Torrent fire first coach Steve O'Rourke after last-place finish
The Seattle Torrent's first coach, Steve O'Rourke, was fired after a single season, during which the Professional Women's Hockey League expansion franchise fell into last place and stayed there.
"We are grateful to Steve for his contributions to the Seattle Torrent during our inaugural season. We wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future," Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in a team release Friday.
When the Torrent hired him, O'Rourke had been out of the pro hockey ranks for a while. O'Rourke's most recent coaching gig was with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League. The Summerland, B.C., native began his career in 2006-07 and his résumé is dotted with major-junior boys teams, mostly in the Western Hockey League.
His Seattle hiring was announced June 20, less than two months after the franchise launched and before it had a full roster assembled.
The Torrent struggled immediately, then won just three of 17 games between Jan. 7 and April 7 and finished 9-16-5 overall. The offense and defense were subpar for long stretches. They averaged 2.1 goals per game, third-worst in the PWHL, and allowed a league-high 92 goals.
According to QuantHockey, their penalty kill (83.9%) and power play (15.7%) were both fourth out of eight teams.
A name that will inevitably come up as O'Rourke's replacement is Seattle favorite Jessica Campbell, who was an assistant Kraken coach the past two seasons but decided to explore other opportunities with her contract due to expire this summer. Campbell became the first woman in a full-time, behind-the-bench NHL role in 2024.
"We respect her decision and believe strongly in her as a coach in this league," Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said in a team statement.
That would indicate Campbell is looking for another NHL role, but stranger things have happened.
The Montréal Victoire rolled to their first PWHL championship this week, so the mad dash to fill out coaching staffs will be underway soon, if it isn't already. The three-year-old PWHL is in a period of rapid expansion, with four new teams - Detroit, Las Vegas, Hamilton (Ontario) and San Jose - joining since the regular season ended in April, bringing the total to 12 teams. It was six before Seattle and Vancouver joined last summer, so the league has doubled since its inaugural season in 2024.
San Jose named a general manager/head coach in Troy Ryan earlier Friday, which filled one opening, but now Seattle has joined the fray. Turner said the Torrent will begin searching for a new head coach immediately.
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 5:05 PM.