University of Connecticut Athletics
Brooke Whitney Named Assistant Coach
7/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
STORRS, CT (July 13) -- University of Connecticut head women’s hockey coach Heather Linstad announced on Tuesday the hiring of 2002 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Brooke Whitney as an assistant coach for the upcoming season.
A two-time All-America selection, Whitney played for Northeastern University from 1999-2002 where she graduated as the fourth leading scorer in the Huskies’ proud women’s hockey history with 86 goals and 86 assists for 172 points in her 121 games played. Whitney netted 32 goals her senior year to help her earn the Patty Kazmaier Award, annually presented to the National Player of the Year, to accompany her first-team All-America honors. She was named the 2002 Female Athlete of the Year by the New England Sports Writers and she also was recognized as the top scholar-athlete at Northeastern with the coveted Jeanne L. Rowlands Award. Whitney received her bachelors degree in marketing from NU in June of 2003, graduating with a 3.27 GPA after four straight years on the school’s Honor Roll. She will begin work on a masters degree in sports management this fall at UConn.
A native of Snohomish, Washington, 30 miles north of Seattle, Whitney gained additional professional experience during the 2000 and 2001 summers assisting in the University of Washington’s athletic marketing and promotions office. She has also worked part-time as a professional skating and dry land training instructor outside of Seattle; and, after finishing her Husky career, Whitney played a season of professional hockey for the NWHL’s Brampton (Ont.) Thunder. She has also played with the U.S. National team at various stages of her career.
While new to the University of Connecticut, Whitney is a familiar face to the Husky coaching staff. Prior to heading to Storrs, Linstad was the head coach at Northeastern for Whitney’s freshman and sophomore seasons in 1999 and 2000, while UConn assistant coach Jamie Totten captained NU’s 1999 team which advanced to the ECAC Semifinals, the nation’s most elite collegiate tournament prior to the creation of an NCAA women’s hockey championship in 2001. That ECAC playoff berth was one of the four that Northeastern made in her four years at the school where Whitney also helped the Huntington Hounds capture the 1999 Beanpot.
"I’m very excited to have Brooke joining our staff," says Linstad. "She will be an asset to the program in many ways."
