June 8, 2006
OLYMPIAN NYSTROM JOINS UOIT HOCKEY
OSHAWA - The Department of Athletics at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology is thrilled to announce that Karen Nystrom, a former Olympian and four-time world champion with our women's national hockey team, has agreed to become the assistant coach of the UOIT Ridgebacks varsity women's hockey program.
The Scarborough native, who was a silver medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, will take on the role of assistant coach with the UOIT women's hockey program. Nystrom was a mainstay on the Canadian Women's National Team for over nine years along with Hayley Wickenheiser, Cassie Campbell, Geraldine Heaney, Manon Rheaume and Vicki Sunohara. She also was a gold medalist for Team Canada in 1992, 1994, and 1997 at the Women's World Hockey Championship, won gold for Team Canada in 1996 at the Three Nations Cup, and is a three-time Pacific Rim Champion.
\"We are absolutely thrilled to have Karen join our program", stated UOIT Athletic Director Ken Babcock. "She is an outstanding person, a national hero, and she will bring many, many positive intangibles and experiences directly to our student-athletes and the program.\"
The former NWHL All-Star and league leading scorer played in the National Women's Hockey League for six years. Previous to her NWHL career, Karen attended Northeastern University in Boston on a NCAA scholarship.
"This partnership with UOIT excites me for many reasons. Specifically, it provides me an opportunity to commit myself long term to a program to establish ourselves as a very competitive, reputable and successful women's hockey team within the OUA and to mentor and assist the players/team/University to achieve their goals." stated Karen Nystrom.
"As a role model and a coach, I thoroughly enjoy and accept the responsibility of positively influencing the players, on and off the ice and thrive on the opportunity to motivate and inspire the players to do their best in terms of skills, attitude and desire - and use the wonderful game of hockey to help them build solid work habits and confidence. As you know, these skills, work habits and qualities are essential for success in school, the workplace and life!"
Karen now is an assistant coach with the Toronto Jr. Aeros and has been working for Nike Canada for 11 years as a Customer Service Manager.
Nystrom will now begin to assist Coach Gary Pitcher in recruiting the future student-athletes of the UOIT Ridgebacks hockey program. The team starts play in the OUA in October of 2007 when the rest of the OUA will venture into the Campus Ice Centre and the heart of Ridgeback country.
Be sure to visit the UOIT Ridgebacks official website at http://www.uoitridgebacks.com
(Source: Angela Cull, UOIT Sports Information and Marketing Officer.)
The Scarborough native, who was a silver medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, will take on the role of assistant coach with the UOIT women's hockey program. Nystrom was a mainstay on the Canadian Women's National Team for over nine years along with Hayley Wickenheiser, Cassie Campbell, Geraldine Heaney, Manon Rheaume and Vicki Sunohara. She also was a gold medalist for Team Canada in 1992, 1994, and 1997 at the Women's World Hockey Championship, won gold for Team Canada in 1996 at the Three Nations Cup, and is a three-time Pacific Rim Champion.
\"We are absolutely thrilled to have Karen join our program", stated UOIT Athletic Director Ken Babcock. "She is an outstanding person, a national hero, and she will bring many, many positive intangibles and experiences directly to our student-athletes and the program.\"
The former NWHL All-Star and league leading scorer played in the National Women's Hockey League for six years. Previous to her NWHL career, Karen attended Northeastern University in Boston on a NCAA scholarship.
"This partnership with UOIT excites me for many reasons. Specifically, it provides me an opportunity to commit myself long term to a program to establish ourselves as a very competitive, reputable and successful women's hockey team within the OUA and to mentor and assist the players/team/University to achieve their goals." stated Karen Nystrom.
"As a role model and a coach, I thoroughly enjoy and accept the responsibility of positively influencing the players, on and off the ice and thrive on the opportunity to motivate and inspire the players to do their best in terms of skills, attitude and desire - and use the wonderful game of hockey to help them build solid work habits and confidence. As you know, these skills, work habits and qualities are essential for success in school, the workplace and life!"
Karen now is an assistant coach with the Toronto Jr. Aeros and has been working for Nike Canada for 11 years as a Customer Service Manager.
Nystrom will now begin to assist Coach Gary Pitcher in recruiting the future student-athletes of the UOIT Ridgebacks hockey program. The team starts play in the OUA in October of 2007 when the rest of the OUA will venture into the Campus Ice Centre and the heart of Ridgeback country.
Be sure to visit the UOIT Ridgebacks official website at http://www.uoitridgebacks.com
(Source: Angela Cull, UOIT Sports Information and Marketing Officer.)
