
"I'm very excited about this opportunity with the Coyotes," Braid
told the Coyotes' website. "I'm looking forward to working with Dave
Tippett and his coaching staff and all the great players in the
organization.
"It's something that I've wanted to see happen. The fact that they
respect what I do enough to name me as a full-time coach, or to name
me as the first female coach in the NHL, I take a ton of pride in
that. I've worked very hard for this opportunity. It's been going on
for years, and I just look forward to going even further with it."
Braid worked part-time for the Coyotes last year and served as a
skating consultant with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks,
Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames in her career.
She also spent seven years with the Athletes Training Center as its
director of skating development, where she instructed a variety of
skaters, including New York Islanders center John Tavares.
"Dawn has wanted to (make me) a more powerful and efficient skater,"
Tavares told NHL.com in 2012. "Dawn always says, 'If you didn't
train properly and do the certain things you need to do, you're not
going to be strong enough to do the things I want you to do.'"
[to top of second column] |
Braid joins Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs, Nancy Lieberman
of the Sacramento Kings and Kathryn Smith of the Buffalo Bills as
the only full-time female coaches in major league sports.
"We feel Dawn can provide a real competitive advantage for our
team," Coyotes general manager John Chayka said. "The game is
getting faster and it is all about skating. A lot of times, when you
are drafting a young player, skating is the area they need to
improve upon. Now we have someone who can help with that.
"Dawn is someone who we feel is at the top of her field so we
thought it was imperative to hire her. She's got a great
personality, and the players work hard for her and respect her
knowledge. The bottom line is she gets results, and that's the key
thing. Dawn is someone who Tip (Tippett) and I respect and we feel
she is someone who is going to be a very important asset for us."
-----------------------------------------------
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
