„Kill Them With Kindness“: The way of Switzerland’s head coach Shannon Miller from the beginnings

Shannon Miller can be regarded as one of the groundbreakers of women’s hockey. The former head coach of Canada’s first Olympic women’s hockey team takes us back to the 1990s and tells us about the challenges she, her players and her staff faced at the time, and how they overcame them step by step.

But this is not Shannon’s only pioneering achievement. She scouted European players, including Maria Rooth, Erika Holst, Tuula Puputti, Michaela Lanzl, Jennifer Harss, Marie Delarbre and the Swiss captain, Lara Stalder for her college team Minnesota-Duluth, and we learn about the benefits of this exchange between North American and European women’s hockey.

We also speak to her about the progress that has already been made, but also the long road that women’s ice hockey still has to travel before achieving true equality.

The Canadian has been head coach of the Swiss women’s national team since August. We ask her how she came to take on the role, how she prepared for it and what her goals are.

Last but not least, she tells us what she’s planning for her birthday on 17 November, the day after the World Championship medal matches.

Interview at Women’s Euro Hockey Tour (WEHT) in Lahti, 01.10.2026: Tim Sinzenich