Fetter to assist Canadian U-22 team

Wayne State women’s hockey coach Jim Fetter has been highly praised in recent years, and with good reason. Not only has the head coach morphed a sub-.500 team into a record-setting group in his six seasons at Wayne State, but he was also recently selected as an assistant coach for Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 team for the 2009-10 season.
This marks the third year in a row that Fetter has been a part of the program, having served as the Under-22’s assistant coach last season, where the team won a silver medal at the 2009 MLP Cup in Ravensburg, Germany. Fetter also served as an assistant coach in 2007-08 for the Under-18 program, which also garnered a silver medal.
Julie Healy, Hockey Canada’s director of female hockey, described Fetter’s coaching as intense, but he puts his players first.
“He’s a phenomenal coach and incredibly dedicated and passionate. He really puts the athlete’s interest front and center,” Healy said. “I think that’s why he continues to work in our program, and that’s why his program at Wayne State has continued to grow and improve.”
Fetter will be sharing assistant coach duties with Stephanie Page, the head coach of Ryerson University, under head coach Margot Page, the former head coach at Niagara University.
“We all get along. They’re great people. It’s lots of fun, and they’re professional people as well,” Fetter said.
The three coaches have all worked together in prior seasons of the Canadian program, in both the Under-22 and Under-18 programs.
“The experiences the three of them bring to the table will certainly help our athletes understand what they need to do to be successful at the next level,” Healy said.
According to Fetter and Healy, the program allows for both players and coaches to grow together, giving them an opportunity to prepare for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“With Hockey Canada … they try to not only develop the athletes but the coaches as well, so it’s a learning process for us,” Fetter said. “They send us to all different types of clinics and seminars and try to make us better coaches as well.”
The CHA recently selected Fetter as its coach of the year for the third consecutive season, in which seniors Melissa Boal and Sam Poyton both scored more than 100 goals. Including Boal and Poyton, only six players in NCAA women’s hockey history have set that record.
“Ultimately, you want your athletes to be in an environment that supports their success, and he’s one of a small group of coaches in Canada that have that skill set to be able to make that happen,” Healy said.

GOLF
Wayne State golfer Joe Juszczyk placed first and set a club record in a stroke play tournament at the 98th Michigan Amateur Championship at Spring Meadows Country Club held last week, June 23-27.
The junior shot back-to-back 66s to beat the mark set back in 2003.
Juszczyk earned a top No. 1 seed in the match play portion of the event, but he fell in the opening round to 64th-ranked Joey Garber.
WSU’s Steve Cuzzort, an 11 seed, advanced the farthest in match play, making it all the way to the round of 16 before being defeated by Eric Lilleboe.

GLIAC AWARDS
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference handed out its All-Academic team awards where student-athletes from golf, softball and baseball were among those receiving accolades.
Thirteen baseball players, eight softball players and one golfer made the list.
Four players from the baseball squad earned their third academic awards, including Dane Little, Scott Martin, Justin Mazur and John Skaggs. The same could be said for Lisa Seymour, Sarah Teller and Lauren Warkentien from the softball team.
Golfer Bryan Lynch earned his second straight appearance on the All-Academic team.
Karl Henkel contributed to this article.