LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Team Canada is a frontrunner for a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and helping lead that charge is Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy.
While spending time in Italy may be a new experience for most of Canada’s players, it is not for the Canadian assistant coach. Cassidy spent nearly four years of his playing days overseas in the small Italian village of Alleghe, not far from the home of the 2026 Winter Games.
“The geography was unbelievable; I was in the mountains more, where Cortina is in the mountains, half an hour from there, where the skiing is,” Cassidy said. “I didn’t ski, obviously, wasn’t allowed, you’re playing hockey, but I was around it enough, and it’s beautiful that part of it. I’m looking forward to getting back and seeing a little bit of that, but I don’t know how much you’ll see from there in Milan. It’s going to be a work trip more than anything, so the touristy part for me, unfortunately, I don’t think will happen, but I don’t mind that.”
From NHL draft pick to Italian hockey
The former 18th overall pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1983 draft played in just 36 NHL games due to a knee injury. After winning a championship in 1990 in the International Hockey League, Cassidy left North America and signed with the Alleghe Hockey Club, playing 88 games over the course of three seasons.
It’s now been more than three decades since Cassidy last took the ice in Italy. Looking back, he says his best memories came away from the rink.
“Some of the experience was non-hockey related, just a new culture, the language,” Cassidy said. “Where I was in northern Italy, there wasn’t a lot of English, let’s put it that way. I went to a French school, so French and Italian were very similar, so I tried to learn the language. There are a lot of dialects up there because it’s in the north, and there is a lot of German-speaking people, that part of it was great.”
Adapting to Italian culture
Cassidy said the everyday life adjustments were significant.
“They used to shut down in the afternoon, I don’t know if they still do that like some of those warm-weather South American countries, that was getting used to, eating lunch,” he said. “The fast food convenience of the United States not there, so you got to get used to their ways when you’re over there and have to adapt.”
That adaptability lesson, Cassidy believes, will be crucial for Olympic success.
“Adaptability, teams that adapt, you hear about the rink and the size of the dressing rooms, the teams that adapt and go over there and take care of hockey and not worry about the amenities that they’d have here during the season will probably be better off to be perfectly honest, that’s how I see it,” he said. “Getting around, the timing, all that stuff changes from what I’ve heard and I’ve been there, so I think there will be some snafus in those areas. That’s something with the players we’ll try and get them focused on, not worrying about the little things, just worrying about the task at hand.”
Gold is the goal
The task at hand is gold. Prior to leaving for the tournament, Cassidy was asked how an experience like his first Olympics compares to battling for and winning a Stanley Cup.
“It will be a better answered question when it’s over and done there, and you hopefully come back a winner,” Cassidy said. “Stanley Cup you can’t replace, never replace it as a coach, so that’s number one. Hopefully, it will be number two, three, and four, as many as you can get, I would think, then I think the Olympics would be there as well. You’re representing your country, best players in the world, all the best players are there, so I think it would be quite the accomplishment.”
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