Employee Directory

Kelly Rider Head Women’s Ice Hockey Coach/Game Administrator/Athletics Administration/ Student Athlete Advisory Committee
Athletics

Kelly Rider was named the first ever head coach of the Curry College women's ice hockey program in 2020. She also serves as Curry's Senior Woman Administrator, athletics/academic liaison, a member of the CARES team, and a game administrator. Additionally, Rider is serving the final year of a four-year team on the NCAA Division III Women’s Hockey Committee, where she has served as Chair since 2025.
Since launching the program, Rider has guided the Colonels to the postseason in each of their first five seasons. With a roster composed entirely of first-year student-athletes, Curry earned the first playoff victory in program history over Suffolk in its inaugural 2021-22 season. The Colonels continued their rise with back-to-back conference championship game appearances in 2023-24 and 2024-25, including earning the No.2 seed and winning the first home playoff game in program history in 2024-25.

Curry has led the CNE in faceoff win percentage in each of the past three seasons and tied Endicott for the conference’s top penalty kill in 2025-26.

Curry student-athletes have earned significant individual recognition throughout Rider’s tenure. A women’s hockey student-athlete has been named the Curry College Female Athlete of the Year in each of the past three years: Soleil Archambeault in 2024, Grayson Goolgasian in 2025, and Ava Doyle in 2026. Archambeault was also named the 2024 CCC Goalie of the Year and the 2024 CNE NCAA Woman of the Year nominee. Goolgasian and Danielle Reid earned CNE First Team All-Conference and New England Hockey Writers Association All-Star honors in 2025 after the leading the conference in points and goals respectively, while Bella Mardesich earned First Team All-Conference honors in 2026.

Rider’s program has also established a strong record of academic achievement, consistently ranking among the top teams in the Curry Athletics Department in GPA. The program’s inaugural graduating class finished with an average cumulative GPA of 3.7, and Sarah Kerr was named a Curry College valedictorian in 2026. Fourteen Colonels earned AHCA/Krampade All-American Scholar recognition following the 2025-26 season, while student-athletes have also been recognized across campus and the conference for their leadership, service, and contributions to the Curry community.

Rider joined Curry after spending five years as the head women's ice hockey coach at Northland College, an NCAA Division III institution in Ashland, Wisconsin. She also served as Senior Woman Administrator and Interim Associate Athletic Director. After starting the program, she led Northland to a victory over No.2 nationally-ranked Adrian College in just the 29th contest in program history. In 2018, Northland tied for the most AHCA All-American Scholars in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHA). Rider also coached two All-Conference goaltenders. She also served on the weekly ranking committee for d3hockey.com from 2015 to 2019.

Rider’s move to Curry marked a return to the Northeast, where she spent much of her early coaching career. She spent two years at Neumann University, first as an assistant coach and then as a head coach, guiding the Knights to an ECAC West semifinal appearance in 2013 and coaching an ECAC West All-Rookie Team selection in 2014. Rider also spent one season as an assistant coach at UMass Boston and three seasons coaching high school and prep school hockey at Canton High School and Dexter Southfield.

Rider remains active with USA Hockey, regularly working as a coach and evaluator at Central and Pacific District camps. She also serves on the USA Hockey Girls’ Player Development Committee. She holds a Level 5 USA Hockey coaching certification. Additionally, she is a Certified Athletic Trainer through the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). In 2015, she served as the strength and conditioning coach for the Albany Academy Baseball team, helping lead the program to a New York State Section II Championship.

Rider earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training/Sports Medicine as well as a minor in Biology from Quinnipiac University, where she was a student-athlete on the Division I women's ice hockey team. She earned her Master of Education with a specialization in Coaching from Boston University, where she developed a lasting connection to the Boston area. She is also a graduate of WeCOACH’s NCAA Women Coaches Academy, Class #54.