In honour of National Coaches Week and in partnership with the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Coaches Association of Saskatchewan invites you to learn more about some of the coaches that have left their mark on the province.
The Coaches Association of Saskatchewan also congratulates the Hall of Fame 2023 Class who will be celebrated at the official induction ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 23 in Regina.
Noreen Murphy
A love of baseball and mentorship has led to a career of coaching highs for Toronto-born Noreen Murphy.
Fastball brought Murphy to Saskatchewan in 1980, when Murphy was recruited to play for Harmony Centre in Saskatoon. Murphy’s coaching career began in 1985 when she became the coach for the Lloydminster Midget AAA Blues softball team.
Under her guidance, she led the team to back-to-back national midget championship titles. From 1987-1994, Murphy coached various age groups of Saskatoon’s Lorne’s Lazers including the midget U19 girls, junior U21 ladies, and senior ladies. Every year she coached Lorne’s Lazers, her teams were provincial champions. From 1989-1995, Murphy was the assistant coach for the Canadian junior softball team.
In 1995, Murphy served as the head coach of the Saskatchewan female softball team which won a silver medal at the Western Canada Games. In 2002, Murphy was appointed as the head coach of the Canadian junior female softball team and in 2004, Murphy became the head coach of the first Canada Women’s Elite team. From 2008-2010, Murphy was the head coach of the U19 Select AA female softball team which won the provincial championship in 2010 and represented Saskatchewan at the Canadian championships.
In honour of her accomplishments as a coach, Murphy has been inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame (2008), the Canadian Softball Hall of Fame (2010), and the Saskatchewan Softball Hall of Fame (2011).
Noreen was inducted to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2023 for her contributions as a coach. Artifacts from Murphy’s stories career are on display at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall Fame at 2201 Victoria Ave. in Regina as of September 23, 2023.
Jacqueline Lavallee
Currently the Assistant Coach to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, during her youth, Jacqueline Lavallee excelled in three sports – basketball, soccer and athletics.
This love of sport lead to Lavallee participating in multiple multi-sport games as an athlete throughout her youth. In 1992 and 1995 she was part of the Saskatchewan track team that participated in the Saskatchewan Summer Games and in 1999 she participated in the Western Canada Summer Games as a member of the Saskatchewan basketball team. Lavallee made it to the Canada Games in 1997, where she was a member of the Saskatchewan soccer team. After high school graduation, Lavallee became a two-sport athlete when she joined the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball and soccer teams.
During her soccer career, Lavallee was named a Canada West All-Star midfielder twice (1999 and 2001), and an All-Canadian (1999). In basketball she was named a Canada West All-Star point guard three times (1997, 2000 and 2002) and an All-Canadian twice (2001 and 2002).
In 2000, Lavallee received the Tom Longboat Award, which recognizes outstanding ability from the Indigenous community. In 2002, she received the Sylvia Sweeney Award and was named a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U Sports) Top 8 Academic All-Canadian. Additionally, Lavallee participated at the World University Games in both 1999 and 2001 and was also a member of the Canadian women’s basketball team from 2002-2004.
Known as an athlete who had a keen sense of game strategy, it was unsurprising that following her graduation, she joined the Huskies as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team. She has been lending her experience and expertise to the team for the past 14 seasons. In 2010, she was named head coach of the Canadian U17 Cadet basketball team.
Lavallee was inducted to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 for basketball. You can find more information about Jacquie’s accomplishments here by visiting the Saskatchewan Sports Hall Fame at 2201 Victoria Ave. in Regina.
Alvin “Al” Ritchie
Alvin “Al” Ritchie made history in Saskatchewan as a successful coach in hockey, football and lacrosse.
While Ritchie grew up in Ontario, he moved to Saskatchewan in 1910 and worked for Patsons Construction and Engineering. While working, he became involved in local rugby-football, hockey, lacrosse and baseball competitions. Upon his return to Regina from serving as an artilleryman in the First World War, Ritchie began his coaching career.
Ritchie, also known as the “Silver Fox”, coached the Regina Victorias Senior Hockey Team from 1918-1922. During the 1921-22 season, the team won the Western Canadian Senior Hockey Championship. He went on to have an extended coaching career with the Regina Pats. Under his leadership, the Pats won Memorial Cup Championships in 1925, 1930, and 1933. Ritchie and these teams were inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1967. Ritchie’s success in junior hockey led him to work as a scout for the New York Rangers from 1933-1966.
Ritchie added to his sport repertoire in 1921 when he served as the manager for the Regina Rugby Club. He was a part of the organization’s significant shift when they adopted the name of Regina Roughriders in 1924. The following year, Ritchie organized the Regina Pats junior rugby team to better establish that game for the city’s youth. In 1928, the team beat the St. Thomas Tigers in the Canadian Junior Football Championship and earned the national title. While Ritchie was involved with the Roughriders on the managerial side, he became the head coach in 1929 and remained in that position until 1932. During his time as coach, the Regina Roughriders appeared in four Grey Cup championships. For his work in developing football in Western Canada, Ritchie was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
In addition to his many hockey and football accomplishments, Ritchie coached the Regina lacrosse team that faced off against the touring Oxford-Cambridge team from England as well as local and provincial-level lacrosse teams. In the summers, Ritchie was also involved with local baseball teams. Richie’s diverse sporting engagement makes him a unique coach within Saskatchewan’s history. In recognition of his accomplishments, Richie was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1966, installed in the Saskatchewan Roughrider Plaza of Honour in 1987, and inducted into the Regina Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Ritchie was part of the inaugural class inducted to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 for his many accomplishments. You can find more information Al here or by visiting the Saskatchewan Sports Hall Fame at 2201 Victoria Ave. in Regina.
Shannon Miller
Shannon Miller has been a trailblazer throughout her sporting life.
The 2021 Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame inductee not only broke new ground as a coach in women’s hockey, but she also did so while being openly gay. After growing up playing hockey in Melfort, Miller was an inaugural member of the University of Saskatchewan’s women’s hockey program. She and two other women spent two years fighting red tape and discrimination to create a girls’ hockey league in Calgary. There, she also launched and directed the first high-performance training program for female hockey players at the Olympic Oval.
At the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, Miller was the head coach of the national team as women’s hockey made its Olympic debut. She was the only female head coach at the tournament. “There was a lot of difficult stuff that happened that year. When you’re the first woman and you’re openly gay – I was just a target,” Miller said. “I felt like a deer running through the forest during hunting season.”
Miller had worked her way through the ranks to earn the national team job. She had helped coach Alberta to the first women’s hockey gold medal at the 1991 Canada Winter Games. She became an assistant coach for the Canadian women’s national team when they won the worlds in 1992 and 1994. Miller was named the head coach and she guided Canada to the 1997 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship in overtime against the United States.
Despite the on-ice success and a proven track record of building programs, it wasn’t smooth sailing.
“I felt like I was in a war against almost everybody. Especially the media attacking me. That really wore on me and my team,” Miller said. “Every day I would put my shield of armour on and decide well I’m the first woman in the world to do this and I’m openly gay. And the media, they don’t like it. That was uphill and against the wind to say the very least. But I loved working with the players and I loved working with the staff. I mean when you coach it is so much about passion and vision and commitment to the process and commitment to each other and so no matter how difficult it was, it was still great.”
After losing the gold medal game to the Americans at the Olympics to claim silver, Miller moved on to build the women’s hockey program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs won three of the first four NCAA national championships and ultimately won five under Miller.
“When I was there and had the support of the president and the athletic director before they both left, we were budgeted about middle-of-the-pack… but we were winning. And we were so proud of that. We were the little engine that could,” Miller said.
That support for the program waned. Despite losing ground to their fellow Division I programs in terms of their resources, the Bulldogs remained competitive. In total, the team made 10 NCAA tournament appearances in her tenure. Minnesota Duluth had won 12 of their previous 13 games heading into Christmas break and were ranked sixth in the NCAA when Miller was told her contract wasn’t being renewed. They said she could stay on for the rest of the season, but it would be her last. Miller said she just about fell out of her chair when she was told. No coach in NCAA women’s hockey had more national titles (5) or Final Four wins (11) than Miller did at the time.
“I knew what was going on. I’m not stupid,” Miller said. “I had so much support, I immediately called my own press conference and said I was going to sue them. “I sued them for Title IX sex discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination. And I won a Federal lawsuit. It was really difficult, but it was very important to do it.”
Miller’s dad died when she was 13, but she had strong family support, including both sets of grandparents. She described them as grounded, humble, and hard-working people.
“I will never forget the lessons they taught me,” she said of her grandparents. “I know those are my roots and that is my foundation. When you go back inside yourself and really remember who you are and where you came from, it’s not difficult to be strong and to rise up and to fight when you need to and to support others and lift others up.”
Miller lives in California with her partner Jen Banford and is back being involved in hockey as the vice president of branding and community relations for Acrisure Arena and the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds who are in the Calder Cup finals in their first season. She remains as resilient and passionate about hockey as ever.
“I think I can credit the fact that I grew up in Melfort with that support,” she said. “My dad died. I had a difficult life anyway, I just got stronger and stronger as my life went on and I had no fear. “When somebody wrongs you like that. The only right thing to do is to stand up and fight. And I did. And I won.”
Miller was inducted to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2021 as a hockey builder. You can find more information about Shannon’s accomplishments here or by visiting the Saskatchewan Sports Hall Fame at 2201 Victoria Ave. in Regina, SK.
