With a resume ladened with superlatives, Danièle Sauvageau has carved an impressive career in the hockey world.

Born April 22, 1962 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the Sauvageau family moved to Deux-Montagnes, Quebec when Danièle was four years old. She attended St. Jerome’s College and by seventeen years of age, she was coaching the girls and boys teams at her school. This led to serving as Head Coach for the Ferland Quatre Glaces, which was first based out of Brossard, Quebec and then Repentigny, in the League Régionale du Hockey au Féminin.

In 1994-95, Sauvageau served as Head Coach of Team Quebec for the Canadian Nationals. That team was nominated as Team of the Year at the Quebec Sports Awards. The following year, she was the recipient of the Coach of the Year award for St. Eustache, Quebec.

Sauvageau was named Head Coach of Canada’s Under-19 Women's Hockey Team when it was founded on May 15, 1996. She was also selected as an Assistant Coach with Team Canada at the 1996 IIHF Women’s Pacific Rim Championship, where the team won the Gold Medal.

Danièle Sauvageau has taken part in six Olympic Games as Women’s Hockey Coach, General Manager or Coaching Consultant. She also played a key role in Canada’s victories at seven consecutive IIHF Women’s World Championships.

Danièle Sauvageau coaching the Canadian women's hockey team (HHOF-IIHF)

Canadian Women’s hockey team Danièle Sauvageau and the Canadian women's hockey team with their gold medal after defeating the United States 3 - 2 in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics. (HHOF-IIHF)

She joined Team Canada as an Assistant Coach at the 1997 IIHF Women’s World Championship, and that team also collected the Gold Medal. Danièle was an Assistant Coach with Team Canada at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. The team won the Silver Medal at that event. Then in 1999, Sauvageau was named Head Coach of Team Canada at that year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship, and she led Canada to the Gold Medal. As Head Coach of Team Canada at the 2001 IIHF Women’s World Championship, she again led the team to the Gold Medal, and in 2002, Sauvageau returned as Head Coach of Team Canada at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, where Canada again triumphed and took home the Gold Medal.

During that same period, she became the first female coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) when she accepted a role as Assistant Coach with the Montreal Rocket in 1999-2000.

Long recognized as a leader in the coaching field, Danièle earned a Master’s certificate in Coaching from the (Canadian) National Coaching Certification Program. She was part of the Women’s High Performance program with Hockey Canada in 1999-2000 and was chosen as a speaker at the 2002 Play Right International Coaches Conference, complementing a roster of top NHL and International hockey coaches. In 2008, Sauvageau initiated the University of Montreal Carabins Women’s Hockey program. She acted as a Coaching and Performance Consultant with the Canadian Olympic Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In 2012, Sauvageau was named to the twelve-member Selection Committee for the newly introduced Order of Hockey in Canada that pays tribute to extraordinary contributions to the game of hockey in Canada.

The awards have been plentiful for Danièle Sauvageau. She was the recipient of Coach of the Year for Team Sports in Quebec in 1995, 1999 and 2002. She received the Coaching prize in Canada in 1999, 2001 and 2003 and she was awarded the House of Commons Medal from 1998-2002. In 2008, she was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. Danielle was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada in July 2013. In 2021, Sauvageau was the recipient of the Hockey Canada Female Breakthrough Award. She earned an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law for leadership in international athletics from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

When the Professional Women’s Hockey League was created, preparing for play in 2023-24, Danièle was hired as General Manager of the Montreal franchise, which was named the Montreal Victoire in 2024-25.

Not limited to her numerous roles behind the bench in hockey arenas, Sauvageau found a role as a broadcaster and was the first female NHL Saturday Night Hockey TV analyst for Canada's French station Télévision de Radio-Canada.

In 2025, Danièle Sauvageau received yet another award for a career dedicated to Women’s hockey when she was inducted into the Builder Category of the Hockey Hall of Fame. She became the first female Honoured Member in The Hall’s Builder Category.