New year, new Boston Blades head coach

The first weekend of play in 2018 brought a bit of news for the Boston Blades. They not only won their first game of the season, but also found a new head coach - Kacy Ambroz. The Minnesota-native is in her first season with the team.

Ambroz played forward for the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2008-2012, winning a National Championship with the team in 2010. She set a school record of playing in 141 straight games. She went on to play for the Minnesota Whitecaps in 2015-2016, according to the team’s website and a tweet from the team. She originally joined the Blades as an assistant coach under former head coach Casey Brugman.

Congratulations to former Whitecap Kacy Ambroz on her first win as coach of the @BostonCWHL!https://t.co/P6rslqBFn1

— Minnesota Whitecaps (@WhitecapsHockey) January 7, 2018

Brugman entered his first year with the team this season, after being made head coach with no official league announcement. According to a cached snapshot of the team website (dated Jan. 2), Brugman has been coaching since 2010. He spent the two seasons as the assistant coach Winthrop High School. He’s a Winthrop-native, which is also the location of the Blades rink this season.

The last time Brugman was listed as head coach on a game sheet was the away series in Markham on Dec. 10. He was not listed on the game sheets for the Blades trip to China.

The press release on Ambroz’s hiring only mentioned that Brugman and the team “have parted ways following a tumultuous start to the 2017-18 season.”

The Blades also have a first-year general manager in Jessica Martino, who hired Brugman shortly after she was named GM.

The Blades have not yet responded to a request for a comment on the reason behind Brugman’s departure.