Former Northeastern star Florence Schelling becomes 1st woman to serve as GM of a top-level men’s hockey team
The four-time Olympian was named sporting director of SC Bern.
Olympic bronze medalist and former Northeastern goalkeeper Florence Schelling was named sporting director of Switzerland’s SC Bern, becoming the first woman to work as a general manager at the top level of men’s hockey.
“I was surprised like all of you when I received the call from [SC Bern CEO] Marc Luthi,” Schelling said, per the International Ice Hockey Federation. “We had a couple of discussions about working together and they were very positive. I knew immediately that I wanted to accept the challenge. My main goal is to do a good job and bring SC Bern back to the top.”
Schelling, 31, is recovering from a skiing accident and will assume responsibilities after Easter, the team announced Wednesday.
Florence Schelling ab sofort als Sportchefin beim #SCBern. Lars Leuenberger bleibt Assistenztrainer und Alex Chatelain übernimmt den Aufbau des Bereich Analytics. Mehr dazu: https://t.co/9c4oixB8HJ pic.twitter.com/XGnAo7sSwd
— SC Bern (@scbern_news) April 8, 2020
“We came to the conclusion: Florence is the person we are looking for and want,” Luthi told Berner Zeitung. “Yes, Florence will be a pioneer, probably worldwide in her new role. But she’s young, fresh, she’ll bring a new perspective and break up existing structures.”
At Northeastern, Schelling was a freshman on head coach Dave Flint’s first team when he took over in 2008.
Florence Schelling.
“She’s one of those people that has that special something,” Flint said. “Everything she does, she’s successful at. She was an amazing athlete, an amazing student.”
Flint last saw Schelling in February, when she traveled to Boston from Zurich to spend time with her former coach and his staff. Schelling had been named head coach of Switzerland’s under-18 women’s national team and wanted to get some advice from the winningest head coach in Northeastern women’s hockey history.
She stayed for a week, getting pointers on in-game tactics, communication with players, and team management.
“She flew out to Boston from Switzerland, just so she could try to become a better coach,” Flint remembered. “That was her approach with everything she did, specifically hockey. She worked hard and wanted to be the best.”
After a four-year career at Northeastern from 2008-12, where she ranks second all-time in career minutes played (5,878), career save percentage (.940), career shutouts (18), and single-season save percentage (.950), Schelling helped the Swiss national team to a bronze medal at the 2014 Olympics.
A Zurich native, she was the only woman to play in the Swiss Men’s National B League. She also represented Switzerland at the 2006, 2010, and 2018 Olympics, and played in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League before retiring in 2018.
Schelling isn’t the first product of Northeastern women’s hockey to break a barrier. In 2019, two-time Olympian Kendall Coyne Schofield became the first woman to compete in the NHL All-Stars skill competition.
“It’s historic that [Schelling and Coyne] are doing these things to help grow not only hockey, but any female that wants to get into [male-dominated] jobs,” Flint said. “You look back even a few years ago, they wouldn’t even be considered. Now we’re starting to see, in all pro sports, women starting to get jobs, which is really great to see.”
Florence Schelling in net for Northeastern in 2012.
Other women have held positions on men’s hockey teams, but none have ascended to general manager. In 2019, the NHL had milestone hires in Hayley Wickenheiser, an assistant director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Cammi Granato, a professional scout for the league’s expansion team in Seattle.
In Europe, Vicky Mategazza is the president of HC Lugano, SC Bern’s rival, and Jenny Silfverstrand has held CEO positions in Sweden.
“We wanted someone who was visionary, young and intelligent,” Luthi said. “It didn’t matter whether that person was male or female. It was much more important that this person understood hockey.”
SC Bern won the Swiss National League title in 2019, its third in four seasons, but only finished ninth out of 12 teams in the league this year. The team has led European hockey in attendance since 2002, with an average of 16,237 fans in the 2019-20 season.
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