College of Saint Benedict

Jennifer Kranz begins her third season as the Saint Benedict head hockey coach in 2013-14.
 
The sixth head coach in program history, Kranz led the Blazers to a 5-13-4 overall record in 2012-13, with a 3-13-2 mark in MIAC play, finishing eighth. The hallmark of her second season were the on ice improvements made on the defensive end, where the Blazers allowed 30% fewer goals than they did the season before. They pitched four shutouts on the season, and allowed just a single goal in five other games.
 
In her two season’s she had guided Kerri Graske (2012) to All-MIAC honors, while landing three more on the Honorable Mention All-Conference honors, including Megan Schwegeman and Jenna Traut last season. Six Blazers in the last two years have also landed on the Academic All-MIAC Team.
 
The Blazers played five games with teams that were either ranked or receiving votes in the national polls last season, going 1-3-1 in those games, which included a dominant 3-0 win over St. Catherine, handing the Wildcats their first conference loss. Then late in the season, the Blazers hosted No. 2 ranked Gustavus, and battled to the end in a 1-0 loss, standing as just one of two teams in the MIAC to limit the eventual conference champions to a single goal, and one of just four all season.
 
Kranz led the Blazers to a 5-17-3 overall record in her first season, finishing ninth in the MIAC with a 3-12-3 conference mark. She wasted no time in securing her first career win, posting a 4-2 victory over Marian in her first game on the bench.
 
After a 2-2 mark in nonconference play to open the season, Kranz led the Blazers to 2-2 tie with perennial power St. Thomas in the MIAC opener, a game the Blazers led late in the second period. Just three games later, she had her first career conference win, scoring a 4-1 tally on the road over Augsburg.
 
Later in the season, she rallied the Blazers from a 3-0 first period deficit on the road to earn a 3-3 tie with then No. 9 ranked Concordia-Moorhead, scoring a pair of third-period goals to do so.
 
Kranz came to CSB after serving as an assistant coach at nearby St. Cloud State from 2006 to 2011. With the NCAA Division I Huskies, she assisted in daily practice planning, with a concentration on coaching forwards. She also served as the team’s recruiting coordinator and monitored the academic progress of her players.
 
Competing in the rugged Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), a league where members Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and Wisconsin had combined to win all 12 NCAA Division I Women’s Hockey Championships at the time, she helped the Huskies to a third-place finish in 2009-10. That season the Huskies became the first team in league history outside of the UM, UMD and UW to finish in the top three. She also helped SCSU to two fourth-place finishes, in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
 
During the 2010-11 season, Kranz served as an assistant coach for the Under-18 U.S. Women’s National Team, winning a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.
 
Before SCSU, Kranz served as a coach at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn., from 2002-06. From 2004-06, she served as the assistant girls prep hockey coach and helped the team win back-to-back USA Hockey Girls Under-19 national championships.
 
During her tenure at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, she was responsible for recruiting, travel and budget management, and also served as the public information coordinator for the private school’s athletic programs.
 
A native of Waukesha, Wis., Kranz played collegiately at NCAA Division I Providence College from 1998-2002, scoring 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 104 career games with the Friars. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 2002 from Providence.
 
Kranz has also been active as a coach and team leader with USA Hockey, serving as an evaluator for the Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association since 2000, while also working with the Minnesota Select’s 15 camp since 2008 in Mankato, Minn.