Coaches

Gordie Stafford, Girls Prep Head Coach & Director of Girls Hockey 

Email: gordon.stafford@s-sm.org

Phone: 507-333-1589

Coach Stafford took over as the director of the Girls Hockey COE in the fall of 2004, making an immediate impact.  In his first season at the helm, he led the girls prep team to its first ever USA hockey National Championship.  The Sabres repeated as national champions in each of the next two years. 

In all, Coach Stafford has seen the program win 13 National Championships between the Prep and U16 teams.  His guidance has led athletes to reach the fullest potential in their life and hockey ambitions. Eight alums have represented their countries in the Olympics both as players and coaches.  He has coached numerous Division I and National team players, as well as three future Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award recipients, which recognizes the nation’s top female college hockey player each season.

Stafford was born a raised in Banff, Canada, and played hockey professionally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin before beginning his teaching career.  He has a Master’s degree in Adolescent Development and learning and has a PhD (ABD) in Sports Psychology.   In recent years, he has overseen the addition of a second U19 team, and continues to teach English classes. 

 

Brianna Decker, Girls Prep Associate Head Coach

Email: brianna.decker@s-sm.org

Brianna Decker ’09 joined the SSM coaching staff prior to the 2022-23 season.  No stranger to Shattuck- St. Mary’s, Decker attended SSM from 2005-2009. She was a member of the girls prep team all four years and helped the Sabres win three USA Hockey U19 National Championships (2006, 2007, 2009). 

After graduating from SSM, Decker went on to play four seasons at the University of Wisconsin, where she totaled 244 points (115 goals, 129 assists) in 143 career games played.  She was a three-time AHCA Division I All-American and won the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the nation’s top female college hockey player.  Decker also helped the Badgers make back-to-back National Championship game appearances, winning the title in 2011.  Decker graduated from Wisconsin in 2014 with a degree in human development and family studies.

Additionally, Decker has found success on the international stage for over a decade.  She won back-to-back IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championships in 2008 and 2009.  She has represented the United States in three Olympic Games, winning gold in 2018 and earning a silver medal in 2014 and 2022.  Decker is a six-time International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World champion with the senior national team and has also taken home two silver medals.  She competed for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 2010-2022 without missing a single World Championship or Four Nation’s Cup. 

Decker is a two-time winner of the USA Hockey Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year Award (2015, 2017). Professionally, she has won the CWHL’s Clarkson Cup twice (2015- Boston Blades, 2019- Calgary Inferno).  She helped the Boston Pride win the 2016 Isobel Cup in the inaugural season of the NWHL and was named the NWHL’s Most Valuable Player in 2016 and 2017.

Decker has served as an assistant coach for the US under-18 team at two world championships, taking silver in 2019 and winning gold in 2020.  She has also been an evaluator at the central district camp since 2013 and at the US under-18 camp from 2015-2020.