Jennifer Wakefield has gone from Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada, to imparting her career worth of knowledge on the next generation as a coach at Penn State. She's adding value to a burgeoning program, and loving every minute of it.
When you look at Jennifer Wakefield's resume, it's impressive. As a player, Wakefield won Olympic and World Championship gold medals as a member of Team Canada, and was named a World Championship All-Star in 2013.
She was a three-time Hockey East champion herself, and was known as a power forward, and a force at the face-off dot. Following her national team career, Wakefield broadened her horizons spending several seasons starring in Sweden.
While in Europe, Wakefield started applying the decades of knowledge she's accrued on the other side of the bench as a coach. She assisted with a Swedish club, and guided the Netherlands women's national team as an assistant coach at three World Championships and the Olympic qualifiers.
In 2023, she returned to North America. Wakefield had signed with the PHF's Toronto Six where she planned to resume her professional hockey career. But only a week after signing, the league was acquired by the Mark Walter Group for the purpose of forming the PWHL.
At that moment, Wakefield stood at a crossroad. Instead of trying her luck in the PWHL, the former Boston University captain decided to make the permanent switch to coaching to help other young athletes reach their full potential. She started in U Sports with the University of Ottawa, but quickly jumped to the NCAA with Penn State where's she's spent the past few seasons.
Wakefield believes it's a top tier program, and she feels like she's exactly where she's meant to be imparting tips, teaching, and inspiring young players with the wealth of lessons she acquired through her own career.
"It's been amazing," said Wakefield. "Obviously, just going on the facilities alone, they're top notch, just the way they can help the athlete from a nutritional standpoint, a recovery standpoint, all the facilities, having at weight room and physio at the rink, it's been pretty cool to see kind of what they have access to."
They're opportunities many athletes from Wakefield's era didn't have. Penn State is still a relatively new program in the world of women's hockey, but in recent seasons, they've transitioned to a echelon including only the top programs in the nation. Wakefield has been part of that push the last two years. Now, Wakefield is working one-on-one with some of the best players not only in college hockey, but the world. She's also finding new ways to look at teaching skills, as she's primarily in charge of Penn State's blueline following her career as a forward.
Jennifer Wakefield (far left) and the Penn State coaching staff"I don't think if you would have told anyone I've played with they would have thought I would ever become a defence coach. But I think being an offensive minded player when I played, teaching defenders how to create, teaching deception, helping them play physical, play fast, knowing where they need to put the puck where forwards would want it, helping with quick breakouts and transitions, I think I've been able to help that side," Wakefield said.
Penn State not only has elite forwards like American national team star Tessa Janecke, and fellow Olympians Matilde Fantin (Italy) and Nicole Hall (Sweden) up front, but they have a dynamic blueline that's benefitted greatly from Wakefield's guidance. Rookie Danica Maynard leads all NCAA rookie blueliners in scoring this season, and US Collegiate team member Kendall Butze is a PWHL Draft prospect this season.
She's used what she wanted from defenders as a player, and how she saw the best defenders oppose her, and has given that knowledge to her own blueline. As an elite athlete herself, Wakefield also brings the off-ice mentality of what it takes to develop, and win, to the Nittany Lions.
"I like to think I bring that compete to work every day," she said. "Just creating that energy, and you know that winning mentality throughout. Whether it's practicing penalty kill, practicing power play, five-on-five, I think that's the biggest thing I bring."
Sometimes the girls ask about my experiences in college, nationally, or even if they're thinking about playing pro next year, about my experience I had in Sweden and about my former teammates in the PWHL," Wakefield continued. Having those conversations with them, or asking how I did stuff before games, or what I did for skills, I think that's pretty fun that I'm able to share that with them and them knowing I was in the trenches playing college hockey and then playing professional."
Wakefield sees potential in all of Penn State's seniors. They have a large class including Janecke, Butze, Madelyn Christian, Leah Stecker, Katelyn Roberts, Mya Vaslet, Taylor Lum, and Katie DeSa who may all enter the PWHL Draft or look to turn pro in Europe next season.
With more opportunities than ever for women to continue playing hockey as a professional career, Wakefield knows how important it is to help the athletes she coaches get a competitive advantage, and to help guide them along the way. It's the same mentality she took helping to grow girls and women's hockey in the Netherlands, and when she decided to hang up her skates as a player, and move full time into coaching.
It's not every day a burgeoning program like Penn State's can add the knowledge and experience of a coach with Wakefield's background, and this season, the proof is evident that Wakefield's impact is rubbing off on the Nittany Lions as they continue to lead the Atlantic Hockey America conference by a mile, and will be a program to contend with at the national championship tournament.