Rick Filighera enters his 11th year as Cortland's women's ice hockey head coach in 2026-27.
Filighera led Cortland to an 16-8-4 record in the 2025-26 season, qualifying for the conference tournament for the seventh season in a row. The Red Dragons reached the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Finals for the fourth time in the last five seasons after earning victories over Potsdam and Oswego in the conference tournament. Filighera also mentored forward Katie Mahoney to SUNYAC Player of the Year honors and Cortland's first-ever American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) All-America nod.
Cortland went 17-5-4 in 2024-25 and allowed just 30 goals over 26 games for a 1.14 goals-against average, the fewest goals allowed and lowest goals-against average in a season in program history. Seven Red Dragons earned conference postseason honors, including defenseman Ainsley Delacourt winning SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
In the 2023-24 season, Filighera led the Red Dragons to the program’s first-ever conference title and NCAA Division III Tournament appearance. Cortland was second in the SUNYAC regular season before defeating Oswego in the semifinals and winning in overtime at Plattsburgh in the finals, breaking the Cardinals’ streak of 10 straight seasons with a conference title. Cortland tied for ninth nationally after losing a tight contest to eventual national runner-up Elmira in the NCAA first round. The Red Dragons finished the season 20-6-2 to tie the school wins record.
Filighera also led Cortland to four Northeast Women’s Hockey League (NEWHL) playoff appearances in four seasons from 2018-23 (the 2020-21 season was canceled). His 2022-23 squad finished 20-7-0 to set the school victories record. The Red Dragons were NEWHL tournament runners-up in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Filighera was recognized twice by the NEWHL. He was the league’s Coach of the Year in 2018-19 and he and his assistants were the NEWHL Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021-22.
In nine seasons at Cortland, Filighera has fashioned an overall record of 131-87-19, and he has a total of 241 NCAA coaching victories over 18 years. Filighera joined the Red Dragons with an extensive coaching background having served as the girls’ ice hockey head coach at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio, for 12 years. Prior to the Gilmour Academy, he was hired as the inaugural women’s ice hockey head coach at Division I University of Maine in 1997 and led the squad through the 2003-04 season. He was nominated for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Coach of the Year during his first season behind the bench and finished as the runner-up for Hockey East Coach of the Year in his final campaign.
Previously, Filighera held his first collegiate head coaching position with the Rochester Institute of Technology women’s ice hockey team from 1995-97. He helped guide the program to a pair of ECAC playoff semifinal appearances, including a runner-up finish in 1996. He began his career as an assistant coach at Brockport (N.Y.) High School and eventually assumed the head coaching position from 1993-95.
Throughout his career, Filighera has attended multiple clinics and mentored at several regional and national ice hockey camps. He also served as the head coach of the Gilmour Gladiators, a girls’ U14 Tier 2 team, from 2014-16, guiding the team to a Mid AM District title and quarterfinal appearance at the USA Tier 2 Nationals in Lansing, Mich., in 2015.
A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Filighera received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Brockport in 1991 and earned his master’s degree in educational leadership at Maine in 2004. He and his wife, Palma, have two children, Kyra and Griffon.
(updated 7/22/2026)
