Since firing head coach Brian Idalski on June 1, the Vancouver Goldeneyes have been in search of a new leader to take the helm. It turns out they didn’t have to look too far.
The Vancouver Goldeneyes announced on Thursday that current general manager Cara Gardner Morey will be their newest head coach. Gardner Morey will not be taking the Troy Ryan approach of holding both roles at the same time. Instead, the league will begin the search for a new general manager to fill her spot.
Why Cara Gardner Morey made the change
“Over the course of the offseason, I spent a lot of time reflecting and discussing what was best for our team and for me personally,” Gardner Morey said in a team statement. “Through that process, I realized how much I missed being behind the bench.”
This change in role allows for Gardner Morey to step back into coaching. Before joining the Goldeneyes, Gardner Morey helped to build an elite NCAA women’s program at Princeton. Over 14 seasons, Princeton won an Ivy League title, made multiple NCAA quarterfinals appearances, and won its first ECAC championship. Gardner Morey is the second-winningest coach in Princeton women’s hockey history. She also worked with the Philadelphia Flyers as a development coach.
“I am passionate about coaching,” Gardner Morey told journalists, “I feel strongly it’s part of my identity and it’s what I know and what I’m really confident in.”
She also coached Team Canada at multiple levels, including coaching some Vancouver Goldeneyes players.
“I did get to speak with our leadership group, our captains, and they were super supportive,” she said. “Obviously, there’s a bit of luxury in familiarity and knowing what I believe in, knowing my vision. I also got to coach them with Hockey Canada and the national program, so they’ve had it on the ice.”
With next season looming, Goldeneyes players were excited to see a new coach locked down for the team. Culture and values have always been important to Gardner Morey while building the team, and she expects that to continue in her new role.
“That was one of the pieces that drew me to going back to the bench because the GM role is awesome, and you’re kind of the architect and you’re setting the tone,” Gardner Morey said, “But truly the coach is the day-to-day, giving the messaging every day, giving the messaging between periods. In this role, where you really get to impact daily with your constant messaging, that was another reason I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m kind of itching to get back’. I feel like I can make a bigger impact from this position.”
Who will be the next GM?
Gardner Morey said she plans to be involved in selecting the next general manager. Having been in that seat before, she plans to be able to be quite collaborative with the new hire. In particular, she wants to make sure their goals are alligned.
As for those goals, Gardner Morey said, “I see our team forming with a lot of speed on the ice, not just skating speed but like puck movement, puck support. I think you’re going to see a really fierce, physical team that’s really difficult to play against, and then ideally we want to have a lot of fun out there.”
She expects to see a high-scoring team with a lot of scoring changes. This all sounds like great news for Vancouver Goldeneyes fans. But what makes her the right fit for the team?
“When you’re sitting back in the GM position… you really are hearing and observing from a different lense and so for me, the advantage is really being able to see [the team] from a bird’s eye view, and then the whole season, understanding, you know, what kind of changes can be made, and understanding the city, and understanding the fans, and understanding what it takes to run the team behind the scenes.” She said, “I feel like it’s a real advantage.”
What does this mean for the Goldeneyes next season?
We haven’t seen this perceived advantage yet. No one has moved from a GM position to a coaching position in the short history of the PWHL. That being said, I expect this move to work out well for the Goldeneyes. As she said, Gardner Morey has a relationship with these players, and she knows how she built the team. This is her chance to bring all of that together on the ice.
First and foremost, this solves one of the most important missing pieces for the Goldeneyes going into next season. Players and staff now know what to expect from the head coach and can start building forward with that knowledge. With much of the roster nailed down, finding a new GM isn’t quite as big of an impact on the team as finding a head coach is. I can’t say I expected this position to be filled this way, but I think it brings cautious optimism to the next season of Goldeneyes hockey.
