Zoe Hickel joins Ohio State coaching staff

Hockey has taken her literally around the world and the latest stop is Ohio as Zoe Hickel was announced as the new assistant coach for Ohio State Monday afternoon.

She’ll join head coach Nadine Muzerall behind the bench.

“I am honored to be joining the women’s hockey program at Ohio State,” Hickel said in the press release about her hiring. “The standard of excellence Coach Muzerall has established, along with the commitment from her staff and the student-athletes, has proven that the Buckeyes will continue to be leaders in the women’s game.”

This is Hickel’s first stint as a paid assistant coach. She was a volunteer assistant coach at Merrimack in 2015-16, their first season as a Division I Team.

The forward played at the University of Minnesota Duluth before playing professionally on three different continents with Boston Pride, the Kunlun Red Stars, the Calgary Inferno, and Linköping HC. In addition to playing in Sweden, she also was the Strength Coach and ran on-ice skill sessions for senior and junior level teams, according to the release.

“I am at a perfect place in my life to use the experience and cultures I’ve absorbed over the years of elite play, coaching and world travel to give that back to our team and to embrace the opportunity to help make a difference in this next generation,” Hickel said in the release.

She also played in two World Championships with Team USA, winning gold at both.

“When hiring a coach you need to look at the complete package,” Muzerall said in the team’s release. “Yes the XOs matter but they only consume a small fraction of the everyday coaching of these young women. We are developing them to be strong-minded women for life after hockey. There was no one better for this then Zoe Hickel. Her resume speaks for itself in terms of experience playing in the top league in women’s college hockey [WCHA], numerous years professionally after and representing her country’s colors on the U.S. National Team. She possesses the technical and tactical coaching but what you can’t read are the qualifications she owns that match our culture and what we are as Buckeyes.”