Hockey East Coach Mike Kelly Steps Down After Eight Seasons, Takes New Position: Puck Drop

Roughly six weeks before the start of the 2026-27 hockey season Mike Kelly resigned as the head coach of the Providence women's hockey team on Sunday, with the school announcing assistant coach Nicole Norton will be the interim head coach this season, with Katie Burtwill promoted to interim associate head coach.

Shortly after, Bishop Kearney announced Kelly as the new head coach for its U-19 women's program. Based out of in Irondequoit, N.Y., just outside of Rochester, the Selects program has in just 10 years developed a reputation as having one of the best developmental programs in the nation. In 2025, it won the first USA Hockey National Championship to finish the season 56-3-0.

During his eight seasons at Providence, Kelly 's teams went 136-109-27. They twice reached the championship game of the Hockey East Tournament and secured one NCAA Tournament berth (2020-21). However, the Friars finished 11-22-2 last season, and in ninth in the 10-team conference.

Prior to Providence, Kelly scouted for SA Hockey and the Women's National Team. Per his coaching bio. "his primary responsibility was to oversee and maintain the player pools for the U-18 and U-22 squads, in addition to the Women's National Team."

"We are incredibly excited to welcome Matt Kelly to Bishop Kearney and our Girls Hockey program," said Cari Coen, Girls Hockey Director and U-19 Associate Coach in a news release.

"His experience speaks for itself, but what stood out even more was his passion for developing young women, his understanding of what it takes to reach the highest levels of our game, and how closely his values align with what we are building at BK. Our players are going to benefit tremendously from his leadership, knowledge, and ability to develop them both as hockey players and people."

Norton has been an assistant at Providence for five seasons. The former Syracuse forward has been an assistant at LIU and Division III Nichols College. Burtwill has been with the program for three seasons. As a goaltender she helped lead Boston College to the 2016 national championship and was the No. 1-overall selection in the 2017 National Women's Hockey League Draft.

Providence's release stated that it "will conduct a national search for its next women's ice hockey head coach at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season."

Despite the looming start to the 206-27 season, the coaching landscape has been active of late. Harvard recently announced hiring John Ronan and Tom Davis as assistants first-year head coach Rob Rassey. Ronan was previously at Union, and Davis at Princeton. Vermont added assistant coach Adam Krug, who led his alma mater Adrian to the 2022 Division III national championship. Former Boston College assistant captain Ben Smith returned to the Eagles as an assistant coach.

U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Hockey Team

The U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team won a pair of weekend games to open play at the Four Nations Tournament at Rocknet Arena in Chomutov, Czechia.

On Saturday, the U.S. defeated the host team 4-3. Austin Hall Aiden Kelly and Henry Meier all scored to help the U.S. take the lead, and Jack Riehl added a shorthanded goal that ended up being the game-winner. Chase Pastor got the win. Both teams were awarded a penalty shot in the game, but neither was converted.

On Sunday, both teams came back from a two-goal deficit before the U.S. edged Switzerland in a shootout, 6-5. Dylan Delgado scored twice and Aiden Kelly added a shorthanded goal for the U.S. Kelly also scored twice in the shootout while goaltender Connor Dwyer stopped four of five attempts in the shootout after neither side scored during the 3-on-3 overtime.

The U.S. will next face Slovakia on Tuesday (9 a.m. ET).

USA takes it 6-5 in a shootout! Aiden Kelly nets 2G in the shootout and Connor Dwyer stops 5 of 6 shooters for the win!🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/4kbSnwB9c5
— CLANKO MEDIA (@ClankoMedia) August 16, 2026

Women’s Select Series Go To Canada

U.S. Collegiate Women’s Select Team: After taking narrow back-to-back losses in the three-game series against Canada, the U.S. won the finale 5-2 at Richmond, B.C. Chloe Boreen (St. Thomas) had two goals, while the Wisconsin trio of Cassie Hall, Laney Potter and Kelly Gorbatenko all had one. Claire Murdoch (Connecticut) and Éloïse Caron (Northeastern) scored for Canada.

Canada won Game 1, 1-0, on Wednesday, and needed a shootout to claim a 2-1 win on Thursday.

Canadian goaltender Eve Gascon (UMD) edged Ava McNaughton (Wisconsin) in getting the shutout in the opener. Rosalie Tremblay (Wisconsin) scored the lone goal against her collegiate teammate.

Gascon earned another win in the clinching game, this time edging Uma Corniea (Princeton). Abby Stonehouse (Penn State) had the regulation goal for Canada and Ava Lindsay (Minnesota) scored for the U.S.

Under-18 Women’s Select Team: The U.S. held on to win the finale, 5-4, after scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes. Jane Daley (Ohio State commit) had three assists, while Frances Ames (Princeton commit), Annabelle Lovell (Wisconsin commit), Amelia Sutch, Aubryn Monter (Penn State commit) and defender Margaret Chudzinski (Harvard commitment) all scored. Cecilia Wielenberg (Princeton commit) got the win. Adrianna Milani (Minnesota commit) had two goals and an assist, Demi Lazarou (Connecticut commit) had one and Avery Jones (Ohio State commit) scored during the final seconds.

In the opener, Milani converted a penalty shot and scored an empty-net goal, both in the third frame, to lead Canada to a 5-2 victory. Madi Bryk (Colgate commitment), Jones and Tatiana Deblois scored for Canada. Hannah Rychley and Chudzinski scored for the U.S.

Canada scored four power-play goals to clinch the series with a 5-1 win. Megan Mossey (Wisconsin commit) had three and Madison Levesque (Clarkson commit). Maija St Pierre (St. Thomas commit) notched her second straight win. Monter scored for the U.S.

Puck Drop: Monday, August 17, 2026

• The following collegiate players became unrestricted draft-related free agents on Aug. 15 after remaining unsigned after completing their fourth season of NCAA competition.

Michigan F Kienan Draper (2020, 187th overall, Red Wings)
Wisconsin F Tyson Dyck (2022, 206th overall, Senators)
Boston University F Owen McLaughlin (2021, 206th overall, Flyers)
Harvard F Joe Miller (2020, 180th overall, Maple Leafs)
Minnesota D Cal Thomas (2021, 171st overall, Mammoth)
Canisius G Chase Clark (2021, 183rd overall, Capitals)

All of the players except for Dyck and Clark have already signed a minor-league contract for 2026-27. An additional 15 players are eligible to become free agents, but hadn’t filed the necessary paperwork with NHL Central Registry. Among them, seven had already signed with minor-league or European teams, one retired, and defenseman Joaquim Lemay (2021, 119th overall, Capitals) received a medical waiver to return to Northeastern to play a fifth season.

• Colorado College’s men's and women's teams will both sport a jersey patch this season as Toyota and the Colorado Springs Toyota dealers inked a deal with the Tigers. No deal terms were disclosed.

• The Providence men's team also made recent news by adding Gibson Homer as a late transfer addition. He played for North Dakota last season (where freshman Jan Spunar took over as the starter), after three years at Arizona State, where he graduated, but only played two seasons. Homer had signed to play for minor-league ECHL Kansas City this season.

• Fresh off winning the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup with Team Canada, Quinn Norman (Newfoundland Regiment) committed to Boston University for 2028-29. … Cole Swanson from Chisholm High in Hibbing, Minn., committed to Western Michigan for the 2028-29 season … Xavier Wendt from the Tri-City Americans committed to St. Thomas for 2027-28. ... Quinnipiac received a commitment from forward Louis-Émile Dumais out of Quebec (Shawinigan Cataractes).

Countdown to the 2026-27 Season

… 46 days

Hockey Quote of the Day

"Like any other kid in [Manhattan], if you looked for trouble, you could find it. As far as hanging out on corners, I didn't do any of that. But growing up where I did makes me appreciate what I have now."
Joe Mullen (Boston College)

This Date in Hockey History

August 17, 1966: Defenseman Don Sweeney (Harvard), who went on to have a prolific playing career and became the general manager of the Boston Bruins, was born in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. He’s 60 today.

We'll Leave You With This ...

Macklin Celebrini's one-of-one rookie card sold for $1.28 MILLION USD at auction last night 🤯

It was originally pulled from a pack worth around $15 and now holds the record for the highest public sale of any non-Wayne Gretzky hockey card 🤑 pic.twitter.com/z9XhgohX4r
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) August 16, 2026

Add us as a preferred source on Google