LAS VEGAS (AP) — Even though she spent the past two seasons an assistant coach in the American Hockey League, Kim Weiss was more than familiar with the PWHL.
She has been involved with Team USA the past four years, which eased her transition into becoming head coach of Las Vegas' expansion team.
“So I had a pretty good file on kind of what's been going on in the PWHL prior to joining it, and I think that was a big reason why I made the jump from the American
League to the PWHL in May when we added this team,” Weiss said at a news conference Wednesday. “I think in terms of what I'm learning, a lot of it's coming from our players like Erin (Ambrose) and Hayley Scamurra and Nicole Hensley.”
Las Vegas is one of four new teams that will begin play this fall in a league that operates under a single ownership entity. The franchise is waiting to learn its nickname.
Games will be played at T-Mobile Arena and Lee's Family Forum. T-Mobile is home to the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, and Lee's is where its AHL affiliate in Henderson, Nevada, plays.
Hiring Weiss was one of the first moves general manager Dominique DiDia made after joining the club. The two played together at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. They were a year apart, and even then, DiDia could see Weiss' leadership skills in being named captain as a sophomore.
“Knowing someone like her since I was a teenager and watching her grow throughout her coaching journey, we’ve been touch, of course, but we haven’t been in the same city since we were in college,” DiDia said. "It’s been surreal since she got here last week, but also since we started building this team together and the way this worked.
“I got the job and 10 days later was the expansion draft, so being able to have her with me in my corner and our group that built our team together and every decision, we keep coming towards in lockstep. It’s been a great working relationship so far.”
Weiss said such relationships turning into business opportunities is more common on the men's side. She ought to know, having worked with men's teams, including as an assistant with her alma mater in the 2023-24 season when Weiss became the first female in that position in NCAA Division III men's hockey.
That led to a two-year stint as an assistant for the Colorado Avalanche's top affiliate, making Weiss the second woman in that role at the NHL or AHL level. Jessica Campbell in 2022 became an assistant for Seattle's AHL affiliate and was promoted to the NHL club in 2024.
There are five female coaches among the 12 PWHL teams, up from two coaches last season.
Weiss and DiDia touted the emphasis on women's sports in Las Vegas, and they along with Ambrose attended the Aces' WNBA game against Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
“You look at the way that the Aces have been embraced and what they’ve done to have that female presence here in this city, I think is very important," Ambrose said. "And for us to add a hockey team here, I’m Canadian. Hockey is everywhere in Canada, but to see hockey grow since say when I went to school in the States — 2012 is when I started — and to see the growth since then this game has skyrocketed for female athletes.”
Beyond spreading the popularity of the game, there will be an expectation for this team to win at some point, and probably sooner than later.
The Golden Knights made the Stanley Cup Final in three of their first nine seasons and won it all in 2023. The Aces have won three of the past four WNBA championships.
DiDia didn't want to put a timeline on winning the title, as Golden Knights owner Bill Foley famously did when he said playoffs in three years and Cup in six, but she and the team aren't blind to the expectations.
“We were at the Aces game last night and you look at the walls, and they've got a lot of banners so far,” DiDia said. "The Knights have been competitive from the moment they started. It's not only inspiring, but it helped us when we started building our culture, building our core values back in May.
“Obviously, we want to make the playoffs, but our goal is not to make the playoffs. Our goal's to win a Walter Cup every season.”
___
See AP’s full women’s hockey coverage here
