U.S. women’s hockey team captain says coach Ken Klee a keeper for 2018

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – If it were up to captain Meghan Duggan, Ken Klee would be behind the U.S. women’s hockey team bench at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“We’ve got a good thing going with him right now,” Duggan said. “He’s been kind of exactly what we’ve been looking for these last couple years.

“I’ve obviously been a part of U.S. teams over the last 10 years. Great coaches along the way, but I feel really confident in his ability to lead us in the right direction.”

Klee played defence in the NHL for 14 seasons, mostly with the Washington Capitals, before retiring in 2009. The 44-year-old from Indianapolis began coaching U.S. women’s teams — both national and under-22 — in 2014.

His record is 15-2-1-2, including a 3-1 win over Canada at the Sandman Centre on Monday to kick off the preliminary round of the women’s world hockey championship.

The U.S. won both the world championship and the Four Nations Cup in 2015 with Klee as their coach. He’s open to the idea of leading the American women into Pyeongchang, South Korea in two years.

“I would love to if the opportunity is there. I’ve had the question a lot,” Klee said. “I’ve just got to keep winning. You win and things take care of themselves. It increases your chances.”

Klee played for the U.S. in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and in a pair of world championships, but not in a Winter Games. He scored 55 goals, including 13 game-winners, and totalled 195 points in 934 NHL games.

Klee wanted to spend a few years after retirement guiding his hockey-playing sons before stepping into coaching.

The U.S. women haven’t won gold since women’s hockey made its Olympic debut in 1998. Canada has beaten them in three of four finals since then. Sweden took silver in 2006.

Former pro player Kevin Dineen coached Canada’s women to gold in 2014 before returning to the NHL’s coaching ranks as an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Doug Lidster, who played 16 NHL seasons, was an assistant coach of the Canadian women’s team that won Olympic gold in 2010. He’s now an assistant with the Vancouver Canucks.

When Klee will make the jump back to the NHL, he can’t say.

“I can’t say I don’t want to coach at a higher level because I think I do,” he said. “I’m not looking to go anywhere right away for sure.”

In his two years coaching the U.S. women, Klee has been struck by the high stakes when his country plays the Canadian women.

“The sad thing is we only play four times a year, so obviously those are huge games,” Klee said. “An NHL team gets to play its big rivals six times a year plus maybe playoffs. That to me is a big difference. With the women’s game, we go right to Game 7 Stanley Cup finals quick.

“It’s a challenge for both players and coaches and staff mentally. You don’t want to say, ‘if we don’t win that game it’s the end of our year,’ but you realize you don’t get that many opportunities to feel that kind of pressure, that kind of excitement.”