Greg Fargo, PWHL New York's new coach, excited for his shot in the professional game
A puck is seen on the ice in the second period of a PWHL hockey game between PWHL New York and PWHL Minnesota at UBS Arena on Sunday, March 3, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The opportunity was too good to pass up. Plus the timing was right.
That, in essence, was Greg Fargo’s formulation in accepting the head coaching position with PWHL New York.
“You’re able to kind of see what’s going on in the PWHL after just one year [and] it feels like women’s professional sports has absolutely taken off right now. This is one of six seats in the world that gets to coach the best players on a daily basis. And for all of those reasons I’m excited for a new challenge,” Fargo said during an introductory Zoom interview session Tuesday afternoon. “I’m excited to push myself professionally and personally.”
The 41-year-old, who was officially hired on June 7, has been a collegiate coach since 2006. He was an assistant at Canisius from 2006-08 before taking the reins at his alma mater, Elmira College, for four years. He left Elmira for Colgate in 2012 and stayed at the ECAC program for 12 seasons.
Fargo has a career record of 334-170-39.
“The experience is there. The knowledge is there. The personality is there. The capacity to connect with players on a daily basis,” said general manager Pascal Daoust, who joined Fargo on the call. “There’s tons of good reasons there.”
Fargo replaces Howie Draper as head coach, who was reassigned to a special advisory role in May after New York missed the playoffs in the league’s inaugural season. The team finished with the worst record in the league (5-4-3-12) and earned the fewest points (26). They allowed more goals (67) than any other team in the league and scored the second-fewest (53).
At one point during the 50-minute long session, Fargo pointed to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ puck-possession attack implemented by then-coach Sheldon Keefe as his preferred style of hockey.
Which should be a boon for Alex Carpenter, Ella Shelton and first overall pick Sarah Fillier. Carpenter’s 23 points were tied for second-most in the league last season, while Shelton led all PWHL defenders in points with 21. Fillier is the fourth-leading scorer in Princeton’s history with 194 (93 goals and 101 assists).
“We want to have the mindset that it’s our puck,” Fargo said. “We want to do everything we can to keep it–possess it–and when we don’t have it, we want to be really quick to attack and get it back.
“That’s who we want to be and I anticipate bringing a lot of these core beliefs along with me to PWHL New York.”