| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Hockey Canada's women's national champions |
| Country | Canada |
| History | |
| First award | 1982 |
| Editions | 27 |
| Final award | 2008 |
| First winner | Agincourt Canadians |
| Most wins | Team Québec (5) Toronto Aeros (5) |
| Most recent | Mississauga Chiefs |
Hockey Canada's Women's National Championship for the Abby Hoffman Cup, [1] sometimes known as the Esso Women's Nationals for sponsorship reasons, [2] was a senior ice hockey championship from 1982 to 2008. The first edition was hosted in Brantford, Ontario from 1-4 April 1982 (originally known as the Shoppers Drug Mart Women's Nationals).
The competition typically featured nine or ten teams, mostly the provincial champions but also sometimes provincial all-star teams or a local host team. The winners won the Abby Hoffman Cup with gold medals, the runners up won the Fran Rider Cup with silver medals, and the third-place team won the Maureen McTeer Trophy with bronze medals. The Abby Hoffman Cup was donated by the Ontario Women's Hockey Association.
From 1982 to 2003, the teams were split into two somewhat even groups for round-robin play before the knockout games and the ranking or medal games. From 2004 to 2007, the teams were split into two distinct groups from which all five Pool A teams advanced to the knockout phase with only the Pool B winners. In 2008, the last year for the competition, the teams were again slit into two distinct groups, but only the four Pool A teams played for medals (CWHL and WWHL teams) [3] while the four Pool B teams played for a B title. [4]
Since the split between the National Women's Hockey League and the Western Women's Hockey League in 2004, this was the only event in the professional women's hockey calendar that saw teams from the two leagues play against each other. Although an agreement between the NWHL and the WWHL was reached in 2006 to merge the two leagues (wherein the latter would be absorbed as a separate division of the former), difficulty in setting up the Nationals alongside an interlocking playoff format prevented the merger from taking place - the Nationals eventually would take place mere days after the WWHL playoffs and before the NWHL playoffs.
With the collapse of the NWHL soon after and the establishment of the Canadian Women's Hockey League in Eastern Canada, the Esso Nationals, which will also serve as a playoff of sorts between the WWHL and CWHL, received a format overhaul in 2008, in which the top two teams from the WWHL (representing British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan) and the top two teams from the CWHL (representing Ontario and Quebec) automatically qualified for the event. Teams representing the provinces without teams in either league filled out the remainder of the field, due to Hockey Canada requirements that every province be represented. The Abby Hoffman Cup was awarded to both the club pool and the team pool champions. Similarly, the Fran Rider Cup and the Maureen McTeer Trophy (the trophies awarded for the silver and bronze medalists at the Esso Nationals) were awarded in both the club and team pool tournaments.
To level the playing field (which in recent years had been dominated by club teams) for 2008, the four club teams played in a separate tournament from the four all-star teams (and thus two championships were awarded at the Esso Nationals), with the intent that the club pool (with the Clarkson Cup as its championship) would be splintered off into its own tournament at some point in the future. The 2008 tournament also saw the first American team to qualify, with the Minnesota Whitecaps joining the Calgary Oval X-Treme in representing the WWHL in the club pool. The format was the same for both the club and team tournaments: after the four teams played a single round robin pool, the four teams were seeded based on their standings and played a single-elimination tournament for the championship.
This arrangement had lasted for only one year; in 2009, the dispute between Clarkson and the Clarkson Cup's artists was settled, and a new championship, the National Canadian Women's Hockey Championship, was created for the professional teams, under the same format. However, this was not without cost as Hockey Canada elected to discontinue the Esso Women's Nationals in favour of the Esso Cup , a new national female midget 'AAA' championship.
The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) was a women's ice hockey league established in Canada in service from 1999 to 2007. In its final season the league was run by the Ontario Women's Hockey Association.
The Clarkson Cup is an ice hockey trophy awarded to Canada's national women's champions. Commissioned by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, the trophy was first unveiled in July 2006 when Clarkson ceremoniously presented it to the Canadian national women's team. Owing to a rights dispute with the artists who designed the trophy, it was not officially awarded until 2009, when it became, as intended, the award for top women's club team. From 2012 to 2019, it was exclusively awarded to the winner of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). In Canada, it has been considered the women's equivalent of the Stanley Cup.
The Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) was a women's hockey league in Canada. The league was established in 2004, and consisted of teams in Canada and one from the United States. The league office was in Vancouver, British Columbia, and managed by Recreation Sports Management.
Danielle Goyette is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played on the Canada women's national ice hockey team. In 2013, she was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. In 2017, she was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Goyette was made a member of the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2018.
Gillian Ferrari is a Canadian women's ice hockey player. She was inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. Her mother is from Wales and her father was born in Italy.
Colleen Kay Sostorics is a Canadian retired women's ice hockey defenseman. She played extensively for Canada at the international level, including three Olympic gold medals. At the Women's World Championships, Sostorics helped Canada to three gold and three silver medals, and at the 4 Nations Cup, she captured five gold medals and one silver medal. When not playing with Canada, she competed at the club level for the Calgary Oval X-Treme, in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL).
The Markham Thunder was a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from Brampton, Ontario, to Markham, Ontario, for the 2017–18 season. The CWHL ceased operations in 2019 and no further statements or actions were taken with the franchise.
Molly Marie Engstrom is an American retired ice hockey player and the current head coach of the Maine Black Bears women's ice hockey program in the Hockey East (HEA) conference of the NCAA Division I. During her playing career, she played with Djurgårdens IF in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL), the Connecticut Whale in the National Women's Hockey League, the Brampton Thunder in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), and the Minnesota Whitecaps in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL).
The Calgary Oval X-Treme were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL). The team played its home games at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Oval X-Treme were a member of the National Women's Hockey League for two seasons before breaking away to help form the WWHL in 2004.
The Minnesota Whitecaps were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, at the Richfield Ice Arena. Established in 2004, the Whitecaps were originally part of the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) from 2004 to 2011.
The Edmonton Chimos were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL). Founded in 1973, the team closed out its 38-year existence playing its home games at River Cree Twin Arenas in Edmonton, Canada. At that time, the team owner was Arlan Maschmayer.
The Toronto Aeros, often called Beatrice Aeros after their primary sponsor, the North York Aeros, and the Mississauga Aeros were a semi-professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario. The team played its home games in Beatrice Ice Gardens in Toronto and Iceland Mississauga in Mississauga. In 2010, the Canadian Women's Hockey League placed an expansion team back in Toronto and was sometimes known as the Aeros among fans. In 2011, the CWHL team eventually took on the name of Toronto Furies.
Dana Antal is a women's ice hockey player. She won a gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Prior to joining the Canadian national team, she played collegiate hockey for Cornell University. In her first season, she was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, and was the team's leading scorer. Antal also played for the Calgary Oval X-Treme in the Western Women's Hockey League.
Kelly Paige Bechard is a women's ice hockey player. Bechard competed for Canada at the World Championships in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, she competed for Canada at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Born in Sedley, Saskatchewan, Bechard was also a provincial doubles badminton champion in High School.
The Mississauga Chiefs were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in the Canadian National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They played in Mississauga, Ontario at the Hershey Centre and the Iceland Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area. Founded as the Mississauga Chiefs in 1993, the team was known as the Mississauga Ice Bears during 2000 to 2003 and as the Oakville Ice during 2003 to 2007.
The first instances of organized women's ice hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it was played at the university level. The Women's Hockey Association claims that the city of Ottawa, Ontario hosted the first game in 1891. In 1920, Lady Meredith, an avid sportswoman and wife of Sir Vincent Meredith of Montreal donated the Lady Meredith Cup to the Quebec Ladies' Hockey Association, said to be the first women's ice hockey trophy created for a competition in Canada. At the time women competed in ankle-length skirts.
Samantha Holmes played for the Canadian national women's ice hockey team from 2000 to 2005. She is also the founder of the Strathmore Rockies ice hockey team.
Kelly Sudia is a former professional ice hockey player from Canada. She played in five consecutive Canadian Women's Hockey League championships and won three Clarkson Cup championships. After retiring as a player in 2012, she has been the operations manager and technical coach of the Montreal Canadiennes.
