It has been almost a decade and a half since Kori Cheverie got her first taste of coaching in the Hockey Nova Scotia High Performance Program.

Now, after multiple gold medals on the world stage with the national women’s program, the New Glasgow, N.S. native is returning home to lead Nova Scotia’s top women’s players at the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

“It’s always an honour to be able to represent your province on any stage,” Cheverie said. “Competing in the Canada Games is a very special moment for so many athletes and staff, so it’s something that’s exciting to be a part of.”

A three-time Atlantic University Sport first team all-star with Saint Mary’s University in her playing days, Cheverie’s coaching career has been even more decorated.

Since stepping behind the bench, Cheverie has won gold medals as an assistant coach at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, as well as at the 2021 and 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championships. She also won a gold medal in 2019 as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team.

Now she's eager to bring that national and international experience back home after taking over the team's head coaching duties last fall.

“The province of Nova Scotia has always been an amazing and supportive province [when it comes to] my career as a player and now as a coach,” Cheverie said. “One of my mentors once said to me that there is always something to learn with every experience at any level of hockey, so I jumped at the opportunity to continue to grow as a coach and hopefully give the athletes and staff an amazing experience along the way.”

A 2014 Clarkson Cup winner with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Toronto Furies and a long-time member of Hockey Nova Scotia’s High Performance Program, Cheverie became the first female full-time assistant coach in Canadian university men’s hockey history in 2016 when she was hired by the Ryerson Rams.

A Canadian coaching trailblazer, Cheverie has inked her name in the history books on more than one occasion.

She also holds the distinction as the first woman to serve as a coach with one of Canada's national men's teams, something she accomplished at the 2022 IIHF U18 World Championship.

Fresh off a Rivalry Series win on Wednesday night in Laval, Que., Cheverie will join Team Nova Scotia in Halifax on Saturday for a training session, before leaving for the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island on Sunday.

Rounding out the coaching staff are assistant coaches Briden Cohen (New Glasgow) and Sonya Lynk (Sydney). James Rushton (Truro) will serve as the equipment manager, while Janice Rehill (New Glasgow) is the team manager.“Our team is dialled in,” Cheverie says.

“We have had multiple meetings over the past five months. Everything has been a collaborative approach. We value the opinions and perspectives of our athletes and so we felt like it was important to include them throughout the entire journey. Ultimately, They decide how they want to carry themselves, they decide on the environment and culture they want to create, and it’s our group as a staff [that has to] help guide them and help them grow as players and more importantly, people.

Team Nova Scotia faces off against Team Alberta in their tournament opener on Monday, Feb. 27 at the MacLauchlan Arena Charlottetown, P.E.I.

“This group is extremely special and a team full of good people and future leaders. We are Riding the Wave together as a group all the way through the Games.”