Colliton bringing consistency behind the bench

Jordan Colliton has a history of elevating women’s hockey programs to new heights.

She did it with the Mount Royal University Cougars from 2015-22, first as an assistant head coach and then as associate head coach, guiding a team that was new to U Sports competition to perennial national championship contention.

The Blackie, Alta., product did it more recently across the pond, where she helped Leksands IF of the Swedish Women’s Hockey League to its best regular season finish in five years and first playoff win in eight years.

Now Colliton will try again with the University of Manitoba Bisons, a group that is starving for stability and looking to build on last season, which included its first playoff series win in six years.

“It’s obviously a great opportunity for me,” Colliton, who relished the opportunity to move closer to family, told the Free Press on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old enters her first season as head coach, taking over from Jordy Zacharias, who served as the interim for the better part of the last two seasons after long-time bench boss Jon Rempel went on medical leave and later resigned from his post.

“I feel pretty relaxed coming into this environment. I know this environment. The pressure of the pro game, I don’t feel that at this level, because it’s different,” said Colliton, who served as an assistant coach with the Ottawa Charge of the Professional Women’s Hockey League in 2024. “This is about developing people. Who they are Year 1 shouldn’t be who they are Year 5, and us giving them a great student-athlete experience, and part of that experience is winning, but there’s more to it than that.

“I think that’s what I look forward to with this program, and the ability to build something of my own.”

Colliton, an NCAA Division 1 alum of the Maine Black Bears, joined the coaching ranks shortly after her playing career ended in 2011.

While her time in Sweden helped shape her as a coach, her most influential moment came while she was still playing.

She credits her former prep school head coach Jamie Wood for inspiring her to break into the coaching ranks. The thought had never crossed her mind until Wood, who coached Colliton at the Warner Hockey School for two seasons, encouraged her to make the leap following her playing days.

“He made a huge impact on me, not just hockey-wise, but personally. The belief and the self-worth I got from him — the opportunity to grow, and he never put me in a box— that’s why I got into coaching, was to have that impact,” Colliton said.

The Bisons gathered on the ice for the first time as a team on Aug. 25 and have since played five exhibition contests. Colliton has been encouraged by the group and the way it has bought in so quickly to her message.

It didn’t take much for a motivated group whose biggest need was consistency behind the bench.

“They just need more direction. And because of the uncertainty with the program the last few years, I think that’s why we’re getting the buy-in right now, because I’m here. I’m here to stay. I’m not going anywhere,” Colliton said.

Fourth-year forward Dana Goertzen echoed that sentiment, adding Colliton’s straightforwardness has made it easy to rally around.

“I think everyone is a little bit less on their toes with how they talk, how they play, how they perform, when and what they do, because Jordan is very to the point. What she says goes, like she’s not wishy washy,” said Goertzen.

Goertzen went so far as to say the locker room believes it can win a Canada West conference championship under Colliton in her first season. It would be the program’s first since 2018 and a tremendous feat after going 17-16 last season.

The early returns are three wins, a shootout loss and another narrow one-goal defeat. Pre-season wins wouldn’t normally excite anyone but they have instilled hope into this group.

“We’re all trying to prove ourselves, because it is a new coach, so we’re all starting from scratch,” said Goertzen.

“Having her there and being upfront about absolutely everything, everyone is all on the same page, which I also think has contributed to the factor of us being so successful in pre-season thus far.”

Colliton believes she has a strong supporting cast inside and beyond the Fort Garry campus.

Her brother, Jeremy, is well-known in the coaching profession. He served as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks for parts of four seasons and is currently an associate coach with the New Jersey Devils.

“I think we lean on each other,” she said. “We both have respect for each other’s positions and jobs, and what we’ve done to get where we are. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes work. It takes a commitment to our craft.”

Colliton said it can be tough for the siblings to reach each other at times, especially these days with both of their respective teams in training camp, but they always find a way to bounce ideas off one another.

“We’re both living the hockey life, and we both understand what it takes. It’s awesome that I get that relationship with someone who is family, and it’s super cool.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam