The Sweeney Agency

About Ryan Walter - Former NHL Player and Motivational Speaker:

Ryan Walter is both an inspiring motivational speaker and interactive leadership coach, translating his personal experience into practical applications that will help build and develop Leaders and Teams. With an emphasis on performance, leadership, team enhancement and personal empowerment, Ryan offers practical applications that are easily understood and used. His style leads from humorous dressing room banter to direct action as he charts a winning course for high performance, leadership and team achievement.

Ryan Walter played and coached more than 1100 games over 17 seasons in the National Hockey League. Drafted second overall by the Washington Capitals in 1978, Ryan was named the youngest NHL captain in his second of 4 seasons, played 9 seasons and won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens, and returned to his home town to play his last 2 seasons for the Vancouver Canucks. He was named Team Canada Captain in the World Junior Tournament, was selected to play in the NHL All-Star game and for Team Canada in 4 World Championships, became a Vice-President of the National Hockey League Players Association, and was honoured as NHL Man of the Year in 1992. Ryan has been inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame, the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame, named to the 30 all-time Washington Capitals’ Dream team, the top 50 all-time BCHL players and the top 100 Montreal Canadiens in 100 years.

Ryan has a Master of Arts Degree in Leadership/Business. He is the author of five books, Off the Bench and Into the Game, which has sold over 20,000 copies worldwide, Simply the Best: Insights and Strategies from Great Hockey Coaches, Simply the Best: Players on Performance, Hockey Plays and Strategies, and the newly released Hungry! Fuelling Your Best Game. Ryan is the creator of the board game Trade Deadline Hockey, and a regular contributor to both online and print magazines and newspapers. Ryan serves on the Hockey Canada Foundation’s Board of Directors and is a member of the Seton Hall Stillman School of Business Leadership Advisory Council.

Currently the President of the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Heat, Ryan won a Gold Medal at his inaugural 4 Nations Cup tournament as Head Coach of Canada's National Women's Hockey Team. He has been an NHL coach, co-founder and president of two start-up companies, a TV hockey analyst, and a hockey adviser and actor for both television and movies. Ryan's enthusiasm from the page, the screen, the bench, the boardroom, and the podium is contagious as he fulfills his mission to Inspire the hungry spirit!

What Ryan Walter Talks About:

7 Essential Qualities for Inspiring your team’s HUNGRY SPIRIT!
The difference between winning and losing is not just talent or coaching, but the team or organization's collective HUNGRY SPIRIT. To combat a collective Ambivalent Spirit, leaders must be intentional in growing and enhancing the Hungry Spirit. The Hungry Spirit is the foundation for engagement and empowerment because at the end of the day your people have to want to do it.

The ability of your leaders to engage and empower your players determines the performance of your organization. But how do you ensure you’re getting the most from your group? Ryan shows audiences how to focus on 7 actionable qualities that enhance team atmosphere and engage your organization’s players.

Coaching HUNGRY Teams - Wisdom from 12 NHL Coaches
Increasingly, the ability of Leadership to engage and empower your players determines the performance of your organization. But how do you ensure you’re getting the most from your individual players and your team? Ryan shows managers and coach’s techniques that NHL coaches utilize to create their HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE.

Playing in the Zone
We have all been there… how do we consistently stay there? Ryan reaches back into his 15 season NHL career to extrapolate the principles he used as a professional athlete for consistently driving high performance, and transfers these into practical steps that work in your environment. Your people will gain insight into personal strengths and their impact on team performance, and how the team’s level of synergy sucks or supplies energy to individuals. Ryan will contour his presentation to hit home specifically to your needs.

Other Topics Include:

• Leading Performance
• Leading Success
• Safety is a Team Game
• Creating Hungry Customers