
Davidson
Submitted
Mel Davidson has been inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place in Prague, Czechia on May 26, 2024.
Davidson was born in Coronation, raised in Oyen and spent nine years as the recreation director for the Town of Castor.
There is no name more synonymous with women’s hockey in Canada than Mel Davidson. She has been part of the Hockey Canada program for more than a quarter century, leading Canada to four gold medals and two silver.
In 1994 Mel served as the assistant coach during the Women’s Worlds. Victory that year in Lake Placid led to a head coaching position in 1997 at the Four Nations Cup at which time Davidson also became the head coach at the Connecticut College.
Davidson’s first major tournament was at the 2000 Women’s Worlds in Mississauga, Ont., taking home a gold medal. Following this Mel stepped away from being a head coach for a few years in order to focus on being head coach at Cornell University.
In 2002 she was behind the bench again as assistant coach when Canada won its first Olympic gold.
A silver medal was earned at the 2005 Women’s Worlds and she helped take Canada to gold in the 2006 Olympics and the Women’s Worlds in 2007.
Mel was instrumental in establishing the U18 program and was their head coach for the first ever Women’s U18 Championship, which produced a silver medal.
In 2010 she led the women’s team to victory for Canada at the Olympics held in Vancouver. During these years she coached at the league level as well, joining the Calgary Canucks team in the men’s Alberta junior league as an assistant.
Upon retirement from her coaching role Davidson’s involvement in the day-to-day operations of Canada’s women’s program became stronger as she was a scout and general manager for all levels of women’s competition. She assembled the teams that would win gold at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and a silver medal in 2018 in PyeongChang.
Davidson has worked with the IIHF Female Committee since 2010 and later joined the Mentor Program, an important step in developing women’s hockey outside of North America.
We are so proud to say that this accomplished, forward-thinking, deserving recipient is a local girl!
Congratulations Mel! We are so proud of you!