Jennifer Wakefield enters her second season on the Penn State coaching staff. During her first season in Hockey Valley, the Nittany Lions set a program record with 31 wins and an AHA record 19 conference victories. The program earned its third straight AHA tournament title en route to a third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
Multiple Nittany Lions collected AHA postseason honors in Wakefield’s first season with the program. Tessa 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 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.
She 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.