Team Alberta U18 Female Coaching Staff

Hockey Alberta is pleased to announce Stu Pietersma (Brooks) as the Head Coach, Jennifer Jubb (Edmonton) and Jason Schmidt (Rollyview) as Assistant Coaches, and Richard Jones (Edmonton) as the Goalie/Video Coach for Team Alberta U18 Female that will compete at the 2011 National Women’s Under-18 Championship, November 2-6, 2011 in Saguenay, Quebec.

“This is a fantastic opportunity and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with high performance athletes who are leaders within their communities and who continuously strive to be the best they can be,” said Pietersma.

“Our coaching staff has experience and knowledge working with athletes during short term competition, and we are surrounded by mentors and support staff who have national level experiences,” added Pietersma. “Together we plan on developing a team program that will challenge the athletes in Alberta to reach their full potential and pursue a gold medal performance in hockey and in life.”

Pietersma is Head Coach of the Medicine Hat Midget AAA Female Hounds. He was an assistant coach for Team Alberta U18 Female in 2008 and has been a coach mentor in both the Alberta Winter Games & Team Alberta Challenge programs. Pietersma also has a wealth of playing experience including pro hockey in the East Coast Hockey League.

Jubb most recently won a National Championship as a player in 2010 with the U of A Pandas. She is a former Hockey Alberta Future Leader Scholarship winner and won gold as an assistant coach in 2009 with the Central Zone at the Team Alberta Challenge.

Schmidt held the position of head coach of the Edmonton Chimos Senior Female team in the 2010/11 season. He has been involved in the past with Team Alberta’s U16 and U18 programs in a variety of capacities. Schmidt will also be the head coach of the Northeast Zone at the 2011 Team Alberta Challenge.

Jones most recently won a gold medal at the 2011 Canada Winter Games as the goalie/video coach for Team Alberta U18 Female. Jones has also been the goalie coach for the Team Alberta U16 Female program and is currently an instructor at the Parkland Hockey Academy.

The National Women’s Under-18 Championship occurs in the off years of the Canada Winter Games. In 2009, Team Alberta finished in 5th place with a 4-2 win over Team Atlantic.

Hockey Alberta would like to congratulate the Blackfalds Wranglers and Sherwood Park Knights (Junior B), the Bentley Generals (Senior AAA), the Edmonton Thunder (Midget AAA Female), Edmonton SSAC Southgate Lions (Bantam AAA), the Calgary Coyotes (Senior A Female) and the Grande Prairie Panthers (Senior B Female) for their success at this year’s regional and national championships.

The Blackfalds Wranglers defeated the host Sherwood Park Knights 2-1 to capture the 2011 Western Canada Junior B Championship, the Keystone Cup.
           
The Knights opened the scoring in the first period when Michael Samoil fired one into the back of the net. It wasn’t until the second period that the Wranglers found their scoring touch. At the 17:24 mark Karson French tallied tying the game heading into the second intermission. In the third, it was the Wranglers David Jantzie scoring the game winner making it 2-1 for Blackfalds. 

The Bentley Generals lost 5-3 to Clarenville Caribous from Newfoundland to capture a Silver Medal at the 2011 Senior AAA National Championship Allan Cup in Kenora, Ontario. 

Joe Vandermeer, Curtis Austring and Don Morrison scored the goals for Bentley, which lost despite outshooting the Caribous 42-23, including 25-8 in the second period. Saturday’s game marked the fourth straight championship game appearance for the Generals, who won their lone national championship in 2009. Bentley is the first team since the 1994-97 Warroad Lakers to appear in four consecutive championship games.

The Edmonton Thunder fell 5-2 to the Notre Dame Hounds to win a Silver Medal at the 2011 Esso Cup in St. Albert.
 

The Edmonton Thunder, who finished in first during preliminary action at the 2011 Esso Cup and made their third straight appearance at the tournament in St. Albert, appeared to be determined to claim Canada’s National Female Midget Championship bragging rights, when Thunder captain Heather Kashman capitalized on a powerplay by letting a quick snap shot go and sending the puck into the back of the Notre Dame net at 12:32 in the first period. The Hounds kept coming finding more offense as the game wore on. They notched three goals in the third period to give them a the 5-2 victory of the Thunder. Edmonton went 6-1 in the tournament only losing the final game.
 

The Bantam AAA Edmonton SSAC Southgate Lions defeated the host Winnipeg Sharks 5-3 to capture bronze at the 2011 Western Canada Bantam Championship. 

The Lions roared through the round robin only losing one game to the BC earning a spot in the semi finals. After a tough loss to Manitoba in the semis, Edmonton beat the Sharks for a second time in the tournament, first a 6-2 win in round robin and then the 5-3 win in the bronze medal game.
 

At the Western Canadian Shield Senior Female Regional Championship it was the Calgary Coyotes taking home a bronze in the Senior A Female category and the Grande Prairie Panthers winning silver in Senior B Female.