PWHL Las Vegas rounds out coaching staff for inaugural season

PWHL Las Vegas announced four coaches who will join general manager Kim Weiss’s staff for the team’s inaugural season. Ryan Smith and Jonathan Matsumoto have been hired as assistant coaches, Brad Kirkwood will serve as goaltending coach, and Brendan Flanagan will fill the video coach role. In a statement, Las Vegas general manager Dominique DiDia said, “They each bring a unsocial position and acquisition from crossed each levels of hockey and, astir importantly, a shared passionateness for processing and supporting our athletes,” Las Vegas wide manager Dominique DiDia said successful a statement. “We’re excited to spot the interaction they’ll person connected our players and our enactment this season.” Smith spent the previous two seasons as an assistant head coach with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League. The 53‑year‑old played ten seasons professionally in Germany before moving into coaching as head coach of the Winnipeg South Blues and the Selkirk Steelers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Matsumoto was selected in the third round by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2006 and later appeared in 14 NHL games while spending much of his career as a journeyman in the American Hockey League. He played the final 12 seasons of his professional career in Germany, retiring after the most recent season. In addition to his playing background, Matsumoto has worked in player development and coached youth hockey in Germany. Kirkwood arrives from the Toronto Sceptres, where he served as goaltending coach for the past three years. He has coached and developed goaltenders for Hockey Canada since 2015 and was part of three gold‑medal‑winning teams. Kirkwood also owns and operates Trop Prospects Goaltending Canada, one of the largest goaltending development programs in North America. Flanagan joins Las Vegas after two seasons as manager of hockey operations for the men’s and women’s programs at St. Lawrence University and the men’s team at Princeton University.