Even when she was coaching college hockey, having a hand in the success of the women’s programs at Dartmouth and Boston College, Courtney Sheary knew her professional future would be at another level.
A former standout at Cushing Academy and the University of New Hampshire, Sheary (Melrose, Mass.) is eager to oversee the girls hockey program at The Rivers School after getting named head coach in the spring.
“I love the prep school model,” she said this week. “One of my biggest things when I went into coaching was, like most people, I wanted to develop. I coached college hockey but I knew, at some point, I was going to get back into prep school.”
The attraction for Sheary — pronounced “SHARE-ee” — is the small-school atmosphere, where classes are small and community support is abundant.
She is one of two new hockey coaches at the Weston, Mass., school. Former NHL player Freddy Meyer (Sanbornville, N.H.) is taking over as boys coach, replacing Shawn McEachern (Waltham, Mass.).
“I am thrilled to have Courtney take over our program,” said former Rivers athletic director Bob Pipe, who was involved in her hiring and recently took the job as athletic director at St. George’s. “She comes to Rivers with a great coaching background, including a mix of prep school and college experience. She will do a great job connecting with our girls and developing them on the ice and off. She’s a great role model and knows what it takes to play at the next level.”
Throughout her career, Sheary, the older sister of two-time Stanley Cup champion Conor Sheary, has rubbed shoulders with some pretty significant influences, going back to Paul Kennedy, her coach at Cushing.
Her career completed a circle of sorts during the two years she spent at BC where Paul’s daughter, Courtney Kennedy (Woburn, Mass.), has been the longtime No. 1 assistant on Katie King Crowley’s staff. She lauded the “team culture” that King (Salem, N.H.) and Kennedy built at BC.
But it was the year she spent at Dartmouth under former Canadian National Team coach Laura Schuler, working largely with the defense, that was particularly eye-opening.
“Laura Schuler was one of the best female hockey role models I’ve had,” she said. “She really wants to grow the women’s game. She took me under her wing, but you’d see that with players, too; she really wanted to develop them.”
Sheary began her coaching career at her alma mater, Cushing. She spent last season as an assistant coach at Buckingham Browne & Nichols under Ed Bourget.
At UNH more than a decade ago, she helped the Wildcats win three Hockey East tournament titles and play in three NCAA tournaments. She was a team captain as a senior.
Armed with these strategies, Sheary will try to keep developing players — and wins — at one of New England’s winningest prep programs.
Rivers enjoyed good success under former coach Dana Trivigno, going 62-14-3 overall the past three seasons and reaching three New England finals. The team won Division 2 two years ago and was a finalist in the NEPSAC small-school tournament last winter, finishing 19-5-2.
“Just development,” said Sheary, asked about her coaching points of emphasis. “Giving the girls the best opportunity to be successful at the next level. Sometimes we don’t necessarily take a step back and say, ‘How can I help her development so she can succeed?’ ”
Embedding herself into the Rivers community has been a challenge in these four months of COVID-19. She got to talk to next year’s three team captains — Mallory Hasselbeck, Jenna MacDonald and Abigail Weiss — on a Zoom call, but the personal interaction will have to wait until students return to campus.
While Conor Sheary gets ready to resume his NHL season with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the days ahead, his sister is eager to hit the ice with her new team.
Asked about her brother’s influence on her career, she quipped, “I’m older, so he’s gonna have to quote that I helped him develop into the player he’s been.”
@MikeZhe603
mzhe@hockeyjournal.com
