CALGARY – Penn State women's hockey assistant coach Jenn Wakefield has been named an assistant coach for Canada's National Women's Development Team, Hockey Canada announced Thursday.
The appointment marks Wakefield's first coaching role with Canada's National Women's Development Team. She previously spent four seasons (2021–25) as an assistant coach with the Netherlands women's national team.
As a player, Wakefield won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics and captured gold at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship. During her 11-year career with Canada's National Women's Team (2007–18), she recorded 88 points on 47 goals and 41 assists in 119 international games.
At Penn State, Wakefield enters her third season on staff in 2026-27. She helped guide the Nittany Lions to the most successful season in program history in 2025-26, highlighted by a fourth consecutive Atlantic Hockey America Tournament championship with a 3-2 victory over #12 Mercyhurst on Mar. 7. Penn State also earned the program's first NCAA Tournament victory, defeating #6 Connecticut, 3-0, on March 14 to advance to its first Frozen Four. The Nittany Lions pushed #2 Wisconsin to overtime in the national semifinals.
Wakefield oversees Penn State's defense corps and has helped mentor one of the most accomplished groups of defensemen in program history.
Under Wakefield's guidance, recent graduate Kendall Butze became Penn State's all-time leading scoring defenseman with 94 career points (15 goals, 79 assists), earned Atlantic Hockey America Best Defenseman honors in back-to-back seasons and was selected 49th overall by the Las Vegas franchise in the 2026 PWHL Draft.
Rising sophomore Danica Maynard emerged as one of the nation's top rookie defensemen, tying the program's single-season record for points by a defenseman with 33 while earning AHA Rookie of the Year, All-USCHO Third Team and All-USCHO Rookie Team honors. Her 33 points tied for sixth nationally among all defensemen, ranked second among freshman defensemen and tied for 13th among all freshman skaters. Her 24 assists ranked second among freshman defensemen and eighth among all Division I defensemen.
Wakefield also helped mentor recent graduate Leah Stecker to her best offensive season. Stecker recorded 17 assists and 20 points, ranking fourth and fifth, respectively, among Penn State defensemen in a single season. She concluded her career tied for 10th in program history with 45 assists and ranked fourth all-time with a +75 rating. Stecker selected 27th overall by the Boston Fleet in the 2026 PWHL Draft.
Rising sophomore Sophie Morrow also turned in a standout rookie campaign, totaling 13 assists and 16 points to rank among the top 10 single seasons by a Penn State defenseman. Her +30 rating ranked sixth in program history for a single season. Morrow recently earned an invitation to the 2026 USA Hockey Women's National Festival taking place August 2-9 in Lake Placid, N.Y.