Tampa Bay Lightning mental performance coach Dr. Ryan Hamilton won’t be seen on the ice for Team Canada during these 2026 Winter Olympics.
He won’t be analyzing the opposing power play or picking apart the weaknesses within the other bench’s breakout.
But as Canada’s mental performance coach for a second straight Olympics, Hamilton remains busy doing his part to get Team Canada ready—even if you can’t see his work through X’s and O's.
“It’s pretty varied,” Hamilton said of his role, “and it definitely depends on the day.”
Leading up to the tournament, Hamilton helped the team services staff decide on signage for the walls, finding ways to reinforce the team’s identity and themes throughout the Olympics. He also helped decide how players were informed of roster decisions and planned team-building activities alongside Lightning and Team Canada coach Jon Cooper.
Hamilton continues to work with the coaching staff throughout the event.
“Obviously I have a very strong and enduring relationship with Coop, so when we're thinking about meetings where we're going to talk about our identity or mindset, Coop and I and the other coaches talk through those things,” he said. “In many ways, all of the coaches have an area of expertise or specialization at this event, and my little niche area which I'm paying extra attention to is the mental performance side. So it’s looking for little cultural moments and things that are about our identity and ways that we can communicate that.”
In his usual role with the Lightning, Hamilton meets with players 1-on-1 to offer support. With the shorter timeframe of the Olympics that isn’t happening as much, but he is available to players who might want to talk about a variety of issues that can range from sleep to troubleshooting problems back home, anxiety or other barriers that arise.
Whatever it takes to win
As for the mentality of Team Canada, Hamilton said the sole focus is on winning gold.
“In sports psychology, we definitely try to de-emphasize focusing on the outcome too much and letting the outcome become too big. You know the cliches—‘Process over outcome’ or ‘It's task over result’. However you want to say it,” he said. “Those are the things that we really need to focus on. But from a mindset perspective, how are they viewing this event? They're not viewing it as participants. They're not viewing it as an amazing, cool vacation.
“They’re viewing it as the opportunity to win for their country on the biggest stage imaginable. They are aware that they're Olympians. They're aware that they're a part of a larger Team Canada.…To a man in that room, whether that’s a 19-year-old man or a 30-something-year-old man, they’re here to do whatever it takes to win.”
Team Canada brings together some of the greatest hockey minds on the planet. Finding the right line combinations is up to the coaching staff, but every player arrived willing to play whatever role was needed of them.
Team Canada wanted to “build a tournament”, earning wins and building on positives while also identifying growth areas. Hamilton said establishing a team culture and mindset in a two-week tournament can be difficult, but it starts simply.
“One of the things that's pretty controllable that you don't have to overthink is winning habits, playing the right way. I think if you can start there and be committed as a group to doing those things, I think that's great. I think that's an awesome platform from which to start.”
He said the team seemed to build chemistry quickly.
“These guys are so excited to be here together,” he said. “They're doing things together, going for walks. They're getting coffees, they're spending time getting treatment together. They're in the Olympic Village cruising around, they’re going to events.”
Service over self
Hamilton’s role at the Olympics is unique. He once again finds himself surrounded by future Hockey Hall of Famers, but his approach remains unchanged.
“I've watched hundreds and hundreds of hockey practices. I couldn't explain a drill. What I understand is the mental side of the game, and that's through my research and my experiences, but then it's also through being around amazing coaches for 15 years. And what I have to make sure of is that I don't think about who's in the room when I talk to them,” he said.
“I don't think about how many Hall of Famers are there or how many great experiences that they hav,e or how they've probably heard a better speech somewhere else or their own excellent sports psychologists that they work with. I can't think about all of those things. I just need to be committed to the message I'm trying to deliver and the style with which I try to deliver it.”
He’s grown accustomed to that while working for a Tampa Bay organization with some of the best players in the game. That helped him be prepared for Olympic opportunities.
“I get to speak in front of many future Hall of Famers in Tampa, and I've been around high-pressure moments, and I've been inspired by our guys in Tampa,” he said. “I've learned a lot about what works and what doesn't work. I just feel pretty grateful that I've had an organization that does things so well to help prepare me for these kinds of moments, and I've had the platform to figure out this job and to do my best at it in Tampa for the last decade-plus.”
At some point during the Olympics, adversity will hit. The group is playing in a non-NHL city in a rink that was constructed just a few weeks ago. It isn’t the usual setup NHL players are accustomed to.
“The dressing room is going to be smaller. The pregame meal might be different than what we're used to. Who knows what it might be, but things are going to come up. And one of the things while handling adversity is just accepting that you don't get to choose what the adversity is,” Hamilton said. "And so whenever a problem is put in front of you, you have that attitude about it. It's like, ‘I'm at the Olympics. Can I make room for the fact that the gluten-free pasta is a little soggy? Can I accept that?’ The answer is yes."
Those differences and occasional challenges are worth it in the end, he said. After also working for Team Canada at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Hamilton said each person’s commitment to each other and the job in front of them can make a difference.
“The thing that resonated with me there that I think is worth bringing here is just that commitment. It's not a super long time as it's essentially 17 days here together, but every day you're on, and every day you're doing something, and it asks a lot,” Hamilton said.
“The thing that I really bring from it is, no matter what you're asked and how heavy it might feel and how demanding it could be and how you might think, ‘Oh, somebody else should be doing that’, it's just your job to be of service. I think you choose service over self, which is a pretty good model for staff, and it's also a pretty good model for the players. It's hard to equate the two Olympics because so much is different, but I think the general theme of rising to the challenges of adversity resonates.”
