Dawn Braid is a Canadian skating coach and consultant. She was the first woman to hold a full-time coaching job in the National Hockey League.[1]

Dawn Braid
NationalityCanadian
OccupationSkating coach

Career

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She grew up in Woodbridge, Ontario, and competed as a figure skater at a national level in her youth.[2] At the age of 17, she began coaching ice hockey players in skating techniques, working as a novice coach at in Toronto and for the junior B Vaughan Raiders team, owned by her father.[3]

In 2005, she was hired by the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs to teach at their development camp.[4] She would then go on to work as a consultant for several NHL teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, Anaheim Ducks, and Calgary Flames, as well as coaching a number of Ontario Hockey League players, including John Tavares and Ryan Merkley.[5][6] In 2016, she was hired as a full-time skating coach by Arizona Coyotes, the first woman to hold a full-time coaching job in the NHL, and not just a part-time or temporary consulting position.[7] After two years with the Coyotes, she left the team to return to her consultancy work.[8]

She was named one of the 25 most powerful women in hockey by Sportsnet in 2020.[9]

Personal life

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Her son, Mackenzie Braid, played 14 games professionally in the ECHL.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Dawn Braid Becomes First Female Full-Time Coach in NHL". The Hockey Writers. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  2. ^ "Boivin: Coyotes female coach Dawn Braid chased dream".
  3. ^ "Skating her way into hockey history". Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  4. ^ "Dawn Braid is breaking barriers in professional hockey". A.Side. 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  5. ^ "Learning from a Legend: Ang and his 10 years with Dawn Braid – Peterborough Petes". Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  6. ^ "NHL's Coyotes hire Dawn Braid, full-time female skating coach | CBC Sports". CBC. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  7. ^ Prewitt, Alex. "Dawn Braid awed by response to Coyotes hiring her". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  8. ^ "New hires reflect NHL's move toward including women". Christian Science Monitor. 2018-10-17. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  9. ^ "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Hockey – Sportsnet.ca". www.sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  10. ^ "How Dawn Braid turned training the NHL's best into a family affair – Sportsnet.ca". www.sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2020-12-10.