JENNY’S JOURNEY
Kamloops hockey fans have seen why Sweden embraced Ms. Wakefield.
KAMLOOPS — A Swedish newspaper referred to Jennifer Wakefield’s departure from her club squad to Team Canada for this IIHF world championship as a “nightmare.”
There are Canadian opponents here undoubtedly using similar terminology regarding the rightwinger from Pickering, Ont., with the big, booming shot.
Wakefield has been one of Canada’s best players at the tournament so far. She had two goals and two assists in a 6-1 win over Finland on Thursday at the Sandman Centre in Canada’s final preliminary game, helping push her squad directly to the tournament semifinals on Sunday night.
Canada meets Finland, who defeated the Czech Republic 5-0 in a quarter-final Friday night.
“I’m playing with really good players over there,” said Wakefield, 26, who just completed her second winter with Linkoping, a top team in the Riksserien, the main women’s league in Sweden.
“I really credit learning from players from other nations. I play with three members from the Swedish team in a unit of five. We have players on our team from Austria and Norway. They are their top players. You try to take from their games what you can.”
Wakefield decided to accept an offer to play in Sweden after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, in part because it gave her a chance to tour Europe.
She’s the lone member of this Canadian team playing club hockey abroad. The 5-10, 172pound right-handed shot wound up in Linkoping last season and helped them to the Riksserien crown.
This season, she put up 38 goals and 55 points in just 18 regular-season games and once again was part of Linkoping making the best-of-three championship series. They were up 1-0 in the finale against Lulea when Wakefield came to Team Canada’s training camp for this tournament.
News of her leaving had broken before the series, and it prompted the Swedish newspaper Expressen to write a story with the headline which, translated into English, stated “Jennifer Wakefield stopped by association.” The “nightmare” reference was in the first paragraph.
Lulea wound up winning the final two games to clinch the championship.
Wakefield had said earlier this week here that her Linkoping teammates supported her and understood her national team matters taking precedence. She also said that she thought her team, which also features star Swiss goaltender Florence Schelling, could pull out the series without her.
She is unclear whether she’s returning to Linkoping next season. With the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics quickly approaching, there may be a push to stay closer to home. The Canadian team has centralized leading into Winter Games in the past.
“Would I love to go back? Absolutely. I think I’ve really improved over there. But what Hockey Canada wants, you do,” she said.
There’s an argument that Wakefield’s line, which features Rebecca Johnston on the other wing and Brianne Jenner at centre, has been the most dominant for Canada so far at this tournament, ahead of the more celebrated trio of Meghan Agosta, Marie-Philip Poulin and Natalie Spooner.
The Jenner line was receiving the majority of power play minutes when Thursday’s game was still in doubt. And going into Friday action, Johnston was leading the tournament in scoring, thanks to her two goals and five assists in three games, while Wakefield was right behind her with three goals and three assists.
Wakefield has scored in bunches for Canada before. She had four goals and four assists in five games at the 2013 worlds, for instance. She’s also gone quiet for stretches. She had no points in a six-game exhibition series against the Americans in 2013, and had one assist in five games in Sochi.
“She’s just on fire,” Canadian coach Laura Schuler said of Wakefield at this tournament. “That girl can shoot the puck. She’s a natural goal scorer.
“She’s such a powerful forward. She’s just that train on the tracks.”
As for what her time in Sweden has done, Schuler said, “it’s given her an opportunity to be in a leadership role and take responsibility for her play on the ice. You can really see that transferring here.”