Lisa (Jordan) Haley didn't have an ounce of coaching experience in 1997 when Athletic Director Larry Uteck asked her to start up a women's hockey program at Saint Mary's. But that didn't stop her from saying yes. And she's never looked back. For the last 27 years, Lisa has been a Head Coach at the university level, making her the longest-standing varsity coach in the history of U Sports women's hockey.
Lisa Haley with Athletic Director Scott Gray and President Rob Summerby-Murray at the SMU Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2019 (credit: Mona Ghiz)
Born and raised in Westville, Nova Scotia, Lisa and her twin sister Lesley followed in the footsteps of two older brothers, starting their hockey journey when they were just four. At 16, and in the first year that Women's Hockey was offered at the Canada Games, both sisters tried out and made the team, representing Nova Scotia at the 1991 Canada Winter Games.
Not long after, both Lisa and Lesley were recruited to play varsity-level hockey at Concordia. Lisa was named Rookie of the Year in 1991 and finished as an Assistant Captain in her final year. Their team was legendary, and the whole 1995-1996 team has since been inducted into the Concordia University Sports Hall of Fame.
In Montreal, Lisa studied to be an Athletic Therapist and was drawn to the "on the field" aspects of the profession rather than the clinical rehab. In fact, she chose athletic therapy as her educational path because she felt that it was the only way to stay in sports. "As a female, there were no opportunities to play professionally, and I didn't see any women as professional hockey coaches - all of my hockey coaches were men."
Upon graduating from Concordia in 1996, she needed to complete a certain number of practical hours in order to be able to write her licensing exam. She decided to return to her home province and did her entire practicum at Saint Mary's, acting as a Student Athletic Therapist for all of the varsity sports teams. This is where Larry Uteck comes in.
A year after Lisa came to Saint Mary's, CIAU (now U Sports) began offering a national championship for women's hockey. Larry asked Lisa if she'd be interested in starting up the women's hockey program and being the coach.
"Larry had a lot of foresight and decided that he wanted Saint Mary's to be a leader in Women's Hockey," says Lisa. "He recognized the importance of putting females into leadership roles, and he must have seen some leadership potential in me."
The only catch was that the position was a volunteer gig. Back then, there were very few women working as paid varsity coaches. Despite not being paid, Lisa fell in love with coaching from the first practice she ran. All that hard work paid off when the inaugural team won the first-ever AUAA Championship and went to the first-ever Nationals.
1997 Women's Hockey Team poses for a team photo with their AUAA (now AUS) trophy in the Alumni Arena. Women's university hockey became a U Sports (then CIS) sanctioned sport in 1997, and was Saint Mary's University Sport Hall of Fame - 2019 Inductee - Lisa Haley's first year as Head Coach of the program.
Lisa would eventually go on to be hired in a double-duty position as the Assistant Athletic Therapist/Head Coach of Women's Hockey. But it wasn't until 2005 that she was able to drop her athletic therapist duties and was named a full-time Varsity Coach.
In her 14 seasons with the Huskies, Lisa amassed one of the best winning records in CIS (now U Sports) women's hockey history. The team made it to the Atlantic University Sports (AUS) finals eight times, capturing the league title in 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2010. Lisa herself earned the title of AUS coach of the year twice and was also named CIS coach of the year.
"Lisa did an incredible job of getting the women's hockey program up and running and making it a real success," says Kathy Mullane, the first female coach ever hired by Saint Mary's in the 1970s. Kathy added that Lisa had proved herself by working hard to achieve her hockey coaching credentials over the years. "She is widely recognized as a tremendous coach who has a talent for recruiting very skilled players and who continues to be a strong voice for promoting women in hockey."
In 2011, Lisa left Saint Mary's for a new challenge. Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), formerly Ryerson, was starting a women's hockey program from scratch and knew they needed a strong leader with a proven track record. Lisa has spent the last 12 years building TMU's hockey program. She has brought them from last place in the Ontario University Association Conference in 2011 to a national ranking of 8th in recent years.
She's also excelled internationally with Hockey Canada's High Performance program, helping them win six World Championship medals, including two golds. As the assistant coach for the Canadian Women's Hockey Team at the 2014 Sochi Games, she earned an Olympic Gold.
While the moment of achievement the championship title or the gold medal feels amazing, Lisa is also fulfilled by the role she plays as a mentor, helping her players reach their full potential, both on and off the ice. "I love supporting the leadership potential in the young women I coach, helping set them up to be good role models for other young women down the road."
Mission accomplished when she sees what the remarkable women who were a part of the first-ever Huskies Women's Hockey program have gone on to do with their lives. "They have created amazing careers for themselves and are serving as incredible leaders in their fields."
Lisa herself was inducted into the Saint Mary's Sports Hall of Fame in 2019 for her great contribution to SMU sports and Huskies Women's Hockey. Although she loves her job at TMU and has grown to enjoy Ontario, she misses Nova Scotia and still cheers for the Huskies. "Except when they're playing TMU," she laughs.
