Western New England University

The winter of 2023-2024 marked the fourth season for Katie Zimmerman as the head coach of the Western New England University women's ice hockey team and the team's first ever CCC Championship. Zimmerman will begin the 2024-2025 as her fifth season guiding the program.

In just its third season of competitive action, Zimmerman and the Golden Bears won the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship and received an automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament, making a first-round appearance against Middlebury College. Zimmerman was named CCC Coach of the Year, New England Hockey Writers Association Coach of the Year, and a CCM/AHCA National Coach of the Year Finalist after leading the Golden Bears to a 17-8-3 record and a second-place finish in the CCC regular season standings (11-5-2 CCC record). On the national stage, WNE boasted the country’s third-best powerplay at a  .291% success rate, had the fifth-most powerplay goals in the nation with 25, and had the nation’s tenth-most team shutouts with seven. WNE also received votes in the national poll in back-to-back rankings to close out the season (USCHO.com). Zimmerman’s squad was also honored with the CCC Team Sportsmanship award as well as claiming two other major individual awards by way of Alyssa Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.) being named the CCC Player of the Year/All-Conference First-Team and Abby Hay (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) claiming the CCC’s Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. Four additional Golden Bears were named to the CCC All-Conference Second-Team (Rieley Jessie-Gerelli (Croton-On-Hudson, N.Y.), Alexa Paoli (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Maddie Pope (Plantation, Fla.), and Maddy Tucker (Clarkston, Mich.).

In just its second season in program history in 2022-23, Zimmerman guided the Golden Bears to a 15-8-3 overall record and a third-place finish in the CCC (10-6-2), earning a bye to the CCC semifinals in just the program’s second season of competition. The 2022-2023 squad featured a league-leading penalty kill at 90.2% (good for 12^th best in the nation), an overtime record of 4-0-3 (tied most regular season OT wins in the nation), a six-game unbeaten streak (November 12 – December 3) and two separate four-game win streaks. The Golden Bears also picked up their first win over a nationally ranked opponent on November 12, 2022, with a 3-2 OT victory over #11 Endicott College. Zimmerman led Western New England first-year Maddie Pope (Plantation, Fla.) to Commonwealth Coast Conference Rookie of the Year honors and junior Rieley Jessie-Gerelli (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.) to Goaltender of the Year, with both also garnering All-Conference First-Team selections. 

Zimmerman and the Golden Bears competed in their inaugural season in 2021–22, playing their first game and picking up the first win in program history on October 29, 2021, in a 4-0 win over Anna Maria College. Zimmerman and the Golden Bears won seven games in their inaugural season, placing fifth in league standings and reaching the CCC Quarterfinal round for their first-ever playoff game. In her first season behind the bench, Zimmerman guided Western New England to five wins in CCC play. The Golden Bears highlighted their season with a win in mid-December over previously unbeaten Suffolk University, under the guidance of Head Coach Zimmerman, taking down the Rams 4-0 behind the first ever hat trick in the women's ice hockey program history from Katie Cronin (Winchester, Mass.). 

Katie Zimmerman was named head coach of the Western New England University women's ice hockey program on June 12, 2019, and is the only head coach in program history. 

Prior to WNE: Zimmerman came to Western New England following five seasons as an assistant coach at Amherst College, where she helped lead the Mammoths to a record of 82-34-18 (.679). The 2015-16 Amherst squad enjoyed its most successful regular season in program history at the time, going 20-1-3 en route to an appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals.

Prior to her time in Amherst, Zimmerman broke into the coaching profession as an assistant at SUNY Cortland in 2013–14. Additionally, she has held various roles with USA Hockey, including National Camp Head Coach, intern, and District Evaluator/Coach.

Zimmerman, a 2013 graduate of Hamilton College, was a standout performer at the forward position during her four-year career with the Continentals. The Plymouth, Michigan, native was a two-time All-NESCAC selection, leading the conference in goals in both her junior and senior seasons. Zimmerman also earned D3Hockey.com All-East Region accolades at the conclusion of her final collegiate campaign. During Zimmerman's senior season at Hamilton, Zimmerman scored seven power play goals, which ranked fifth in the nation; five game-winning goals, which sat fifth in the nation; and 0.84 goals per game, which ranked sixth in the nation. Zimmerman finished her senior season with 21 goals and nine assists, good for 30 points, which ranked 13^th in the nation. Her 57 career goals are good for third all-time in the record books at Hamilton, and her 97 points sit at seventh-most in history.

After earning her undergraduate degree in communications from Hamilton, Zimmerman went on to receive a master's degree in coaching education from Ohio University in 2016.