Lauren Williams has seen women’s hockey come so far.

Article content

Lauren Williams has seen women’s hockey come so far.

Article content

Article content

Growing up, the Riverside high school product could never have imagined being in her current role as an assistant coach for the New York Sirens in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

“I thought it was Olympics or bust,” the 28-year-old Williams said. “Growing up here, I didn’t even know about (NCAA) DI until high school.”

Article content

A Southwest Wildcats product, Williams went on to earn that Division I scholarship at the University of Wisconsin and spent four years on defence helping the team reach the NCAA championship semis on four occasions and advancing to the final in 2017.

She got the chance to play pro after being taken with the first overall pick by the Worcester Blades in the 2018 Canadian Women’s Hockey League Draft, but by 2022 she was ready for a new challenge.

“By the time I was ready to be done playing, I was ready to pursue other things,” Williams said. “I loved playing hockey, but personally felt I was ready for another challenge.”

She took on an assistant coaching role with Stonehill College in Massachusetts

 in 2022-23 and then headed to Calgary in 2023-24 to serve as an assistant coach with Mount Royal University before being hired by the Sirens.

“I never saw myself as a coach,” Williams said. “My parents said I might be good. I thought there were more impactful ways, but as soon as I started doing it I fell in love.”

Aside from being a key performer at Wisconsin, Williams was also an academic All-Big Ten performer majoring in sociology and psychology. She felt she could combine what she learned in school with what she knew on the ice to coaching.

Article content

Article content

“I found a way to combine both,” Williams said. “I’m super invested in helping athletes manage being human being and elite-level athletes. If your brain’s not aligned with your ability, it won’t line up on the ice.”

She remembers talking about that aspect of the game with then Colgate women’s hockey coach Greg Fargo while she was out Mount Royals.

“We had a conversation about what I do on the mental side as well as coaching hockey,” she said. “He was interested in the mental side.”

In June, Fargo was hired as head coach of the Sirens and that would open a door for Williams to make the jump to the PWHL.

“I saw he got the job and a week later I got call,” Williams said.

Many see Williams as young enough to still be playing the game. In fact, Sirens’ forward Abby Roque was actually a teammate, but players have easily accepted her in a coaching role.  

“They’re all pros in the best way possible,” Williams said. “They understand I’ve been there pretty recent. They understand someone on staff that gets what they’re going through.”

On Sunday, Williams got a rare chance to get home with the PWHL Takeover Tour stopping in Detroit.

Article content

“I’m super family oriented, so I’m not home nearly as much,” Williams said. “That’s one of the best parts of coming to Detroit.”

Not only did the Sirens beat the Minnesota Frost 4-1, but the game at Little Caesars Arena drew a record crowd of 14,288 with the prime-time match being broadcast on TSN.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Williams said. “When you’re coaching, there’s so much on the go and you want to stay in the present, but there were a couple times you had to look in the stands and say, ‘Wow, this is pretty amazing.’”

 A year ago, Detroit hosted one of two neutral site games and drew a then record crowd for a U.S. professional women’s game of 13,786. Denver broke that mark earlier in January year in the third-of-nine Takeover Tour stops with a crowd of 14,018 only to have Detroit better the mark on Sunday.

The six-league team has talked about expansion at some point in the future, but no timetable has been set. Still, Williams believes Detroit would be ideally situated for a franchise and crowd support over the past two years shows there is hunger for the game.

“In the CWHL, we were lucky to get 1,000 fans,” Williams said. “Now, a lot of it has to do with the money and the resources that have been put into this league. We have full-time coaches and a broadcast deal and the more it’s seen, the better it will do.

Article content

“With Detroit, it’s not does have the attendance support, but Detroit’s also accessible to pull fans from Windsor and Canada. We had fans (on Sunday) that drove down from Sarnia and Toronto.”

It’s the excitement around the league and its ability to continue to grow moving forward that continues to fuel Williams to stay in the coaching game, which is something she never Would have considered growing up.

“The Windsor Wildcats and Lakeshore Lightning that I grew up playing in and around, I never would have worn my jersey to an NHL game because no one knew who that was,” Williams said. “Now, you see kids (in their minor jersey) at the games and these girls have a league to look at and be a part of.

“I love the fact that that’s the crowd we bring in with girls’ hockey teams and you families. I think it’s extremely gratifying and I think there are so many ways we can continue to show up for our athletes and I want to find out how good at this coaching thing I can get.”

[email protected]

twitter.com/winstarparker

Article content