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With the recent firing of Brad Frost from the women’s hockey program the search for a new coach has begun and the only logical choice for the position is sitting in the front office of the Vancouver Canucks. This person will bring in a winning attitude and a fresh approach and is a clear winner, the choice, Catherine “Cammi” Granato, a Providence College graduate who starred for that teams hockey program and then went on to bigger things with the USA National Team, becoming their leading all-time scorer with 186 goals and 157 assists and then became America’s Olympic darling as the face of the 1998 Nagano team.
Granato, who grew up dreaming of playing hockey in the Olympic Games and in the National Hockey League (NHL) like her brothers, was always considered an outsider when she would go to the rink with her hockey bag, while her peers were still figure skating, but she did not let that stop her. She is the perfect choice to lead the Gophers back to prominence in the college hockey world.
Granato and her teammates on that 98 team were the catalyst for the huge growth of women’s hockey in the United States. Prior to that Olympics USA Hockey had 22.000 registered female participants now that number is over 88.000. Granato and her teammates never let her gender stop her and for that reason she’s the perfect candidate to succeed Frost.
So what makes Granato the perfect candidate you ask? Because of her pedigree and success at all levels of hockey, she brings instant name recognition to the program for recruiting purposes. In 2019, Granato was once again at the forefront of a groundbreaking moment for women in the sport of hockey, she became the first female scout for an NHL team, the Seattle Kraken. She followed that up in 2022 by being named the Assistant General Manager for the Vancouver Canucks. She is a solid talent evaluator with a keen eye for grabbing the diamond in the rough. She is a great speaker who would be able to relate to the players who she would be asked to recruit and visit. She has also seen what works and doesn’t work in relation to working with and motivating female players. At one time in her career her brother, Tony, made the comment that Cammi was actually a better player than he was.
If Mark Coyle is looking for a coach with name recognition, poise and skill, the choice is obvious and who is a better ambassador for women’s hockey than a Hall of Fame hockey player who once was the face of USA Hockey. This hire would give the program instant credibility and an edge in recruiting on the big programs, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
In the end it might be hard to pry her away from the Canucks, but Coyle owes it to the fans to try. Push the envelope and reach for the stars. This is your chance to bring back Gopher Hockey pride Mark, don’t let it slide away.