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How often do you get the opportunity to learn your trade from someone with 25 years of NHL experience? This August, the RBIHF brings that experience to Belgium. Jamie Healy, long-time Head Equipment Manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets and an experienced USA Hockey equipment manager at multiple IIHF World Championships, will join us as an instructor for the 2026 Equipment Manager Course. Organised by the RBIHF in cooperation with the IIHF and USA Hockey, this is a unique opportunity for equipment managers, team staff and anyone serious about developing their skills to learn directly from one of the most experienced professionals in international ice hockey.
25 years behind an NHL bench
Equipment management at the highest level of ice hockey is much more than sharpening skates and preparing equipment.
For approximately 25 years, Jamie Healy experienced that environment every day with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He joined the organisation ahead of its inaugural NHL season in 2000–01 and eventually became Head Equipment Manager.
During his professional career, Healy worked more than 2,000 games and built extensive experience in everything required to keep a professional hockey team functioning: equipment preparation and maintenance, skate management, dressing-room organisation, logistics, player requirements, problem solving and dealing with the unexpected situations that are part of life behind the bench.
And his experience doesn't stop at the NHL.
NHL experience meets international hockey
Healy has also represented USA Hockey as an Equipment Manager with the USA Men's National Team at several IIHF World Championships, including tournaments in 2015, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
That combination makes his experience particularly valuable.
An NHL season and an IIHF tournament create very different challenges for an equipment manager. International tournaments involve travel, unfamiliar facilities, tight schedules, limited resources and the need to find solutions quickly — exactly the kind of situations equipment managers throughout European hockey regularly encounter.
This August, participants in Belgium will have the opportunity to learn from that experience directly.
Not just a course — an opportunity to learn from the top
The RBIHF Equipment Manager Course is designed to combine professional knowledge with practical information that participants can take back to their own teams and clubs.
Whether you are already working as an equipment manager, helping a national or club team, starting out in the role, or simply want to understand how equipment operations are handled at the highest level, this course offers access to knowledge that is rarely available in Europe.
More importantly, having someone with Jamie Healy's background in the room provides an opportunity to ask questions.
How do NHL teams organise their equipment operations? How do you prepare for international travel? What can smaller organisations learn from professional hockey? Which details make the biggest difference to players? And how do you react when something goes wrong minutes before a game?
These are lessons that are difficult to learn from a manual.
They come from experience.
RBIHF, IIHF and USA Hockey working together
The course is organised by the Royal Belgian Ice Hockey Federation (RBIHF) in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and USA Hockey, bringing international expertise directly to the Belgian and European hockey community.
For the RBIHF, developing hockey means developing more than players and coaches. Strong teams also depend on knowledgeable people working behind the scenes.
Equipment managers are an essential part of that team.
Providing them with access to education, international expertise and a network of colleagues is therefore an important part of our development programme.
An opportunity worth making time for
Courses like this do not come around every season.
Having an instructor in Belgium with decades of NHL experience combined with multiple IIHF World Championships is exceptional.
If you are serious about becoming a better equipment manager, working at a higher level in the future, or bringing professional standards back to your club or national programme, this is an opportunity worth making time for — even if that means taking a couple of days away from work.
Places are limited.
Register for the 2026 RBIHF Equipment Manager Course and spend a few days learning from experience built over more than two decades at the highest levels of our sport.