University of Minnesota Duluth head women's hockey coach Laura Schuler announced Friday the final pieces of her staff are in place with the hiring of assistant coaches Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Olivia Soares.

Brykaliuk returns to the Bulldog coaching staff after stepping away in June of 2021 to play for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the PHF from 2021-2023.  Soares comes to Duluth from Union College, where she has spent the last two seasons on the bench as an assistant coach.

Brykaliuk first joined the UMD coaching staff of her alma mater in the spring of 2018 after a professional hockey career in China. During the 2020-21 season, Brykaliuk became just the fourth former UMD player to play in both a NCAA Quarterfinal game and coach in one, and was the third former player to coach in an NCAA Frozen Four after helping the Bulldogs get back to college hockey's biggest stage in 2021.

"I am so excited to have one of our very own join our coaching staff," said Schuler about Brykaliuk's return. "Ashleigh excelled at UMD both on the ice and in the classroom and has continued to play an integral role in growing the women's game right here in our community.  As a former professional player and premier player for Canadians U18 and Development National Teams; as well as a two-time captain at UMD all while majoring in an extremely rigorous field of study, Ashleigh knows what it takes to be successful on the ice, in the classroom and in the community and continues to this day to exemplify what it means to be UMD Bulldog."

A native of Brandon, Manitoba, Brykaliuk graduated from UMD in May of 2017 with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. As a student-athlete, she captained the Bulldogs into the 2017 NCAA Quarterfinals, helping UMD earn its first home NCAA Tournament contest since 2010. Brykaliuk was a two-time All-WCHA Second Team honoree, earning the award in both 2016-17 and 2015-16. Brykaliuk had back-to-back 40-plus point seasons as a junior and a senior, and finished her career as the 12th highest scorer in UMD history. Over 146 career games, Brykaliuk scored 62 goals and added 83 assists for a whopping 145 points -- nearly a 1.00 point per game average.

A two-time team captain, Brykaliuk recorded the second-longest scoring streak in UMD history -- a 19-game, 26 point run that lasted from Oct. 29, 2016 through Feb. 11, 2017.  Brykaliuk was also a two-time WCHA All-Academic Team selection in both 2016-17 and 2015-16. Just this past winter, Brykaliuk was selected to the UMD Women's Hockey 25th Anniversary Team. Overlapping with her time as a Bulldog, Brykaliuk was a member of Team Canada's U18 and National Development program from (2013-15). 

"It is an honor and privilege to be back with our Bulldog women's hockey program, and I cannot wait to get started," said Brykaliuk. "I am excited for the opportunity to be back with the team, working with our student-athletes and staff, and continuing to build on the success and excellence of the program."
 

Currently a USA Hockey National Development Camp coach for the past three years (2022-24), Soares helped Union College post the most overall and conference wins in a two-year stretch in the program's Division I history and steer the program to a pair of victories over nationally ranked teams. In 2022-23, Soares had a hand in helping Union to the most wins in a single season at the Division I level (11), and the team had one of its best stretches in the month of November, winning three games in overtime as part of a four-game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak, both the longest-ever in the program's Division I history.

"I am thrilled to have Olivia Soares join our coaching staff here at UMD," said Schuler about Soares.  Olivia brings both WCHA playing and high coaching experience to the table, and has a great understanding of what it means to be a high performer. At OSU she was a two-year  captain and a part of a growing program that was poised to make a national championship run her senior campaign.  Since stepping into the coaching world, her leadership has played a pivotal role in guiding the teams she coached to historical and successful seasons, and I know she will have the same impact at UMD."  

Prior to Union, Soares served as an assistant coach at Colby College during the 2021-22 season, where she helped to lead the Mules to the best season in program history. Colby set a program record for wins with a 16-6-1 record and earned their first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament, finishing the season eighth in the USCHO.com national rankings.

As a collegiate hockey player, Soares had a successful four-year career at Ohio State University from 2016-20, playing in 142 games for the Buckeyes. Soares was part of OSU's first-ever NCAA Tournament and Frozen Four Team in 2018, and served as both assistant captain as a junior before becoming a captain as a senior. Soares also led the team to the program's first Western Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament championship in 2020 before the NCAA Tournament was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A WCHA Scholar-Athlete honoree in 2018 and a three-time WCHA All-Academic Team selection, as well as a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Soares graduated from Ohio State in 2020 with a degree in education and earned her master's degree in sports management from OSU in 2021.  

Soares, notably, becomes the first Black coach in the WCHA and is just one of two Black coaches in all of Division I women's hockey. 

"I am honored and grateful to be joining the coaching staff at UMD," said Soares.  "Returning to the WCHA now as a coach and being able to contribute to UMD's continued success is an incredible opportunity. I look forward to working alongside Head Coach Laura Schuler, Ashleigh, Justin, and the entire athletic department to ensure the best possible experience for our student-athletes here at Minnesota-Duluth. The rich history and pride surrounding Bulldog hockey is extremely motivating, and I am eager to get to work with such an esteemed program."