2023 BFL Female Coach of the Year Winners Announced
22 recipients chosen throughout Community, Competitive and High Performance classes
CALGARY, Alta. – In partnership with BFL CANADA, Hockey Canada has introduced the nationwide and provincial/territorial winners of the 2023 BFL Female Coach of the Year award, which acknowledges coaches who led by instance in demonstrating honest play and a dedication to the event of each participant and employees member, and made important contributions to the sport throughout the 2022-23 season.
Nominated by mother and father and gamers from coast to coast to coast, 21 provincial and territorial winners within the Community and Competitive classes had been chosen by the choice committee, which included Canadian girls’s hockey leaders, accompanied by leaders from BFL CANADA and Hockey Canada.
From that group of 21, nationwide winners had been chosen for Community and Competitive, and a nationwide High Performance winner was chosen separate from that group.
“We are thrilled to recognize this year’s recipients of the BFL Female Coach of the Year award,” stated Marin Hickox, vice-president of ladies and women hockey for Hockey Canada. “Each of our award winners have devoted countless hours to coaching and influencing young athletes on and off the ice, and are extremely deserving of this honour.”
Haneet Parhar (B.C.), an assistant coach with the ladies’s hockey group on the University of British Columbia (UBC), is the nationwide winner within the High Performance class and can obtain an invite to Canada’s National Women’s Team coaching camp in September and a $5,000 bursary. Parhar, a former student-athlete with the Thunderbirds, has been behind the bench for 3 seasons with UBC along with teaching with the Vancouver Female Ice Hockey Association.
Alicia MacDonald (N.L.) is that this yr’s nationwide winner within the Competitive class, and can obtain a $2,500 bursary. A member of the NHL Coaches’ Association’s Female Coaches Development Program, MacDonald has coached for greater than 20 years, together with within the provincial program with Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador, together with as head coach of the provincial feminine U14 group and as an assistant on the 2023 Canada Winter Games. During the 2022-23 season, she served as an apprentice coach with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers.
As the nationwide winner within the Community class, Julie Venselaar (B.C.) will obtain a $2,500 bursary. A full-time trainer, Venselaar has been influential within the development of the ladies’s sport in Powell River, B.C., serving as a coach and mentor and serving to create the primary all-girls groups within the West Coast group.
Provincial/territorial winners within the Community class included: Kristy Wilson (Alta.), Venselaar (B.C.), Laura Cowling (Man.), Julie Pelchat (N.B.), Shandie Chambers (N.L.), Lori Kinnear (N.S.), Courtney Fraser (North), Allyson Middaugh (Ont.), Sydney Powers (P.E.I.), Émilie Bouchard (Que.) and Kristen Bear (Sask.).
Provincial/territorial winners within the Competitive class included: Tara Swanson (Alta.), Melanie Jue (B.C.), Jessica Kaminsky (Man.), Kristen Nash (N.B.), MacDonald (N.L.), Ilsa van Oostrum (N.S.), Kaylee Grant (North), Lindsay Oliver (Ont.), Jordan Miller (P.E.I.) and Sina Bourbeau (Que.).
The 19 provincial and territorial award winners who weren’t chosen as nationwide winners every obtain a $1,000 bursary.
For a full record of all winners, go to HockeyCanada.ca/BFLCoach.
For extra info on Hockey Canada, please go to HockeyCanada.ca, or observe alongside on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
