Jennifer Wakefield enters her third season on the Penn State coaching staff in 2026-27. In her first two seasons in Hockey Valley, the team set a new program record for single season wins in both years. PSU earned its fourth-straight AHA Tournament title after securing its fifth consecutive regular season championship in 2025-26.
Wakefield helped the Nittany Lions to a historic campaign in 2025-26. After their fourth repeat as AHA Tournament Champions, the team earned the no. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, hosting their first-ever game in the big dance. Penn State won its quarterfinal matchup over UConn to advance to the program’s first Women’s Frozen Four which was hosted inside Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions set new single-season program records in seven categories throughout the momentous campaign.
The team earned a slew of awards in Wakefield’s second year in Happy Valley. In addition to nine All-Conference selections, Penn State earned five major AHA awards including Tessa Janecke, who repeated as the Player and Forward of the Year. Janecke was also tabbed to first team All-USCHO and garnered first team CCM/AHCA All-American honors. Freshman Danica Maynard earned a third team All-USCHO nod and was placed on the All-Rookie team.
Multiple Nittany Lions collected AHA postseason honors in Wakefield’s first season with the program. Janecke earned AHA Player and Forward of the Year, Kendall Butze was named AHA Best Defenseman and Katie DeSa took home AHA Goaltender of the Year honors. The trio was joined by Katelyn Roberts on the All-AHA First Team. Maddy Christian and Lyndie Lobdell were selected to the All-AHA Second Team while Grace Outwater and Grace Tullock earned recognition on the AHA All-Rookie Team. In addition, Janecke was named a Second Team CCM/AHCA Division I All-American and an All-USCHO Second Team selection.
Wakefield served as co-head coach of the University of Ottawa women’s hockey program during the 2023–24 season, leading the Gee-Gees to the RSEQ conference semifinals, where they fell to the eventual national champion, Concordia Stingers.
From 2021 to 2025, Wakefield was an assistant coach with the Dutch National Women’s Team, participating in three IIHF Division I A World Championships, as well as the pre-Olympic (2024) and final Olympic qualification tournaments (2025). During her tenure, the Netherlands achieved its highest-ever world ranking and advanced to its first final Olympic Qualification appearance. Under her guidance, Julie Zwarthoed finished fifth in scoring at the 2022 World Championships, while Savine Wielenga earned the Top Forward Award in 2023. In 2024, Wakefield also served as head coach for the Dutch team at the Youth Olympic Games and acted as liaison with the Netherlands Olympic Committee.
Before joining the collegiate coaching ranks, Wakefield held several positions in Sweden, including head coach for Almtuna IS (NDHL), assistant coach with MODO Damjunior (U20)—winning SM Gold—and gymnasium skills coach with Linköping HC.
As a player, Wakefield represented Canada on the international stage at two Olympic Games, capturing gold in Sochi (2014) and silver in PyeongChang (2018). She was also centralized for the 2010 Vancouver Games before a season-ending injury. Between 2011 and 2017, she competed in six IIHF Women’s World Championships, winning gold in 2012, and played over 100 games for Team Canada before retiring from international play in 2018.
At the professional level, Wakefield spent seven seasons in Sweden’s top division, capturing championships with Linköping HC (2014–15) and Luleå HF (2017–18). In 167 career SDHL games, she recorded 164 goals and 95 assists for 259 points, earning multiple league honors including most playoff goals, most assists, best faceoff percentage, and most short-handed goals.
Collegiately, Wakefield played at the University of New Hampshire (2007–09) and Boston University (2010–12), serving as captain in her senior year. A finalist for the 2009 Patty Kazmaier Award, she was named Hockey East Rookie of the Year, led the conference in scoring twice, was a four-time Hockey East All-Star, and was later selected to the Hockey East All-Decade Team. She helped her teams reach the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons, including a national finalist appearance in 2011. Wakefield graduated from Boston University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree