Kayla Chilstrom was named the fourth head coach fort he WIdlcats in May 2025 after being part of the Wildcat hockey coaching staff as an assistant coach since the 2022-23 season.
A former NCAA Division III student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, Chilstrom joined Johnson's staff following four seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater. St. Olaf did not compete in any games during Chilstrom's first season of 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Chilstrom's four seasons on staff at UW-Superior, the Yellowjackets won 50 games and appeared in the semifinals of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship each season. This past season, UW-Superior went 17-8-2, with victories over No. 7 UW-River Falls and No. 4 Gustavus, and received votes in the USCHO.com national rankings on two occasions.
Chilstrom has also served as an instructor at the Scott Bjugstad Shooting School and as a player development coach for the Minnesota Ice Cougars. Prior to returning to her alma mater as an assistant coach, Chilstrom was an assistant coach at Superior High School for five seasons before being elevated to head coach for the 2016-17 season.
As a student-athlete at UW-Superior, Chilstrom helped the Yellowjackets to their first-ever appearance in the national semifinals in 2007-08 and a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) conference title that same year. In 102 career games on the blue line, Chilstrom accumulated 38 points on 11 games and 27 assists while the Yellowjackets went 71-31-12 (.675).
Aside from her coaching responsibilities at St. Kate's, Chilstrom serves as the Program Director at Midwest Hockey as well as working with the Minnesota Ice Cougars.
