Three of Vancouver’s favourite coaches – 
Wally Buono, Don Hay and Ryan Walter – are blowing away clichés while proving the great value of sport as a teacher of success, failure and leadership.

Image: Rick Ernst/The Province

Ryan Walter has lived his life striving for personal and team success – and he’s found it. As an NHL captain, Stanley Cup winner, coach, broadcaster, author and now months into his new role as president of the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Heat, Walter has truly done it all in his sport. And he believes his leadership skills have played a huge role in his achievements.

Holding a master’s degree in business leadership, Walter is now trying to apply everything he’s learned from his days on the ice and in the classroom to his new job overseeing an entire organization.

“One of my professors told me everything rises and falls on leadership and I think that’s such an important statement,” Walter says. “You can have great players, but you can lose with great players. That’s where leadership makes such a difference. Most people look only at the game and ask ‘who’s yelling the loudest’ and say ‘well, that’s the leader’ and that’s very seldom true. I think there is this mystique that there is only one leader on a team and he does everything and that’s rarely the case. My premise coming out of pro sports and even now as an executive is that success comes from leaders leading leaders. You really don’t have time for followers.”

Walter and Hay work with rosters that are smaller than the one Wally Buono has to deal with. So an argument can be made that it’s tougher to lead a football team than a hockey club. But Buono doesn’t make distinctions. He believes the same principles of strong leadership will yield results in either sport – and in all walks of life.

“At the end of it, there has to be someone who sets the vision, sets the plans, sets the goals and then tries to get everyone to work together to achieve all that,” he says. “The longer you’re in leadership, you only get better if you learn to adapt, change and do all the things that have to occur to get victories.”

In sports, wins are what matter most – just ask Wally Buono, Don Hay and Ryan Walter. They all know success in sports comes through preparation, execution and leadership. It’s much tougher – but in the end much more satisfying – than a scriptwriter simply deciding the outcome the way it’s done in the movies.

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Check out the eConnections article on Ryan

CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced Friday that former NHL player and coach Ryan Walter will serve as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2011 IIHF World Women’s Hockey Championship, taking place April 16-25, 2011 in Zurich and Winterthur, Switzerland.

Walter made his debut with Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2010 4 Nations Cup, held in St. John’s and Clarenville, N.L., in November 2010, guiding Canada to the gold medal, including a 3-2 overtime win against the United States in the gold medal game.

Two games set for Events Centre

The final selections for Team Canada that will compete in the 4 Nations Cup next month in St. John's and Clarenville were announced last week by Hockey Canada.

The 4 Nations Cup brings together the top four women's hockey nations in the world – Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States – for the first time since the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The four countries finished as the top four in Vancouver, led by the gold medal winning Canadian team.

The 24-player roster includes three goaltenders, seven defencemen and 14 forwards, selected from a list of 66 players who attended the national women's team evaluation camp in Calgary from Sept. 22-26.

Team Canada head coach says the team is in real good shape.

"We have 14 returning players from the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Our goaltending is amazing with players like Kim St. Pierre and Shannon Szabados," says Walter. "We also have some young players that are challenging for their position on the team."

Goaltender Christina Kessler, defenceman Tara Watchorn and forward Vicki Bendus will make their debuts with Canada's nation women's team at the 4 Nations Cup.

"The national women's team roster for this year's 4 Nations Cup provides a nice balance of experienced veterans and up-and-coming players," says the head coach. "It will be exciting to watch them come together on the ice in Newfoundland and Labrador, where they'll face the best women's hockey teams in the world."

The team will be coming to win, coach Walter says.

"The challenge with coaching for Hockey Canada is there is no second place. We're not only looking to be good, but to win every game," says Walter. "It's first place or nothing."

It will be next month before the team will have the opportunity to practice together before coming to the province.

"We don't get together as a team until Nov. 3 in Calgary," he says. "The coaching will arrive on Nov. 2 and the players arrive the following day. We'll have two good hard practices on Nov. 4 and 5 and we may have an exhibition game with a midget team. Then we'll have one final practice on Nov. 7 before heading to Newfoundland. It happens pretty quick but at least we get some time together."

Following the 2010 4 Nations Cup, Hockey Canada scouts will continue to evaluate the country's top female players throughout the season to determine rosters for upcoming international competitions, including the 2010 IIHF World Women's Under-18 championships and the 2011 MLP Cup, both taking place in January, and the 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship scheduled for next April in Switzerland.

Team Canada's roster includes defencemen Courtney Birchard, Tessa Bonhomme, Annie Guay, Jocelyne Larocque, Meaghan Mikkelson, Bobbi Jo Slusar and Tara Watchorn.

Forwards include Meghan Agosta, Gillian Apps, Vicki Bendus, Jayna Hefford, Haley Irwin, Brianne Jenner, Rebecca Johnston, Caroline Ouelette, Cherie Piper, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Sarah Vaillancourt, Hayley Wickenheiser and Jennifer Wakefield and goaldenter Christina Kessler.

Other members of the coaching staff include Stephanie White and Laura Schuler.

Clarenville will play host to two 4 Nations Cup games on Nov. 9 and 10 at the Clarenville Events Centre. The first game on Tuesday, Nov. 9 will feature Finland and Sweden the second game on Nov. 10 will see Sweden take on Canada. Both games are set for 7 p.m.

Events Centre manager Todd Cole says playing host to a sporting event like the Four Nations Cup will be a tremendous boost for the town.

"An event of this magnitude from an exposure perspective is certainly a very positive thing," says Cole. "It's huge, not just from the exposure the town will get, but for the long term implications for future events that we could possibly host here."

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