Four NHL Coaches' Association Members to Mentor at 2026 AHL All-Star Classic

Emily Ach, Chris Pascall, Dennis Ruppe and Karli Whitaker have been invited to participate as mentees at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic presented by BMO at the BMO Center in Rockford, Ill., where they will shadow All-Star coaches and gain hands-on experience in bench and locker-room work. The AHL launched the mentorship initiative in 2023 to create these exact opportunities for professionals from diverse backgrounds, and this year’s selections underline the league’s push to expand the coaching pipeline beyond traditional pathways.

The four mentees bring varied resumes. Emily Ach is in her second season as an assistant coach with the St. Cloud State University women’s program and was an all-conference player at Augsburg University; she also spent two seasons as an assistant at Mercyhurst University. Chris Pascall serves as a video coach with experience that includes Trois-Rivières in the ECHL, McGill University and the Lac St-Louis Lions midget AAA program. Dennis Ruppe is manager of hockey operations and a travel team coach for Hockey in New Jersey, a non-profit that provides underserved youth the opportunity to play hockey for free. Karli Whitaker is the head coach of the Freedom High School junior varsity team in Tampa and is noted as the first female coach in the Lightning High School Hockey League. Pascall and Ruppe are members of the NHL Coaches’ Association BIPOC Coaches Program while Ach and Whitaker are members of the NHLCA Female Coaches Program.

The mentees will shadow All-Star coaches Ryan Mougenel of the Providence Bruins, Pascal Vincent of the Laval Rocket, Dan Watson of the Grand Rapids Griffins and Mark Letestu of the Colorado Eagles. That bench-side access at the All-Star Classic matters because the event doubles as an advanced development lab: rosters were constructed with 12 players representing each of the AHL’s four divisions, committees of AHL coaches selected the participants, and every one of the league’s 32 teams is represented. The 2026 rosters include 43 first-time AHL All-Stars and 13 rookies, plus 12 former first-round NHL draft choices and seven second-round picks; 30 of the All-Stars named have also played in the National Hockey League already this season. Named players appearing on All-Star materials include Sergei Murashov, Gabe Perreault, Denver Barkey, Quinn Hutson, Tim Washe, Jacob Fowler, Adam Engström, Nick Lardis, Kevin Korchinski and Bradly Nadeau, among others.

The All-Star Classic has long been a career accelerator for coaches and players alike. The event’s alumni list reads like a roadmap to the NHL, and there is a long history of coaches using the showcase before moving on to NHL roles, with names such as Bruce Boudreau, Bruce Cassidy, Peter Laviolette, Todd McLellan, John Tortorella and Barry Trotz cited as examples. For the AHL, and for NHL clubs watching carefully, pairing rising coaching talent with elite prospects creates a multiplier effect: coaches deepen their tactical and people skills while organizations evaluate bench leadership under high-pressure, game-day conditions.

Beyond Xs and Os, this mentorship group also signals broader cultural shifts. Ruppe’s work with Hockey in New Jersey and Whitaker’s breakthrough as the first female coach in her high school league highlight access and representation issues that the AHL and NHLCA programs are trying to address. For fans, the All-Star Classic on Feb. 10-11 will offer a richer show: elite talent on the ice, visible coaching development on the bench, and an evolving pipeline that could reshape who gets opportunities at the next level.