On August 9, 2016, Jennifer Kindret was named the first head coach of the new varsity women's ice hockey program at King's College. King's will begin play in the 2017-18 season.
Kindret comes to King's after spending the last two years as a graduate assistant coach at NCAA Division I Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Mo. Lindenwood is a member of the College Hockey America (CHA) conference where it competes against the likes of Penn State, Syracuse, and national power Mercyhurst while facing stiff non-conference opposition from Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota-Mankato, Minnesota-Duluth, Bemidji State, and St. Cloud State.
In her two years at Lindenwood, Kindret was part of a Lions program that posted a combined 19-45-6 record, including a 12-22 mark in the CHA. In 2014-15, Lindenwood set school records for overall and conference wins in one season by going 10-21-2 and 7-11-2 in the CHA, including victories over nationally ranked Mercyhurst and Bemidji State.
This past season, the Lions finished 9-24-4 and 5-11-4 in the CHA. Both seasons Lindenwood competed in the post-season CHA Tournament. During her time at Lindenwood, Kindret helped coach goaltender Nicole Hensley, a 2016 World Champion with Team USA. At Lindenwood she earned her Master's degree in Business Administration.
Kindret played her collegiate ice hockey at NCAA Division I Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. A four-year letter-winner, she helped the Colonials to a 51-69-15 overall record and a 13-34 mark in the CHA. She also received CHA "Rookie of the Week" honors twice in her freshman season. Kindret and Robert Morris played against top-flight national competition with 41 games coming against NCAA Division I Top-10 ranked opponents. In her first two years with the Colonials, Robert Morris posted a combined 17-45-8 record and were 5-21-6 record. Improvement came during her final two seasons when Robert Morris was 34-24-7 and 15-13-4.
As a junior in 2011-12, Kindret helped the Colonials to a 19-9-4 record, and a 6-3-3 CHA regular-season record. Robert Morris then won the conference title with a 3-2 upset over nationally sixth-ranked Mercyhurst. She concluded her career by playing in 121 games with 30 points on 13 goals and 17 assists with three game-winning goals. As a senior in 2012-13, Robert Morris went 15-15-3 and lost 2-1 in the CHA semi-finals to nationally top-ranked Mercyhurst. Kindret was also a member of the CHA All-Academic Team as well as a member of the Colonial Leadership Academy.
"It is any coaches' dream to be a head coach, let alone start their own program," Kindret stated. "I feel extremely privileged and honored to have been selected to be the first ever women's ice hockey coach at King's College. I am excited to get back to the state of Pennsylvania and get things going. Any chance to be a part of growing the game of hockey, especially for girls, is remarkable and humbling."
After concluding her playing career Kindret served as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Chatham University of Pittsburgh for one season in 2013-14 where the team finished 4-19-2, including seven losses by one goal. From there she moved on to Lindenwood.
Aside from her time in collegiate coaching, Kindret worked as an instructor with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization in Pittsburgh from 2012-14. She taught and demonstrated drills at camps and clinics, primarily focusing on skill development while using USA Hockey's American Developmental Model (ADM) guidelines. In addition, she served as an instructor at the Edge of Excellence Skating Camps, where she taught and demonstrated David Roy skating techniques to boys and girls ages 8-to-16.
Now, Kindret will welcome another career challenge in using her vision to create a program at King's.
"Everyone I met while on the King's campus and touring the Revolution Ice Center was so excited about the new hockey programs," Kindret recalled. "The family-like feel and the way people passionately talked about King's made it feel like an instant home. The start of both the men's and women's hockey programs is an exciting time at King's and having a shared enthusiasm about this new era is huge. Having the support of the school and athletics department will be an integral part of building this program."
Prior to her collegiate playing career, Kindret played for the APHA Rangers AA Midget team where she as an assistant captain. She helped the Winnipeg-based squad to the 2006 City and Provincial championship, as well as the Silver Medal for the Western Shield. From 2006-07, Kindret played for the Toronto Ratters U-19 squad where she was the leading scorer. In addition, she played for the British Columbia Breakers of the Western Women's Hockey League (now the CWHL), where post-college and Olympic players compete.
Kindret earned her Bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Robert Morris in 2013 and completed her Master's degree in Business Administration in March.
According to the NCAA, during the 2015-16 season a total of 76 men's varsity programs competed in Division III while 58 women's varsity programs also took to the ice.
When ice hockey officially begins play, King's will field one of only four NCAA Division III men's and women's programs in the entire state of Pennsylvania. King's will join Neumann University, located in Aston in the Philadelphia area, Lebanon Valley College in Annville, and Chatham University in Pittsburgh as NCAA Division III varsity ice hockey members. Chatham has had a women's program since 1996 but will be adding men's ice hockey in 2017-18.
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Q & A WITH KING'S HEAD COACH JEN KINDRET …
1) How old were you when you first started ice skating?
"Gliders by two years old and skating by the age of three."
2) How old were you when you first start playing ice hockey?
"I was four years old. I had two older brothers that played and our dad would build us a rink in the back yard to play with friends and neighbors."
3) What has hockey meant to you and done for you?
"Hockey means the world to me. It has shaped the person I am today and has given me extremely great opportunities to travel and meet people from all over. Many great friendships I still hold today are from playing hockey together. It has developed so much of my character, work ethic and skills."
4) What type of coach can prospective players expect to see when you recruit them?
"Prospective players can expect to see a positive, hardworking, honest and dedicated coach. I will hold players accountable but bring in student-athletes I believe in and will push to achieve the best they can in athletics, academics and community in their four years at King's and beyond."
5) What style of play do you look to implement both offensively and defensively?
"I will look to implement a more aggressive play and dictate how other teams will respond. Offensively, we will be energetic with an emphasis on puck possession and support with some grind. We will be simple, yet sound & have a shutdown approach defensively."
6) How will having experience at both the Division I and Division III levels benefit you in your transition to King's?
"I believe having been at both levels has given me a 360-degree insight and much experience into the way different programs are built. There are some different aspects that translate to both, and I think having seen all aspects of programs at different levels will help me find the right balance to be competitive, yet well rounded and grow King's into a prominent program at the Division III level."
7) What do you hope to have as a roster size your first year?
"I expect to have 20-25 players."
8) What do you see as your optimal roster size beyond your first year?
"14 offense, eight defense, and three goaltenders ideally to build a naturally competitive environment and for unforeseen injuries."
9) Who are the people most responsible for your hockey success as a player and/or coach and why?
"My family's unwavering support and sacrifice was a main reason for my success as a player and the levels I reached. Most of the coaches I had growing up and through my college career have had tremendous impact for who I am today and a huge reason I have chosen this career path. I have to give a lot of credit to my former coaches at RMU, including Paul Colontino, Jason Evans and my former staff at Chatham, and most recently Scott Spencer, Melanie Jue, and Cory Whitaker at Lindenwood for being great mentors and encouraging me to continue on with my coaching career. I am lucky to have always had positive advice and support from family, friends and former teammates to continue on with what I love doing. Also, I've had the opportunity to work with some great players whose work ethic and dedication is leading them to success on and off the ice, something that makes this job so rewarding."
