Karen NYSTROM

Forward Karen Nystrom had an ice hockey career with the Scarborough Firefighters/Toronto Redwings of the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League prior to joining the Canadian women’s national team in 1992, and was named the league’s scoring leader for the 1991-1992 season. She picked up two gold medals from the 1992 and 1994 World Championships prior to returning to the Redwings for the 1995-1996 season, but was back with Team Canada in time to capture a third gold medal from the 1997 World Championships. That year she joined the Brampton Thunder of the National Women’s Hockey League, with whom she would skate until her retirement from active play in 2003. Along the way she attended the first official Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament in 1998, where she suited up for six matches, scored one goal, and took home a silver medal. Prior to joining the NWHL she had played on Northeastern University’s hockey squad for four years, on an athletic scholarship, and worked at Nike for 12 years as a manager of customer service. She was an assistant coach with Toronto Junior Aeros for the 2005-2006 season and head coach of Team Ontario Red, the gold medal winners, at the 2007 Canadian National Under-18 Championship prior to signing on as the head coach of the University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology in March 2009.