Kris Sparre of Mississauga, Ontario has been named the 2026 Professional Women’s Hockey League coach of the year according to Karissa Donkin of CBC Sports on Tuesday. Sparre was honoured this past season for his work with the Boston Fleet, even though he is currently the head coach of the PWHL’s expansion franchise in Hamilton, Ontario.
In 2025-26, the Fleet finished in second place in the PWHL standings with 62 points. They actually had the same number of points as the eventual PWHL champion Montreal Victoire, but placed behind Montreal because the Fleet had one fewer regular season win. Montreal had 22 wins and Boston had 21 wins. The Fleet’s regular season record was 16 regulation wins, five wins in extra time, five regulation losses and four losses in extra time.
Sparre was only the Fleet head coach for one season. However, Boston had an 18 point improvement from the previous season when they had 44 points. Courtney Birchard-Kessel of Etobicoke, Ontario was the Fleet head coach in the first two years of the franchise. Birchard-Kessel is now the women’s hockey coach at Princeton University.
The Fleet also saw a significant improvement when it came to goals against. They only gave up 45 goals. That was the second fewest goals in the PWHL, and 31 fewer goals than they gave up the previous season.
