RELEASE: Blackhawks Announce New Hires in Hockey Operations

The Chicago Blackhawks today announced the hires of Kendall Coyne Schofield as Player Development Coach & Youth Hockey Growth Specialist, Erik Condra as Player Development Coach and Juan Gonzalez as the Rockford IceHog's Strength & Conditioning Coach within the team's Hockey Operations Department.

As Player Development Coaches, Coyne and Condra will assist the Rockford Coaching staff in the skills development of current players, while also evaluating, assessing and scouting potential prospects. Additionally, Coyne has long served as a local community liaison for the Chicago Blackhawks organization and she will formalize this work in her new hybrid role as Youth Hockey Growth Specialist, specifically focused on grassroots youth hockey programs and clinics, implementation of girls' hockey programming and the continued enhancement of her namesake all-girls program "Golden Coynes." In his role, Gonzalez will oversee the strength and conditioning program of the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.
"Adding talented people with diverse and multi-faceted backgrounds like Kendall, Erik and Juan enhances our operations as we assess the changing landscape of hockey at all levels and continue to build and maintain a system of elite hockey," said Chicago Blackhawks Senior Vice President and General Manager
Stan Bowman
. "Each of these individuals brings unique experience to their position, and we are excited to welcome them to the Blackhawks family."

Coyne is a native of Palos Heights, Ill. and a graduate of Sandburg High School (Orland Park, Ill.). A forward for the United States Women's National Ice Hockey Team, Coyne is a six-time World Champion at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship and has twice represented the U.S. in the Olympic Winter Games, earning a Gold Medal in PyeongChang 2018 (2G, 1A) and Silver Medal in Sochi 2014 (2G, 4A). As part of a four-year collegiate playing career with Northeastern University, she led the NCAA in goals, goals per game, points per game, shorthanded goals and hat tricks during the 2015-16 season, earning the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the top player in women's college hockey as a senior. On January 25, 2019 Coyne became the first woman to compete in the National Hockey League's All-Stars skills competition, posting a time of 14.326 seconds in the fastest-skater challenge. She has also recently held broadcasting analyst roles with NBC Sports and NBC Sports California.
Originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round (211th overall) of the 2006 National Hockey League Draft, Condra appeared in 372 regular-season NHL contests with the Senators (2010-15), Tampa Bay Lightning (2015-17) and Dallas Stars (2018-19), recording 99 points (40G, 59A). He also skated in 26 playoff games with Ottawa and Tampa, tallying nine points (3G, 6A). A native of Trenton, Michigan, Condra skated in 362 American Hockey League contests with Binghamton, Syracuse, Texas and Colorado, notching 247 points (88G, 159A) and winning the Calder Cup in 2011 with Binghamton. He served as team captain of Syracuse from 2017-18 and was an alternate captain with Dallas and Colorado's AHL affiliates. Condra attended the University of Notre Dame from 2005-09, serving as captain during the 2008-09 season. With the Fighting Irish, he was named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team in 2006 and was named an All-American and Academic All-American in 2009 while also winning the CCHA Terry Flanagan Award and Notre Dame's Patrick O'Connor and Byron V. Kanaley Awards.
Most recently, Gonzalez served as a strength and conditioning advisor for the USA Hockey National Development Program where he assessed and designed off-ice programs for the U-17 and U-18 hockey teams, and a head performance coach with GVN Performance where he trained and monitored NHL, AHL, ECHL and NCAA athletes across various sports. A certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Gonzalez also spent time as a strength coach with Optimum Performance Training in Calgary, Alberta and was a strength and conditioning intern while attending Loras College where he earned a Bachelor of Exercise Science. A Chicago, Illinois native, Gonzalez is currently working toward a Master of High Performance Sport at Australian Catholic University.
Additionally, Meghan Hunter has been promoted to Director of Hockey Administration and Amateur Scout. Hunter previously served as Senior Executive Assistant to the Senior Vice President/General Manager and Hockey Operations. Prior to joining the Blackhawks, she worked with Hockey Canada as Manager of Hockey Operations/National Teams from 2010-16, served as Director of Group Sales for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League from 2008-10, was an account executive with Ikon Office Solutions from 2007-08 and was an assistant coach with the University of Maine's Women's Hockey team from 2006-07 and an assistant with Niagara University's Women's hockey team from 2005-06. Hunter skated four years at the University of Wisconsin from 2000-04, where she was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award during her freshman season when she shared the national scoring lead with 42 goals and 78 points.
These additions and promotions come on the heels of previous structural changes made during Summer 2020 to better align the Hockey Operations Department toward its development-focused approach.
For an updated front office staff directory, please visit Blackhawks.com/team/frontoffice.