You won’t find many coaches that are busier than Christine Bumstead these days but that suits her just fine as she prepares to lead U18 Team Manitoba at the 2024 National Women’s U18 Championship in Quispamsis, New Brunswick from November 3 – 9.

The 28-year-old graduate of St. Mary’s Academy is entering her fourth season as an assistant coach with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team while also in her second season as a development coach with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades.

This week, Bumstead is in Fort Lauderdale, Florda working as guest coach with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers at their main training camp. (She was also a guest coach at the Panthers development camp in July).

It has been a jam-packed September for Bumstead, who is also a substitute teacher in Saskatoon, and it will only get busier as the season progresses, so time management is essential for her.

“I’m obsessed with my Google calendar. My Google calendar is scary,” Bumstead said. “Green is Huskies, Blue is Blades, Yellow is Team Manitoba. So it’s very busy but I’m fortunate. I never want me doing Blades to take away from the Huskies or me doing Huskies to take away from the Blades. You do have to sacrifice some personal time so you have to separate the two to give them both the full attention.”

Bumstead started formally coaching in 2017 with the U15 AA Rangers but she actually became interested in coaching long before that while playing for her dad Larry at St. Mary’s Academy (2009-2013). She started the Girls of the North spring program (a team of elite girls from Manitoba/Ontario) in 2011 with her dad, first as an assistant before eventually becoming a co-coach in 2014. The program ran until recently in 2022.

“I started coaching really young. People will see my resume before they meet me and they’ll think I’m going to be this old person. Like when I was down in Florida, they were like ‘You look really good for 35’ and I was like I’m not 35. I’m 28. They just assume because they see the list.” Bumstead said.

Prior to coaching the Huskies and Blades, Bumstead was the head coach of the U15 AAA Pembina Valley Hawks in Morden for three years where she was also teaching, a position she earned after more than 14 years in skills coaching with Northwestern Hockey Sports Camp and Jets Hockey Development in Winnipeg. She originally took a one-year leave of absence to take the position with the University of Saskatchewan but she ultimately decided to stay there.

A graduate of the NHL Coaches Association’s Female Mentorship Program, Bumstead is an astute hockey mind who combines her unbridled enthusiasm for the game and sensitivity for others with a keen attention to detail which guides her coaching philosophy.

“I like to lead among rather than lead from above,” Bumstead said. “Everything is relationship based for me. Teaching and coaching are very similar. I think that I can never get the most out of my athletes if I don’t have that relationship with them first. Especially at the start of the season or when they’re first year on the team versus third or fourth year. It’s all about building the relationship and leading by example. If we’re expecting our girls to put time in the gym, it’s important to me that I’m also putting the same time in the gym.”

Over the past year, Bumstead has added head coach of Team Canada’s women’s Deaf hockey team to her already lengthy resume. Bumstead earned a post-graduate degree in Deaf and Hard of Hearing studies from Minot State University in North Dakota and has a strong connection to the Deaf community. She helped Canada win silver at the 2024 World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships in Buffalo, New York this past May.

“We do some stuff in January which is nice because I pretty much have full control of that program so I make it work for me. Once POE is done, then I start looking at it. So in December, I kind of start tinkering, and then do a little bit of stuff in January and then the world championships are always in April and May.” Bumstead said.

This will be Bumstead’s second experience coaching U18 Team Manitoba, this time as head coach, as she was an assistant coach with last year’s group that competed at the 2023 National Women’s U18 Championship in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

“It’s exciting to represent your province and I always want to see my players get to the next step and reach their dreams. I never had the opportunity to represent my province as a player on the ice so for me to be a part of their journey is huge. I’m grateful for everything that Hockey Manitoba did for me as a player and a coach when I was in the province so to lend my time back is important and to be a part of it in any way is something special. I do it for the girls 100%.” Bumstead said.

Three weeks ago, U18 Team Manitoba took on the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team in the annual Bisons series and U18 Team Manitoba won two of the three games, with the one loss coming in overtime. The results showed the depth and skill of this year’s group.

“We went into the weekend with no expectations. We were just kind of like this is our time to gel as a team and try our systems out, see what works,” Bumstead said. “I remember in the first period, I kind of looked at my coaching staff and I was like ‘We might be okay’. So it was cool to see how they started to really buy into our systems and buying into the identity that we want to be this year. I think for the girls it gave them a little bit of belief.”

In addition to her daily responsibilities with the Blades and Huskies, Bumstead will play an active role (virtually) in Team Manitoba’s preparations leading up to the 2024 National Women’s U18 Championship in early November.

As she continues to take on new challenges and blaze her own trail, Bumstead remains humble despite being a big inspiration for female coaches in Manitoba and beyond.

“I probably don’t think about it often. When the opportunity presented itself, there was an element of nerves just because I was going to be the first or it was going to be the first time,” Bumstead recalled, discussing her role with the Blades. “I think it was nerves about maybe how I would be received by the players or how I would fit in with the coaching staff and that kind of stuff. But then when I actually thought about it I realized I’m on an all-male coaching staff with the Huskies as well. At the time I was the only female there too so I was like that’s no different…. Once I got there, I think they embraced it. The players embraced it and the coaching staff as well. It’s just been a good fit and I think that’s why I’m back this year.”