UConn women's hockey hires Ainsley Svetek as assistant coach

UConn women’s hockey made a midseason addition to its coaching staff, hiring former captain and defenseman Ainsley Svetek as an assistant coach for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign. She replaces Elizabeth Wulf, who left the team earlier this month to become the head coach at Division III St. Joseph’s in West Hartford.

"We are excited to have Ainsley back with our program," head coach Chris MacKenzie said in a release. "She understands the demands and challenges of our student athletes."  

Svetek spent five years with the Huskies from 2019-24, recording six goals and 23 assists in 144 career games. In her final season, she helped lead UConn to Hockey East regular season and tournament titles as well as an NCAA Tournament appearance — all of which were firsts for the program. She just graduated two seasons ago, so Svetek has played with a significant chunk of the Huskies’ roster.

UConn needed another assistant to get through the rest of the campaign. Without Svetek, MacKenzie and associate head coach Casey Handrahan would’ve been the only coaches on staff.

Wulf spent four and a half seasons with the Huskies. Now, she’ll become the first head coach at USJ, which is launching a Division III women’s hockey program ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. The Blue Jays will play and practice at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury. Wulf has plenty of experience at the DIII level after playing at Middlebury and coaching at Wesleyan.

UConn owns a 17-3-2 record overall and a 10-1-1 mark in Hockey East play. The Huskies are in second place in the league standings — seven points behind Northeastern with a game in hand — but sit at fifth in the NPI rankings. That would not only guarantee them a spot in the NCAA Tournament but would give them a bye to the regional finals, where they’d need just one win to reach the Frozen Four.

This weekend, UConn will host Merrimack on Thursday (today) at 3 p.m. in Storrs before making the return trip to North Andover on Friday for a 2 p.m. puck drop. After that, the Huskies have a massive series with Northeastern that will have major implications for both the Hockey East standings and the NPI.