Women’s Ice Hockey Adds Jennifer Wakefield to Coaching Staff – Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women’s ice hockey team announced the addition of its new assistant coach on Tuesday morning. Jennifer Wakefield joins the Penn State coaching staff after a stint at the University of Ottawa where she was the lead assistant coach in the 2023-24 season.

Ottawa finished with an 8-17 record in 2023-24, making the RSEQ conference playoffs where they lost to eventual national champion Concordia in the semifinals.

Wakefield’s time with Ottawa was her first foray into coaching at the collegiate level. She served as an assistant coach with the Dutch National Team for the past two years and was an assistant with Almtuna IS in Sweden during the 2021-22 campaign. She has also run her own hockey training service, Fierce Edge Athletics, for several years. 

The 35-year-old recently wrapped up a decorated professional playing career, having spent the 2022-23 season with MoDo in Sweden’s first division. That year alone, she was nominated for the top forward of the season award. 

On the international stage, Wakefield represented Canada at two Olympic Games, winning gold in Sochi in 2014 and silver in Pyeongchang in 2018. She also appeared at six World Championships between 2011 and 2017, winning gold in 2012. As a power forward, Wakefield played over 100 games while wearing the maple leaf. She retired from international play in 2018. 

At the club level, Wakefield spent most of her career in Sweden, playing for a variety of club teams. She twice won the women’s top division championship, doing so in 2014-15 with Linköping HC and in 2017-18 with Luleå HF.

Wakefield split her collegiate career between New Hampshire (2007-09) and Boston University (2010-12), serving as the latter’s captain during the 2011-12 campaign. She was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top women’s player in the NCAA in 2008-09, led Hockey East in scoring twice, and was BU’s Women’s Athlete of the Year in 2011-12.

Wakefield graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in 2012.

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