Color of Hockey: Koelzer debuts as first Black woman to coach NCAA team

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past nine years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Kelsey Koelzer, who experts say is the first Black female head coach in NCAA hockey.

Kelsey Koelzer is used to being a trailblazer from her youth hockey days to becoming the first Black woman selected No. 1 in the National Women's Hockey League Draft by the Metropolitan Riveters in 2016.

She blazed another trail Saturday as coach of Arcadia University's new NCAA Division III women's hockey team. Hockey experts say the 26-year-old former Princeton University and NWHL (now the Premier Hockey Federation) defenseman is the first Black woman to guide an NCAA hockey team.

Arcadia, located outside of Philadelphia, lost its inaugural game 5-0 to Worcester State University on Saturday and lost 3-2 in overtime at Hatfield Ice Arena in Colmar, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.

For Koelzer, the weekend games ended two years of building the Arcadia women's program from scratch and started a new chapter in her hockey career.

"It's exciting," she said. "It's obviously different from what I'm used to. You have a leadership role as a player and people that look up to you. As a coach, it's a bit more of a backseat leadership type role."

Koelzer embraced being a role model as a player, often taking time to sign autographs and chat with girls and women of color to encourage them to play or become involved in hockey. She said she'll continue to do that as a coach, though she said she wonders "what little girl in the crowd is going to look at the coach and aspire to do that."

"I still think there's a lot of importance in seeing that leadership role behind the bench and seeing someone like myself being seen leading a team full of young women on the ice," Koelzer said. "It's certainly a different kind of first but it's one that I think at this stage in my life, I'm excited that I'm in that role and have an importance in a different way."

Koelzer is among a small group of Black coaches in NCAA hockey that includes former NHL defenseman Paul Jerrard, a former assistant for the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars and now an assistant at the University of Nebraska-Omaha; Leon Hayward, an assistant at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota; Duante Abercrombie, an assistant at Stevenson University near Baltimore; and former Ohio State University captain Olivia Soares, a first-year assistant for the women's program at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Princeton University women's hockey coach Cara Gardner Morey said the leadership and teaching skills that Koelzer showed on the ice and in the locker room will help her coaching Arcadia, with its roster of 18 freshmen and one sophomore.

"She knows the game really well," Morey said. "She knows what it takes to win, and I think she knows what it's like to have a winning culture. She has a strong voice, she's confident in what she knows but she's also humble. She's one of the best of all time and to see her giving back to the game this way is awesome."

Coaching at Arcadia in Glenside, Pennsylvania, is a homecoming of sorts for Koelzer. She was raised in nearby Horsham. She played for Morey at Princeton from 2013-17 and was captain her senior year. She scored 100 points (39 goals, 61 assists) in 128 games and earned first-team All-American, Ivy League Player of the Year and first-team All-Ivy League honors during her collegiate career.

Koelzer helped the Riveters win the Isobel Cup championship in 2018 and shared MVP honors at the league's All-Star Game that year with forward Hayley Scamurra. She scored 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 20 games during three injury plagued NWHL seasons from 2016-19.

In 2019, Koelzer was named to the NHL and National Hockey League Players' Association Female Hockey Advisory Committee, dedicated to accelerating the growth of female hockey in North America while also ensuring more women and girls have opportunities to experience the benefits the sport offers. She participated in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association's Dream Gap tour in March 2020 to promote, advance and support a single, viable professional women's hockey league in North America.

As a player, Koelzer drew inspiration from Jarome Iginla, the former NHL forward who scored 1,300 points (625 goals, 675 assists) in 1,554 games for NHL teams. He will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 15.

Coach Koelzer said that she's also inspired by some of the coaches who she played for, including Morey.

"They certainly inspire me in what I strive to do every day and the attitude that I want to bring and things like that, but I think I kind of have my own style that I try to work off of as well," she said.

Morey said Koelzer's future as a coach and the success of Arcadia's program looks promising.

"She knows there will be some rollercoasters through the season," Morey said. "But as long as she remembers her 'why,' and Kelsey knows why she's coaching, to lead and teach life lessons, she'll love the experience and so will her players."

Photos: Brandon Hodnett/Arcadia University, Princeton Athletic Communications, and Worcester State University Athletics