In 2020, Cara Morey discovered culture truly does win championships.
Cara Morey coached the Princeton University Tigers to an ECAC women’s championship title in 2020. In the championship game, her team gave up a goal on the opening shift, then another on the next shift.
Cornell led Princeton 2-0, 2:49 in the 1st period.
Uh oh.
These two teams had met earlier that season, with the Ivy League championship on the line, and Cornell breezed to a 5-0 win. With that in mind, Morey had a single thought on the bench: let’s just keep this respectable.
She called a timeout and as her team skated over, Morey contemplated pulling her starting goaltender as she prepared to unleash a nasty tirade to fire her Tigers up. Then she took a deep breath and did neither.
She looked at her team and said, “The good news is we have at least 57 more minutes to play hockey.”
The Tigers would in fact play more than 57 minutes as they rallied in regulation, scoring two goals to tie the game, before winning the school’s first ever ECAC women’s championship in overtime.
How the sixth-seed Tigers were able to overcome such adversity, against the top ranked team in the country, in their hostile home stadium, is the topic of Morey’s 21-minute Virtual Coaching Clinic presentation.
Morey is in her fifth year as Princeton’s head coach after serving as assistant for six seasons. With Morey behind the bench, the Tigers won their first ECAC tournament title, an Ivy League championship, qualified for two NCAA quarterfinals, set the program wins record, and established itself as a weekly inclusion in the national top-10 rankings. She has created an environment that inspires excellence and says that a championship program comes down to culture.
“Like all coaches, I had heard about culture winning championships many times before, but I think deep down I really believed that talent, systems and strategies was what separated the best.”
Listen in to her full presentation for the details on how that 2020 championship run changed her coaching mindset forever and learn tips and strategies you can apply to your coaching today to improve your culture.
