Published December 16, 2020

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — Almost nothing is familiar in 2020.

In addition to a season in which high school hockey players will need to learn new modifications and adjust to altered rink rules, all in empty arenas without the tangible support from friends and family, the student athletes on the Wakefield High girls’ hockey team will also need to get familiar with a new head coach.

Fortunately, that’s where the unfamiliarity stops with new Wakefield High girls’ hockey head coach Jacqui Mansfield.

The 2012 Wakefield High graduate and former Warrior girls’ hockey captain already has experience as a leader in Wakefield. Director at the Children’s Center of Wakefield, Mansfield has also been a hockey educator for the last five years with the Wakefield Youth Skating Association where she has taught kids the fundamentals as a coach in the Learn to Skate Program while also serving as the WYSA U18 girls’ head coach and the U10 assistant coach last year.

“This was the natural next step in my coaching career. I’m ready for the challenge of high school hockey,” said Mansfield. “It has always been a dream of mine to come back to WMHS and coach the team that gave me the best memories and friendships of my teenage years. I think this team has a lot of talent; I want to show the Middlesex league that Wakefield is not a team to take lightly.”

Mansfield takes over for Chrissy Weeden who stepped down after two years at the helm.

The Wakefield native has plenty of longterm goals – something that WMHS athletic director Brendan Kent was looking for as the girls’ hockey program seeks stability with their fifth head coach in six years.

“One of the major things that we were looking for was to find a long-term coach that would be here for many years,” said Kent. “It was important to find someone that would be invested in the program for the long run. Coach Mansfield expressed that sentiment in her interviews. As a Wakefield HS girls’ hockey alum, she has a lot of pride in the program and plans on sticking with the program for many years to come.”

“I think that my personal connection to Wakefield will give the team the consistency it needs,” said Mansfield. “I plan to be here for many years and develop a program that reflects the motto that hard work pays off.”

That’s a motto she learned and embraced will playing for Wakefield’s last long-term girls’ hockey honcho, Jack Foley, who was head coach from 2005 to 2015.

“Jack Foley was a great coach to play for, he demanded hard work out of all his players and I learned a lot about being a coach from playing for him,” said Mansfield.

Turns out, Foley learned from Mansfield too. Her attitude and work ethic as a player leaves the former coach no doubts that Mansfield is the perfect candidate to lead the Warriors in 2020 and beyond.

“She was a great kid, really respected by all her teammates,” said Foley. “Jacqui was one of the hardest workers I coached – the kind of player that coaches love to have because she set a great example and earned respect in that way. I’m really excited to see her take over the program.”

The Warriors earned respect last year with an 8-8-4 record as they were co-champions of the Middlesex League’s Freedom Division. They made the Div. 2 state tournament where they fell in overtime to Norwood, and return two All-Stars: Co-MVP and All-Conference junior goalie Abby Boudreau and sophomore forward Grace Seabury.

They won’t have any state tournament to play for this year, but Mansfield is hoping to take the first step in building the next great high school hockey program during the 10 games that the Warriors will hopefully get to play this season.

“I think the season being the way it is can be something we take advantage of,” said Mansfield. “We have a developing team with a new coach. I want to use this shortened season to establish a great relationship and team environment that we can capitalize on in the future.”

That future can be created with another big step: connecting high school hockey to youth hockey.

“Wakefield has struggled to grow our girls’ youth program in the past,” said Mansfield. “I hope that having a Wakefield alum as the high school coach gives WYSA the push they need to develop a strong girls’ program like Stoneham or Reading. You look at the strongest teams in our division and they are the ones with strong girls’ programs at the youth level. I hope to get my girls down to the youth level skates so they can inspire and help young girls stick with hockey and stick with Wakefield.

“My long term goal is to ultimately grow the program. I think it was a big loss for the girls’ program to lose our JV team. I want to gather interest to build our numbers back and again I think that starts at the youth level.”

That vision combined with proof through her work as a youth coach is what made Mansfield stand out as the best candidate for the job.

“Her involvement with WYSA means she is already committed to building the program from the ground up and growing the sport in Wakefield. This was really key because your high school program is only going to be as good as your feeder program at the youth level,” said Kent. “So, getting someone that is willing to invest their own time to build up our youth program was such a big win for the high school program.”

In this way, Jacqui Mansfield can continue her mission to be a positive influence in the Wakefield community. It’s a mission that commenced long before she graduated from UMass Amherst in 2015 and began her career as an educator in her hometown. It started when she was a student athlete described by Foley as “loved by her teammates, who made the game fun, fostered a team approach and made everyone feel like they were a part of a family whether they were the best player or not.”

It’s the same type of teammate that the new coach wants each Warrior to aspire to.

“My ideal student athlete is someone that puts in the hard work,” said Mansfield. “They might not be the goal scorer, but they’re the one making the right passes and working hard.”

Hard work and team play. That’s familiar to Wakefield hockey.