Emily Engel-Natzke joins Capitals as NHL’s 1st female video coach

Emily Engel-Natzke was interested in becoming a National Hockey League (NHL) video coach.

On Thursday, the Washington Capitals appointed Engel-Natzke as their video coordinator. She also became the first woman to be a full-time member of an NHL coaching staff.

Engel-Natzke: I haven’t ever really looked at me through that lens. And I’m not sure if I would have said it a week ago. said. “But with all the geopolitical events, I think I’m more than just honored to be, i guess, the first. We hope that this opens up more doors for people who are interested in this job and in this profession.

This is the latest promotion for women in the NHL, following decades of slow progress in diversifying it in the executive and coaching ranks.

Peter Laviolette, coach, said that this was earned and deserved. said. “We feel that the person we hired was a qualified individual that we brought in two years ago to the organization and did an outstanding work. That’s what development is about. We got the best person. That’s the most important thing to me.”

Dream come true

Engel-Natzke began her journey to Washington in 2017, when she became the full time video coach for University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Tony Granato. She had previously worked with the women’s and men’s programs at the university.

“When she first joined me, one of the questions that I asked her was: “What do your plans are for this?” Is this a full time job? Is this something you would like to do at a higher level? Granato said. “And she said”Yep, I want figure out how to be the first woman to make the NHL video side of things.”

Engel-Natzke had played two seasons of Division III hockey for Adrian College. This was to prepare her for the pros. Then, she moved on to Hershey, where she presented 5-on-5 reports of opponents and became more involved with the day-today operations of the team.

Bryan Helmer, Bears VP for hockey operations, stated that “She’s grown tremendously in her role, just to learn how the professional side of the sport.” said. “Emily is a hard worker and loves to learn. In the two years that she was here, that was evident. She was always eager to help the team succeed in any way she could.

Join the growing number of women in this league

Helmer was introduced to her by Brett Leonhardt, a long-time Capitals video coach. saidHershey hired Engel Natzke on the basis of her experience and her interview. He said, “You can take her name off of her resume and put any name. She was qualified.” said.

Engel-Natzke’s hiring follows the promotion of Meghan Hunter by the Chicago Blackhawks to assistant general manager, and the New Jersey Devils promotion of Meghan Duggan as director of player development. Hunter was the fourth female assistant GM to be appointed, joining Cammi Granato from Vancouver and Emilie castonguay.

Engel-Natzke, “It’s been really inspiring that you’re seeing females in different roles,” said. “Hopefully the door just keeps opening a little bit more and I hope in a couple years it’s not as big of a deal — it’s kind of just another hire.”