Team Latvia head coach Ted Nolan looks on from the bench during preliminary round action against Russia at the 2012 IIHF World Championship.
photo: © IIHF / Andre Ringuette
Canadian coach to receive Order of Canada at special ceremony in October
Ted Nolan says his first reflection was on his parents and what they taught him at a young age.
“The one thing they instilled in us was the power of work. If you want things in life, you have to work for it,” Nolan said in a recent media article about being inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. “Certainly, there were some barriers in a way, but you just had to overcome somehow and keep fighting, and don't give up.”
Nolan will be inducted into the hallowed Hall on 29 October, when he’ll be awarded the Order of Sport, the country’s highest sporting honour, in the Builder category. The national award recognizes Canadians “who have achieved the highest level of sporting accomplishment and who have the purpose and passion for going beyond their sport success, educating all Canadians on the transformative power of sport” according to the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.
“When you get recognized by your country, I think it's powerful. It really is,” said Nolan. “You know, coming from where I came from — Garden River First Nation — and being recognized with the Order of Canada is just a special feeling.”
Nolan grew up in the Garden River First Nation in northern Ontario as the third youngest of 12 children raised by his parents Stan and Rose. He played minor hockey in Sault Ste. Marie and left home for junior hockey in Kenora when he was 16 years old. He spent two seasons with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1976 to 1978 and was taken in the fifth round by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1978 NHL draft. Nolan played pro hockey from 1978 to 1986, spending time in the AHL and NHL, but his career ended at age 26 due to a serious back injury.
Determined to stay in the game, Nolan entered the coaching ranks and took over as head coach of his hometown Greyhounds in 1988, staying in that role until 1994. Nolan’s Greyhounds qualified for three straight Memorial Cups – Canada’s Major Junior National Championship – and won the title in 1993.
He jumped to the NHL from there as an assistant coach with the Hartford Whalers in for the 1994-95 season and was Buffalo’s head coach from 1995 to 1997. Nolan would return to junior hockey with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats for the 2005-06 season and then head back to the NHL with the New York Islanders as head coach in 2006-07 and 2007-08. He returned as the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach midseason of 2013-14.
His legacy also includes international coaching, helping grow the game in Latvia as its under-20 head coach at the 2012 and 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships.
He was also bench boss for the Latvian men’s national team that qualified for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, leading that team in Sochi. The Latvians gave Canada all it could handle in a quarterfinal at those Olympics, with the game tied 1-1 late in the third period before Canada’s Shea Weber got the go-ahead goal to give his team a 2-1 win over the pesky Latvians.
Nolan coached Poland’s national team at the Division 1A Worlds in 2018.
The legacy of Ted Nolan doesn’t start and end on the ice, however. He released a best-selling book in 2023 called Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL (which details some of the challenges he had to overcome, including racism faced in the game) and has regularly given back to the game and community, including through the Ted Nolan Foundation (which, among other things, has scholarships for Indigenous women to pursue education/training opportunities) and with the 3Nolans First Nation Hockey School, which Ted started with sons Brandon and Jordan. Nolan has been married to Sandra for 45 years and the couple have five grandchildren.
He's also a sought-after public speaker in Canada and, in June, delivered the convocation address at Brock University. He was presented with an honorary doctorate from the university.
In 2022, Nolan was diagnosed with blood cancer and underwent chemotherapy treatment for several months. The cancer is now in remission. The health challenge prompted Nolan to share important messages on men’s health and become an advocate for regular health check-ups.
The 69th Order of Sport Awards will be held on 29 October in Gatineau, Quebec.
Ted Nolan says his first reflection was on his parents and what they taught him at a young age.
“The one thing they instilled in us was the power of work. If you want things in life, you have to work for it,” Nolan said in a recent media article about being inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. “Certainly, there were some barriers in a way, but you just had to overcome somehow and keep fighting, and don't give up.”
Nolan will be inducted into the hallowed Hall on 29 October, when he’ll be awarded the Order of Sport, the country’s highest sporting honour, in the Builder category. The national award recognizes Canadians “who have achieved the highest level of sporting accomplishment and who have the purpose and passion for going beyond their sport success, educating all Canadians on the transformative power of sport” according to the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.
“When you get recognized by your country, I think it's powerful. It really is,” said Nolan. “You know, coming from where I came from — Garden River First Nation — and being recognized with the Order of Canada is just a special feeling.”
Nolan grew up in the Garden River First Nation in northern Ontario as the third youngest of 12 children raised by his parents Stan and Rose. He played minor hockey in Sault Ste. Marie and left home for junior hockey in Kenora when he was 16 years old. He spent two seasons with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1976 to 1978 and was taken in the fifth round by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1978 NHL draft. Nolan played pro hockey from 1978 to 1986, spending time in the AHL and NHL, but his career ended at age 26 due to a serious back injury.
Determined to stay in the game, Nolan entered the coaching ranks and took over as head coach of his hometown Greyhounds in 1988, staying in that role until 1994. Nolan’s Greyhounds qualified for three straight Memorial Cups – Canada’s Major Junior National Championship – and won the title in 1993.
He jumped to the NHL from there as an assistant coach with the Hartford Whalers in for the 1994-95 season and was Buffalo’s head coach from 1995 to 1997. Nolan would return to junior hockey with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats for the 2005-06 season and then head back to the NHL with the New York Islanders as head coach in 2006-07 and 2007-08. He returned as the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach midseason of 2013-14.
His legacy also includes international coaching, helping grow the game in Latvia as its under-20 head coach at the 2012 and 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships.
He was also bench boss for the Latvian men’s national team that qualified for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, leading that team in Sochi. The Latvians gave Canada all it could handle in a quarterfinal at those Olympics, with the game tied 1-1 late in the third period before Canada’s Shea Weber got the go-ahead goal to give his team a 2-1 win over the pesky Latvians.
Nolan coached Poland’s national team at the Division 1A Worlds in 2018.
The legacy of Ted Nolan doesn’t start and end on the ice, however. He released a best-selling book in 2023 called Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL (which details some of the challenges he had to overcome, including racism faced in the game) and has regularly given back to the game and community, including through the Ted Nolan Foundation (which, among other things, has scholarships for Indigenous women to pursue education/training opportunities) and with the 3Nolans First Nation Hockey School, which Ted started with sons Brandon and Jordan. Nolan has been married to Sandra for 45 years and the couple have five grandchildren.
He's also a sought-after public speaker in Canada and, in June, delivered the convocation address at Brock University. He was presented with an honorary doctorate from the university.
In 2022, Nolan was diagnosed with blood cancer and underwent chemotherapy treatment for several months. The cancer is now in remission. The health challenge prompted Nolan to share important messages on men’s health and become an advocate for regular health check-ups.
The 69th Order of Sport Awards will be held on 29 October in Gatineau, Quebec.