Katie Peddle, Abby Clarke & Sarah Hilworth selected as BFL Female Coach of the Year

There is arguably no more important role in hockey than that of the coach, who is tasked with guiding young players not only on the ice, but off it as well. They are leaders in hockey, and leaders in life.

Hockey Canada and BFL Canada recognized the country’s best women’s hockey coaches with the BFL Female Coach of the Year awards, in three categories (Community, Competitive and High Performance).

Nominated by parents and players from coast to coast to coast, three national and 19 provincial and territorial award winners were chosen by the selection committee, which included Olympic gold medallists Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Gina Kingsbury and Caroline Ouellette, Teal Gove of Hockey Canada and Sacha Vaillancourt, vice-president and national practice leader of sports and leisure with BFL CANADA.

HNB Provincial recipients:

Community Coach: Katie Peddle, Central Female U13 AA Storm

In her first season as a Head Coach, Katie left a lasting impression with the players. Katie was an outstanding role model, who always demonstrated fair play and sportsmanship, while focusing on the overall development of all players that she coached. In Central Female Hockey Association’s first year of having a competitive team, Katie led the U13 AA Storm to the Provincial Finals.

Competitive Coach: Abby Clarke, EDZA West U18 AAA Reds

Abby has continuously given equal playing time to deserving players by building and establishing a baseline of expectations which she has for all players. Her actions instill solid work ethic within her players to achieve more on and off the ice through consistent hard work and effort. For the second year in a row, Abby received the NB U18 AAA Female Coach of the Year Award. This season, Abby led the U18 Reds to a Provincial Championship, as well as a Silver Medal at the U18 Female Atlantic Championship.

National recipient:

High Performance Coach: Sarah Hilworth, UNB Reds

This season, Sarah coached the Reds to the AUS regular season title and the league championship, the first in UNB women's hockey history. She was named the AUS Coach of the Year, becoming the first UNB coach to earn the honour. In addition to her accomplishments at the University level, Sarah has been a tremendous asset to the Central Female Hockey Association, serving on the Board, as the Director of Player Development in the U7, U9 and U11 divisions. She also led on-ice sessions for the NHL / NHLPA First Shift program that was hosted by Central Female Hockey Association.

Hockey New Brunswick would like to congratulate Katie, Abby, and Sarah on their awards. All three recipients had successful playing careers at the University level (Katie Peddle – Saint Mary’s University, Abby Clarke – St. Thomas University and Sarah Hilworth – University of Alberta) and have transitioned into becoming outstanding coaches and role models.