PWHL Hamilton Hires Kris Sparre as First Head Coach – The Hockey Writers – PWHL

It was a big day for one of the four new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) franchises as PWHL Hamilton officially announced the hiring of Kris Sparre as the team’s first-ever head coach. The announcement came on Wednesday afternoon (May 27).

Bench boss incoming 👏

We are proud to welcome Kris Sparre as PWHL Hamilton’s first Head Coach! The Ontario native and 2026 PWHL Coach of the Year Finalist spent the 2025-26 season with the Boston Fleet, where he engineered the biggest year-over-year improvement in league… pic.twitter.com/MwJ6qK3ngh

— PWHL Hamilton (@PWHL_Hamilton) May 27, 2026

Sparre comes over to his new team with a rather short but quite successful resume. He has coached in various men’s junior leagues and professional leagues overseas, including as an assistant coach with the American Hockey League (AHL) San Diego Gulls. He also played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and professionally for a handful of seasons in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

His most notable and recent accomplishment came in the 2025-26 season. He was the head coach of the Boston Fleet. They finished the season second in the league (tied in points for first place), which was a historic turnaround from the season before, when Sparre wasn’t there. The Fleet’s 16-5-4-5 record and 62 points were an 18-point improvement, the biggest year-over-year improvement the league has seen so far.

Needless to say, PWHL Hamilton saw that and knew Sparre was their guy. He will come in and have a brand new group who will have to learn to play together before they officially debut this fall.