LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western University's women's hockey program has announced the hiring of Jean Laforest as the team's new head coach. The Spartans women's hockey team is set to join Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21.

Laforest brings extensive coaching experience to the Spartans, with experience at the junior, minor pro, college and international levels, including six years as the head coach of the men's hockey team at Mount Royal University, from 2008 to 2014.

He will lead the women's hockey team into its inaugural U SPORTS season in 2020-21.

"I'm thrilled to be joining an extremely successful athletic program here at TWU," Laforest said. "But even more than that, this is an environment where I feel I can really be at home both professionally and personally. Building people from a holistic perspective is something I've always emphasized in my coaching, and that's part of the championship creed here at TWU."

Most recently Laforest spent his last four years with the Simcoe County district school board as the athletic coordinator. Prior to serving as an athletic coordinator with the Simcoe County district school board, Laforest had coached within the university, junior and professional ranks since 1993.

In his coaching job with the Cougars, he won an ACAC Coach of the Year award in 2010 and league championship in 2011, before overseeing the team's transition into U SPORTS in 2012.

"Jean is a team builder who knows the short and long-term steps needed to take our women's program through this transition phase and into the top level of university hockey in Canada," said TWU Director of Athletics Jeff Gamache.

Laforest was head coach of the Youngstown Steelhounds of the CHL from 2005 to 2006, and the NCAA University of Wisconsin Eau Claire men's hockey team between 2002 to 2005, where he won NCHA Coach of the Year in 2004.

Combined with his past experience in hockey, the idea of building the women's hockey program at TWU excites Laforest.

"This is a blank canvas," he says. "So to be an architect and build the base for a successful program is a tremendous opportunity."

Laforest has a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Sociology and Physical Education from McMaster University, and a Master of Arts in Coaching from the University of Western Ontario.

Laforest joins an athletic department at TWU that has a strong history of success, including winning 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships since the Spartans entered U SPORTS in 1999.

About TWU
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in CIS sports. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.

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