| Founded | 1975 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Cookie Cartwright |
| Type | Sports governing body |
| Purpose | Organize and promote women's ice hockey in Ontario, Canada |
| Headquarters | 225 Watline Avenue Mississauga, Ontario |
| Location | |
| Field | Ice hockey |
Membership (2020) | 51,395 registered [1] |
Official language | English |
| Website | OWHA.on.ca |
The Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA) is the governing body of women's ice hockey in the Province of Ontario, Canada. The OWHA is a member of the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF), the Ontario branch of Hockey Canada. The Association was formed in 1975 by Cookie Cartwright to generate interest in women's ice hockey.[ citation needed ] Roughly ten years later, Fran Rider became the association's executive director.
In 1976, Rhonda Leeman Taylor took on a volunteer position with the OWHA and helped the Association grow the number of registered female teams from 101 to 203, within three years. [2] She became the first employee hired by Hockey Ontario to assist in the development of the OWHA, then in 1980 became its first salaried female employee.
The OWHA operates independently from the OHF's other member associations that govern the various levels of men's hockey. It governs all levels of women's hockey in the province, including minor, junior, and senior, at a provincial level. [3]
Senior
Intermediate AA/Junior
Minor
Associated Groups
| Season | Ontario Winners | Runners-up | Third Place | Women's National Championships | Ontario result at Nationals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981-82 | Agincourt Canadians | Brantford, Ontario | Agincourt won the 1982 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 1982-83 | Burlington Ladies | Brantford, Ontario | Burlington won the 1983 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 1983-84 | Hamilton Golden Hawks | Spruce Grove, Alberta | Hamilton won bronze | ||
| 1984-85 | Hamilton Golden Hawks | Summerside, Prince Edward Island | Hamilton won silver | ||
| 1985-86 | Hamilton Golden Hawks | North Battleford, Saskatchewan | Hamilton won the 1986 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 1986-87 | Hamilton Golden Hawks | Riverview, New Brunswick | Hamilton won the 1987 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 1987-88 | Hamilton Golden Hawks | Burlington, Ontario | Hamilton won bronze | ||
| 1988-89 | North York Aeros | Coquitlam, British Columbia | North York won silver | ||
| 1989-90 | North York Aeros | Lloydminster, Saskatchewan | North York won bronze | ||
| 1990-91 | North York Aeros | Verdun, Quebec | North York won the 1991 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 1991-92 | North York Aeros | Edmonton, Alberta | North York won silver | ||
| 1992-93 | North York Aeros | Ottawa, Ontario | North York won the 1993 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 1993-94 | North York Aeros | Winnipeg, Manitoba | North York won bronze | ||
| 1994-95 | Mississauga Chiefs | Summerside, Prince Edward Island | Mississauga finished in fourth place | ||
| 1995-96 [4] | North York Aeros | Moncton, New Brunswick | North York won silver | ||
| 1996-97 [5] | North York Aeros | Richmond, British Columbia | North York won bronze | ||
| 1997-98 [6] | North York Aeros | Calgary, Alberta | North York won silver | ||
| 1998-99 [7] | North York Aeros | Mississauga, Ontario | North York won bronze | ||
| 1999-2000 [8] | North York Aeros | Sydney, Nova Scotia | North York won the 2000 Abby Hoffman Cup | ||
| 2000-01 [9] | North York Aeros | Brampton Thunder | Durham Lightning | Summerside, Prince Edward Island | North York won bronze |
| 2001-02 [10] | North York Aeros | Brampton Thunder | Mississauga Ice Bears | Arnprior, Ontario and Renfrew, Ontario | North York won silver Brampton won bronze |
| 2002-03 [11] | Brampton Thunder | North York Aeros | Mississauga Ice Bears | Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | Brampton won silver |
| 2003-04 [12] | Toronto Aeros | Oakville Ice | Durham Lightning | Sherwood Park, Alberta | Toronto won the 2004 Abby Hoffman Cup |
| 2004-05 [13] | Brampton Thunder | Toronto Aeros | Oakville Ice | Sarnia, Ontario | Toronto won the 2005 Abby Hoffman Cup Brampton won silver |
| 2005-06 [14] | Brampton Thunder | Oakville Ice | Ottawa Raiders | Sydney, Nova Scotia | Brampton won the 2006 Abby Hoffman Cup |
| 2006-07 [15] | Mississauga Aeros | Etobicoke Dolphins | Oakville Ice | Salmon Arm, British Columbia | Etobicoke won silver Mississauga won bronze |
| 2007-08 [16] | Brampton Canadette-Thunder | Mississauga Chiefs | Burlington Barracudas | Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island | Mississauga won the 2008 Abby Hoffman Cup Brampton won silver |
Ice hockey is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hockey sticks to control, advance, and shoot a closed, vulcanized rubber disc called a "puck" into the other team's goal. Each goal is worth one point. The team which scores the most goals is declared the winner. In a formal game, each team has six skaters on the ice at a time, barring any penalties, one of whom is the goaltender. Ice hockey is a full contact sport, and is considered to be one of the more physically demanding team sports.
The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the OHF include the Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Northwestern Ontario. The OHA controls three tiers of junior hockey; the "Tier 2 Junior "A", Junior "B", Junior "C", and one senior hockey league, Allan Cup Hockey.
Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 15- to 20-year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from the 2024 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Geraldine Heaney is an Irish-Canadian ice hockey coach and former defenceman. She played 18 seasons and over 1,000 games with the Toronto Aeros organization, won six Ontario provincial championships and was named Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA) most valuable defenceman on three occasions. The Aeros retired her jersey number 91 in 2006. Internationally, Heaney was a member of the Canadian national team in the first seven Women's World Championships, winning gold each time. She is a two-time Olympian, winning silver at the inaugural tournament in 1998 tournament, and gold in 2002. On June 14, 2022, she became the head coach of the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation.
The Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) is the governing body of all sanctioned ice hockey in the province of Ontario in Canada, except for those portions governed by Hockey Northwestern Ontario and the Hockey Eastern Ontario. The federation is one of Hockey Canada's thirteen regional branches.
The Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA) is an ice hockey governing body for minor, junior and senior ice hockey. The NOHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada. The major league run by the NOHA is the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League.
Lori Dupuis is a Canadian women's ice hockey player.
Angela Diane James is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played at the highest levels of senior hockey between 1980 and 2000. She was a member of numerous teams in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL) from its founding in 1980 until 1998 and finished her career in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). She was named her league's most valuable player six times. James is also a certified referee in Canada, and a coach. She lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
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.
The Ontario Women's Hockey League U22 Elite (OWHL), formerly the Provincial Women's Hockey League, is a women's junior ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2004, it is considered to be the highest level of amateur women's ice hockey in Ontario, and is sanctioned by Hockey Canada and the Ontario Women's Hockey Association.
Fran Rider CM OOnt is a Canadian ice hockey executive, and former player. She began playing ice hockey in 1967, with the Brampton Canadettes, the predecessor to the Brampton Thunder. Rider is one of the founders of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association and played a significant role in expanding women's national and international competitions. Rider was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2015 in recognition of her substantial impact on the growth and development of the modern game of women's hockey.
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The Toronto Jr. Aeros are a women's junior ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Ontario Women's Hockey League (OWHL). The Aeros are six-time OWHL regular season champions, seven-time OWHL playoff champions, and five-time Ontario Intermediate AA champions. On three occasions they won all three titles in one season.
The North American continent is the birthplace of several organized sports, such as basketball, charrería/rodeo, gridiron football, ice hockey, jaripeo/bull riding, lacrosse, ollamaliztl, mixed martial arts (MMA), racquetball, ultimate, and volleyball. The modern versions of baseball and softball, skateboarding, snowboarding, stock car racing, and surfing also developed in North America.
Rhonda Leeman Taylor is a former women's ice hockey player and ice hockey administrator from Canada. In 1980, Leeman Taylor became the first salaried female employee of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA). Leeman Taylor also served as the chairwoman for the inaugural Women's National Hockey Championships in 1982 and became the first woman to sit on the board of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. Taylor also sat on the board of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA). A book about her career and co-written with her niece, Denbeigh Whitmarsh was released in 2019. Leeman Taylor is also a Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame member.
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