:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62630902/1374615.jpg.0.jpg)
Danièle Sauvageau is one of the top coaches in women’s hockey history, and today it was announced she will be added to Les Canadiennes’ coaching staff as an associate coach alongside Caroline Ouellette.
They, along with Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux and Valerie Bois will make up the Canadiennes’ first all-female coaching staff since 2009.
Sauvageau was an assistant for the 1998 Canadian Olympic team at the Nagano Olympics (under current Calgary Inferno head coach Shannon Miller) and then was head coach and general manager for the 2002 team that won the country’s first Olympic Gold Medal in women’s hockey and started a stretch of four straight golds.
She has also broken barriers, becoming the first woman to coach in the QMJHL (with the 1999-2000 Montreal Rocket) and has been on RDS, CWHL Live, and other platforms broadcasting women’s hockey at the club and international levels. She was also the first woman to broadcast for La Soirée du Hockey, the French language equivalent to Hockey Night in Canada.
She was instrumental in the success of the University of Montreal’s women’s hockey program as the team’s general manager at its inception. Sauvageau also worked with France’s national program.
Sauvageau was a police officer for 33 years serving the Montreal Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and took her retirement earlier this year. Sauvageau attended the Canadiennes game on Sunday against the Worcester Blades.
Ouellette coached all Montreal games since Dany Brunet stepped down on November 24 prior to the team’s game in Calgary. Ouellette is the CWHL’s all-time leading scorer with 314 career points. She’s the only player to break the 300 point mark and one of two players to win four Clarkson Cups with Les Canadiennes.
The team also announced that they have hired former NHL player Sebastien Bordeleau as skills coach.
The team now gets set for their second trip to China for three games. Montreal leaves for China on December 8 and their first game is on December 12.