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Winnipeg has been home to several professional hockey, football and baseball franchises. There have also been numerous university and amateur athletes.
Winnipeg has a storied hockey history and has been home to several top amateur and professional hockey clubs.
The Winnipeg Victorias were three-time Stanley Cup champions (1896, 1901 and 1902). Prior to the founding of national hockey program, three Winnipeg-based clubs won gold medals representing Canada: the Winnipeg Falcons at the 1920 Winter Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, the Winnipeg Hockey Club at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, and the Winnipeg Monarchs at the 1935 World Ice Hockey Championships [1]
Winnipeg teams dominated the early years of the Allan Cup, Canada's senior amateur championship. Between 1909 and 1918, when the Allan Cup was decided through challenges, the Winnipeg Victorias, the Winnipeg Hockey Club, the Winnipeg Monarchs, and the Winnipeg 61st Battalion each won at least one championship. The Winnipeg Maroons participated in the Western Canada playdowns for the Allan Cup 12 times between 1953 and 1967, advancing to the national finals twice, with a loss at the 1961 Allan Cup and winning its only national championship at the 1964 Allan Cup.
Memorial Cup champion teams from Winnipeg include the Winnipeg Junior Falcons (1921), Elmwood Millionaires (1931), Winnipeg Monarchs (1935, 1937, 1946), Winnipeg Rangers (1941, 1943), St. Boniface Seals (1938), and Winnipeg Braves (1959).
The old Winnipeg Arena, built in 1955, was originally home to the Winnipeg Warriors of the Western Hockey League (minor professional) from 1955 to 1961. The Warriors were World's Minor Professional Champions in 1955-56, winning the Edinburgh Cup. The arena was also home to the Winnipeg Warriors of the WHL from 1980 through 1984, and the Winnipeg Monarchs of the same league from 1967 to 1974.
The Winnipeg Jets were founded in 1972 as one of the original teams of the World Hockey Association and went on to win three Avco Cups in eight years. After the WHA folded in 1979, the Jets entered the National Hockey League. The Jets featured such Hall of Famers as WHA coach Rudy Pilous and players Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, and (briefly) Serge Savard, as well as other popular players such as Teemu Selänne and Phil Housley. Jets fans were known for creating the Winnipeg White Out, a tradition in which fans dressed in all-white for playoff games. In 1996, the team was sold to an ownership group based in Phoenix, Arizona, and were relocated, becoming the Phoenix Coyotes.
From 1996 to 2011, Winnipeg was home to the Manitoba Moose. The Moose played in the now-defunct International Hockey League, before joining the American Hockey League in 2001. The Moose were the top minor league affiliate to the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. In 2004, the Moose moved from the Winnipeg Arena to the new MTS Centre. (since renamed Canada Life Centre). But returned to the city in 2015 as the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets.
In 2011, True North Sports & Entertainment, owners of the Moose and MTS Centre, purchased the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, and relocated the team to Winnipeg, they were subsequently renamed the Winnipeg Jets. The team plays out of Bell MTS Place.
Current Winnipeg-based amateur teams of note are the University of Manitoba Bisons, Winnipeg Blues (Manitoba Junior Hockey League) and Winnipeg Freeze (Manitoba Junior Hockey League). Hockey Winnipeg, the local branch of Hockey Manitoba oversees minor hockey in the city. The city briefly had a Western Hockey League franchise from 2019-2023 known as the Winnipeg Ice.
Major international hockey events played in Winnipeg include Game 3 of the 1972 Summit Series, various Canada Cup games, and the 1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Winnipeg has produced Hall of Fame hockey players Andy Bathgate, Bill Mosienko, Art Coulter, Ching Johnson, Frank Fredrickson, Jack Ruttan and Terry Sawchuk. Beyond that, 183 major league professional hockey players were born in Winnipeg. [2]
Winnipeg has a team in the Canadian Football League, the Blue Bombers, who have won 12 Grey Cups, the league's championship trophy. The Winnipeg 'Pegs won the Grey Cup in 1935. Winnipeg also hosted the Grey Cup game in 1991, 1998, 2006, and 2015.
| Team | League(s) | Years Operated | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | CFL | 1930–present | 12 |
| Winnipeg Rifles | CJFL | 2002–present | 0 |
| Winnipeg Hawkeyes | MJFL, CJFL | 1920–1998 | 0 |
| Winnipeg Rods | MJFL, CJFL | 1920–1994 | 5 |
| Manitoba Fearless | WWCFL | 2008–present | 0 |
| Winnipeg Wolfpack | WWCFL | 2011–present | 0 |
| Team | Years Operated | Championships |
|---|---|---|
| Winnipeg Goldeyes | 1994–present | 4 |
| Winnipeg Maroons | 1902–1942 | 8 |
| Winnipeg Goldeyes | 1953–1964 | 3 |
| Winnipeg Whips | 1970–1971 | 0 |
Minor-league baseball has a long history in Winnipeg.
1902–1942: Winnipeg Maroons of the original Northern League
1953–1964: Winnipeg Goldeyes, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals in the Class C Northern League
1970–1971: Winnipeg Whips, AAA affiliate of the Montreal Expos
In 1994, the Rochester Aces of the independent Northern League re-located to Winnipeg, and the team was renamed the Goldeyes.
Initially, the team played at multi-purpose Winnipeg Stadium. In 1999, the team moved to the downtown CanWest Global Park, a baseball-only stadium. The Goldeyes are owned by former mayor Sam Katz.
The Winnipeg Thunder played from 1992-1994. Their inaugural season was in the World Basketball League. After the WBL folded the Thunder joined the National Basketball League (Canada) until 1994 when the league folded. From 1995-2001 the Winnipeg Cyclone played in the International Basketball Association. In 2022 the Canadian Elite Basketball League awarded Winnipeg an expansion franchise to begin play for the 2023 season. The team was named the Winnipeg Sea Bears. In their first season the Sea Bears drew the highest attendance in the CEBL and were the first team in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff spot.
Winnipeg was once home to the Winnipeg Fury professional soccer team, playing in the Canadian Soccer League and winning the final championship to be hosted in the league.
| Team | League(s) | Years Operated | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Manitoba | USL2 | 2011–present | 0 |
| Valour FC | CPL | 2018–present | 0 |
| Winnipeg Fury | CSL | 1987–1992 | 1 |
On May 4, 2015, Investors Group Field in Winnipeg was named as one of six venues that will host the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
On May 7, 2017, it was also announced that Winnipeg would have a team in the Canadian Premier League for the inaugural season for 2019.
The first track horse race in Winnipeg took place in 1922. Whittier Park and Polo Park were used as racetracks in the past. Today, Assiniboia Downs is a six and one half furlong oval located on the western edge of the city. It is operated as a non-profit organization by the Manitoba Jockey Club. Live thoroughbred horse racing takes place in the summer.
Winnipeg hosted the 1967 Pan American Games and 1999 Pan American Games. In 1991, the city hosted the fifth Western Canada Summer Games.
Some of the notable sports figures from Winnipeg include six time Olympic speedskating medalist and most decorated Canadian Olympian Cindy Klassen, [3] Olympic Taekwondo athlete and bronze-medallist Dominique Bosshart, Summer and Winter Olympic medal winner Clara Hughes and Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey Gold Medalist Jennifer Botterill.
Daniel Yanofsky, the first chess Grandmaster developed in the British Commonwealth, lived in Winnipeg from infancy, and he organized and played in Canada's first Supergrandmaster chess tournament in Winnipeg 1967. [4]
The Winnipeg area is the only place in Canada where bandy is played. [5]
Winnipeg has had several competitive Dodgeball players represent Canada in the WDBF (World Dodgeball Federation) World Championships. Winnipeg's first player to make Team Canada was Guylaine San Filippo who won Silver in 2016 and made the team again 2017 where they placed fourth. Winnipeg's next player to make team Canada was Julie McLaren in 2019 but the Women's team did not win a medal that year. World Championships were not held during 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. For the 2022 World Championships, in addition to the standard Men's and Women's divisions, the WDBF introduced Mixed (male & female) divisions for both the Foam and Cloth styles of play, and Winnipeg saw significantly more representation. Catie Brady won Gold with the Women's Foam team. The Mixed Foam team won gold with significant representation from Winnipeg: Coach Amanda Furst, team Captains Jaycie Morris and Jesse Copet, along with teammates Tayler Yuel, Nick Grenier, Eldon Wu and Rylan Yarjau. Jaycie Morris was awarded MVP for the Mixed Foam division. Colton Bertrand (mixed cloth) and Kahleigh Krochak (women's cloth) also represented Winnipeg at the World Championships in 2022 but did not place.
Winnipeg has a number of skateboard parks- some leftovers from the 1970s and many more recent additions to the skateboard scene. [6] In 2006, Winnipeg completed a project that saw the construction of a large skate plaza at the Forks. The plaza was visited by Tony Hawk in his Secret Skate Park Tour in the same year. In 2007 and 2008 the plaza was host to the Rogers WAM International skate board competition, in addition to numerous other competitive and non-competitive events. [7] [8] [9]
The University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba have active and successful programs in sports, especially volleyball and basketball. The University of Winnipeg's women's basketball team won 88 consecutive games during the 1990s, tying a college sports record. The University of Manitoba Bisons football team has won three Vanier Cup trophies, won the Hardy Trophy ten times and won the Mitchell Bowl four times. Volleyball is particularly strong, with consistently high-calibre play, dating back to the standing (in 2007) record of four consecutive national university championships held by the University of Winnipeg Wesmen since the early 1970s.
Winnipeg is also home to many of the world's best curling teams and has hosted the World Curling Championships in 1978, 1991 and 2003. Several World Curling Championships winners have called Winnipeg home including Don Duguid, Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Stoughton, Georgina Wheatcroft and Jennifer Jones.
Winnipeg is home to the Winnipeg Roller Derby League, a league member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association founded in 2008. The league consists of three home teams (the Backseat Betties, the Corporation, and the Valkyries' Wrath) and two travel teams (the Bombshell Brawlers and the WRDL All-Stars). [10] The WRDL All-Stars are a Women's Flat Track Derby Association charter team, travelling around North America to play other charter teams and competing to climb international rankings. Awareness of this sport continues to grow in Winnipeg, with an inaugural sold-out bout taking place at the Winnipeg Convention Centre in February, 2010 and the league marking its 10th Anniversary Season in 2018. [11]
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The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays their games at Investors Group Field. The soccer team play their home games at the University of Manitoba Soccer Fields while the track and field teams use the University Stadium as their home track. The University has 18 different teams in 10 sports: basketball, curling, cross country running, Canadian football, golf, ice hockey, soccer, swimming, track & field, and volleyball.
Michael John Keane is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. Undrafted, Keane played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League from 1988 until 2004. He then played five seasons for his hometown Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League until he retired in 2010. Keane is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, having won with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, Colorado Avalanche in 1996, and the Dallas Stars in 1999. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Cup with three or more different teams. On September 3, 2013, the Winnipeg Jets announced the hiring of Keane as Assistant of Player Development.
Winnipeg Arena was an indoor arena located in the Polo Park district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Canada Life Centre is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
The Flin Flon Bombers are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in Flin Flon, a city located on the Manitoba–Saskatchewan provincial border. The Bombers are members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), which is a member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League, and play home games at the Whitney Forum on the Manitoba side of the city.
The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).
Frederick George "Steamer" Maxwell was a Canadian amateur ice hockey player. He played rover in the days of seven-man hockey at the turn of the 20th century, spending six seasons with the Winnipeg Monarchs of the Manitoba Hockey League (MHL) between 1909 and 1915. Considered one of the top players of his era, he won two Manitoba provincial championships with the Monarchs and was a member of the team that won the 1915 Allan Cup as Canadian senior amateur champions. Maxwell spurned multiple offers to turn professional and ultimately quit playing hockey when he learned some of his peers at the senior amateur level were getting paid.
Hockey Manitoba is the governing body of amateur ice hockey in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Hockey Manitoba was founded in 1914 as the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association and is a branch affiliate of Hockey Canada.
James John Foster was a Scottish-Canadian ice hockey goaltender. He is best known for his role in leading the Great Britain men's national ice hockey team to its only gold medal, in ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics. He was posthumously inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2023.
The Abbott Memorial Cup, commonly referred to as the Abbott Cup, was awarded annually from 1919 through 1999 to the Junior "A" ice hockey Champion for Western Canada.
Alvin Brian McDonald was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward.
James Archibald Dunn was a Canadian sports executive involved in ice hockey, baseball, fastpitch softball, athletics, football and curling. He was president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1955 to 1957, after he served five years as a vice-president. He assumed control of the CAHA when it had lost the confidence of the people to produce a Canada men's national team which would win the Ice Hockey World Championships, and recommended forming a national all-star team based on the nucleus of the reigning Allan Cup champion. He wanted to create more goodwill towards Canada in international hockey, accompanied the Kenora Thistles on an exhibition tour of Japan, then arranged for the Japan men's national team to tour Canada. In junior ice hockey, he was opposed to the mass transfers of players to the stronger teams sponsored by the National Hockey League, and supported weaker provincial champions to have additional players during the Memorial Cup playoffs. After his presidency, he represented the CAHA as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee for 15 years.
The Winnipeg Falcons were a senior men's amateur ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Winnipeg Falcons won the 1920 Allan Cup. That team went on to represent Canada in the 1920 Olympic games held in Antwerp, Belgium. There the Falcons, soundly beating all their opponents, won for Canada the first Olympic gold medal in ice hockey.
Frederick Page was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and ice hockey referee. He originated from Port Arthur, Ontario, where he played junior ice hockey, refereed locally and later at the Memorial Cup and Allan Cup competitions. He was a league executive in Fort William, then served as president of the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association from 1958 to 1962. He was elected second vice president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) in 1962, and rose up the ranks to be its president from 1966 to 1968. Page wanted the CAHA to gain more control over its affairs, and become less dependent on the National Hockey League (NHL). Under his leadership, the NHL ended direct sponsorship of junior hockey teams. He was instrumental in negotiating the revised agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft in 1967, and later served as co-chairman of the resulting joint player development committee.
Johnny McCreedy was a Canadian ice hockey player who played 64 games in the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of two Stanley Cup-winning teams, in 1942 and 1945. Internationally he played for the Canadian national team at the 1939 World Championships, winning a gold medal.
Thomas W. Rendall was a Canadian ice hockey center.
The Winnipeg Hockey Club were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba founded in 1890. After the Winnipegs won the 1931 Allan Cup, they represented the Canada men's national ice hockey team at the 1932 Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid, New York. The team was undefeated throughout the Olympic tournament and were named the 1932 Olympic and world champions.
On March 14, 1968, at home in St. James, the St. James Canadians corralled the Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship, and on March 26, in Selkirk, the Canadians captured the Turnbull Cup defeating the Central Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions Selkirk Steelers.
Craig Heisinger is a Canadian ice hockey executive. He is the assistant general manager and director of hockey operations for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League and senior vice president of True North Sports and Entertainment. He is also the general manager of the Manitoba Moose, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Jets.
Hockey for All Centre is an ice hockey facility located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
