Flint, McKenna Tabbed as Assistant Coaches for 2009 IIHF World Women's Championship
(Northeastern, Wesleyan Head Coaches to Serve Behind Bench With Mark Johnson)
 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Dave Flint, the head women's ice hockey coach at Northeastern University, and Jodi McKenna, the head women's ice hockey coach at Wesleyan University, were today named as assistant coaches for the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship, set for April 4-12 in Hameenlinna, Finland. The pair will join the University of Wisconsin's Mark Johnson, who was previously named the head coach for Team USA through the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Flint, who is in his first season at Northeastern, is in his second season on the staff of the U.S. Women's National Program. Last fall, he was an assistant coach for the U.S. Women's Select Team at the 2008 Women's Four Nations Cup, where Team USA took home its first championship since 2003. The 2008-09 season also marks the second year of Flint serving as the goaltending consultant for the entire U.S. Women's National Program. At last year's world championship, he was on hand as the U.S. brought home its second-ever gold medal.

Before being named Northeastern's head coach prior to the 2008-09 season, Flint spent five years as head coach at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., where he compiled an 88-15-2 (.848) record. In four seasons as a varsity team under Flint (his first year the program was a club sport), the Hawks won two ECAC East regular season championships and three ECAC Open Tournament championships. Flint was recognized as ECAC East Coach of the Year and a finalist for National Coach of the Year three consecutive seasons from 2006-08.

McKenna is currently in her second season as the head coach at Wesleyan after spending nine seasons as an assistant coach at St. Lawrence University. In her nine seasons with St. Lawrence, she helped the Saints qualify for the NCAA tournament five times, making it to the Frozen Four on each occasion and playing in the title game in 2001.

A 1998 graduate of Brown University, McKenna played four seasons for the Bears, and helped the team capture an ECAC regular-season or tournament title three times. She has been involved with USA Hockey Player Development Camps and was an assistant coach at USA Hockey's Women's Under-22 Camp last summer and at the USA Hockey Women's Holiday Camp in December.

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NOTES: The U.S. Women's National Team was announced on March 26 during a training camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., which ran from March 24-30. Team USA departed for Finland on March 30 and played a pre-tournament game against Sweden in Vierumaki on April 2 prior to the April 4 start of the world championship. The above release courtesy of USA Hockey, Inc.  Above photo of Jodi McKenna by SteveMcLaughlinPhotography.com.  Photo at left, courtesy of USA Hockey, shows Jodi McKenna behind the bench of the U.S. Women's National team in Finland.
At the World Championships, the U.S. defeated Russia (8-0), Japan (8-0) and Finland (7-0) before falling to Canada (1-2).  Playing Canada again for the gold medal, the U.S. prevailed, 4-1, to win its second straight world title.