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Canada Selects Hall of Famer to Lead Women's Team Canada Program
2014-05-29
The defending ISBHF World Champion Canadian Women's team has scored big time, bringing on one of its great historical players to lead the National team as Head Coach.
To say Diana Brown has done it all as a player and coach of this great game is an understatement to say the least. At the national level Diana has competed in 15 national championships as a player from 1991 to 2013, winning 8 medals of which 5 were gold. On the world stage she has competed in World Championships for Canada in Pittsburg, USA (2005), Martin, Slovakia (2006) and Ratingen, Germany (2007), winning two silvers and one gold.
In addition to being a great player, Diana is a true leader in this sport and has been acknowledged for this by winning the Sara Butterworth Award in 2008 and being inducted into the CBHA Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2014 she co-founded the Greater Toronto Women’s Ball Hockey League that already is attracting top talent from the Toronto area. Through her leadership this league will grow for years to come.
Although most know Diana as a great player she also has a long list of coaching accomplishments including as the player/coach of the Toronto Shamrocks who won the 2012 CBHA National Championships and 2013 OBHF Provincials and the Assistant Coach of Women’s Team Italy at the 2013 ISBHF World Championships.
“I am very excited to welcome Diana as the new Head Coach of Women’s Team Canada. I think that 2015 will be a tougher year and all eyes are aimed at Canada as we head to Zug. Diana knows what it takes to win and the kind of team that can adjust to anything the World will throw at us. I am looking very forward to working with her to form the team and get ready for Switzerland,” says Women’s Team Canada GM, Gwen Ranquist-Lemieux.
The 2015 ISBHF World Championships promises to be a challenging one for Canada to defend Gold. The European nations will be waiting as will a new power growing at the USA through ASHI. Coach Brown will have to make sure she has players who will rise to the challenge of these ever improving programs in the beautiful City of Zug.
CBHA President Shelley Callaghan says, “I have had the pleasure to know Diana as a player, a coach and a leader over many years. She is a true mentor who not only knows what it takes to win but understands the pride of playing for Canada. Diana wants Women’s Team Canada players to become Ambassadors for Canada, to perform and be respectful on the world stage but also to bring this passion to their individual leagues to help grow the sport from the grassroots up. The CBHA is so proud to have this great leader at the helm of Women’s Team Canada heading to Zug.”
The players of Canada have a new Coach to aspire to impress to earn that National team jersey in 2015. Congratulations to new Team Canada Coach Diana Brown.