Caitlin Gilligan to be Vice President of Women’s Hockey Development

The Casper Warbirds have recently hired Caitlin Gilligan as the Vice President of Women’s Hockey Development. She will start this upcoming season.

Caitlin Gilligan is no stranger to the world of hockey and has been coaching as well as playing for many years. Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Gilligan played in the NCAA Division 3 at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh from 2012-2016. While playing defense at SUNY, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education with minors in psychology and history. The SUNY hockey team won their league title of ECAC Champions four years in a row while Gilligan was with them, and in 2014-2016 they were NCAA National Champions as well. In addition to these titles, Gilligan also earned a spot on SUNY’s All-Academic team for four years as a Varsity athlete with at least a 3.0 GPA. But her time playing defense at SUNY was only the beginning.

After graduating, Gilligan was signed to play professionally for the top women’s hockey league in Germany (DFEL). During her year in Germany, she played defense and forward for ECDC Memmingen and went with them to win the EWHL Supercup Championship. For the ‘17-18 season, she played for the top league in Sweden (SDHL), and then, returning home to Canada, she earned two provincial silver medals as the Senior AA for the Oakville Hornets. After playing hockey at a high level throughout college and in several professional leagues, Gilligan turned her attention to focus more on the skill and passion that she had been developing along the way–coaching.

Level 1 certified by Hockey Canada and US Hockey, Gilligan has coached and worked to build up women’s hockey in several different places and capacities for almost ten years. From 2016-2023, she worked as a skills coach for Centre Ice Training Academy, where she then took on the additional role of Operations Manager in 2019. During these years, Gilligan ran classes, camps, and clinics as well as working closely with countless clients to ensure that students were connected to classes that were the right fit for them. From teaching the basics of how to skate all the way to elite classes and private shooting lessons, she’s done it all when it comes to coaching hockey.

As if all this were not enough, in 2021 Gilligan founded her own development company, Caitlin Gilligan Hockey Training. This shift was important to Gilligan because she had found that there was very little in the way of female hockey development out there, and she wanted to provide that opportunity to young girls. Now Gilligan’s coaching resume is even longer, including team classes, private lessons, and students of all ages and stages. Some of Gilligan’s girls have gone on to play NCAA D1, D3, ACHA and Usports. She’s coached girls in Ontario, Iowa, and New York, and she’s still just warming up.

Gilligan is passionate about women’s hockey and devoted to working towards its further development. She shares, "We are lucky to be living in a time where the female game is making noise and continues to grow, and I love that I have the opportunity to help mentor aspiring females.” In her new role alongside the Casper Warbirds, Gilligan is looking forward to taking Women’s Hockey Development to the next level.