Fairview’s Rachel Wiebe making history behind Golden Bears bench

“A lot of my high school teachers knew I was on the hockey team in Grande Prairie because I would take off early some Fridays for games and they were always very supportive of it,” she said.

“It was very devastating when I had to quit. I remember the phone call I made to our coach at the time and my parents and (some of the) staff knew how disheartened I was.”

During her playing years, Wiebe coached the odd hockey camp in the summer.

While she only had a little experience coaching, one of her high school teachers encouraged her to pick up coaching, in lieu of playing hockey.

“One of my high school chemistry teachers, Ken Hovey almost every day said, ‘Hey, you should get into coaching now, you’d be great at this, and you should pursue it.'”

Wiebe tells EverythingGP Hovey would reiterate that message to her all the time up until she graduated high school. Once graduated from high school, Wiebe moved to Grande Prairie for college and decided to give coaching a shot.

From there, Wiebe began taking coaching courses and started getting her certificates from Hockey Canada. She then started coaching a Grande Prairie Midget A female team.

Coaching the female team led Wiebe the opportunity to coach other summer camps with Hockey Alberta. After a couple years of coaching and going to college in Grande Prairie, Wiebe eventually ended up transferring to the U of A to continue her post-secondary schooling.

Initially, Wiebe says she was studying Neurosciences but then, decided to pursue a Conservation Biology degree.

Wiebe was leaving Grande Prairie, however, would be attending the school she had always wanted to play hockey for.

While she was unable to play hockey at the U of A because of concussion problems back when she played, Wiebe says she still wanted to find a way to do something with the Pandas hockey team.

“I always wanted to play for the Pandas ever since I could skate, that was always a big dream of mine. I couldn’t pursue the playing dream, but I thought if there’s any way in any capacity I could still achieve that goal I wanted to do it,” she explained.

“I reached out to (Pandas) head coach Howie Draper and asked if they were looking for any extra help with the team. I met with him once I moved to Edmonton, came to campus and we met,” she added. “I gave him a rundown of my coaching and playing history and my hockey knowledge a little bit. He took me on as an Assistant Coach in the 2019-20 season.”

Wiebe tells EverythingGP she really enjoyed coaching the Pandas that season.

Partially under her leadership, the Pandas were able to register a record of 23-8-1-0 in the regular season. The Pandas won Canada West that year, but unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down their chance at a national championship while they were in P.E.I.

While the Pandas were forced to shut down their season because of COVID-19, Wiebe mentioned she was able to learn a lot from Draper and the rest of the coaches surrounding her.

A perk of working with the Pandas for Wiebe was the fact they would always interact with members of the Golden Bears coaching staff.

It was through meetings in the coaching room and conversations in the hallway that led Wiebe to develop a relationship with Golden Bears Head Coach Ian Herbers.

Herbers is in his second stint with the Golden Bears as a Head Coach. He coached the program from 2012-15 and got offered the job again in 2018 and has coached them ever since.

His coaching history has seen him be an Assistant Coach with the Edmonton Oilers, as well as both an Assistant and Head Coach in the American Hockey League.

That relationship ended up landing Wiebe an assistant coaching job with the U of A men’s hockey team. She says she didn’t expect to get a job offer from the Golden Bears.

“I was a little surprised, but I did know him from before, and from the conversations we had that previous year, he developed a pretty modern understanding of my hockey knowledge,” she said. “I am grateful he did call and ask me because this team has been great.”

This year the Golden Bears piled up a record of 16-4. That led them to earn the top seed in Canada West and pick up a Canada West semi-final series win over the University of Calgary Dinos.

Wiebe says it has been a great first year with the Golden Bears being behind the bench.

Being only 22, Wiebe is the youngest coach in Canada West.

This means the players she coaches are either her age or older than her. She says one player on the team even has a class with her.

While for some it might be an awkward situation coaching players your own age, Wiebe mentioned it is something she is used to.

“I would say it’s a unique situation, but the players know I’m there to help contribute to their development and their game,” she said.

“At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about; being able to contribute what I can to the team and continue to develop my knowledge and ability as a coach, that’s what it boils down to.”

In her day-to-day duties, Wiebe works a lot with the forward group and focuses on details with them to help make them successful in key areas.

With one more year to go until she completes her Conservation Biology degree at the U of A, Wiebe says she’s focused on coaching and finishing the degree before she decides what’s next.

With women’s hockey getting bigger, professional leagues likely launching over the next half-decade and more men’s teams being open to hiring women in their hockey operations department, Wiebe says she would be interested in pursuing coaching further if the right opportunity came along.

“If an opportunity like that presented itself, I would absolutely give it a shot. I’ve got a year left and I’d like to finish my degree first,” she explained.

“I’d like to see how far I could take my coaching career. Before I go too far anywhere else, I want to be able to contribute what I can to the program and keep learning from it as well.”

Wiebe isn’t the only Peace Region product on the Golden Bears this season. Sexsmith’s Carter Wolski and Dawson Creek’s Wyatt McLeod both play for the club.

by Shane Clausing (Twitter: @ShaneC06)

Fairview’s Rachel Wiebe making history behind Golden Bears bench

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