Current season, competition or edition:![]() | |
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Sport | Ice hockey |
---|---|
Founded | 1998 |
First season | 1998 |
Organising body | U Sports |
No. of teams | 8 |
Country | Canada |
Most recent champion(s) | Concordia Stingers (4th title) |
Most titles | Alberta Pandas (8) |
Official website | usports |
The U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Championship, is a Canadian university ice hockey tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The Golden Path Trophy is awarded to the winners.
The championship has been competed for in U Sports since 1998, when the sport was established in what was then known as the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union. Prior to that, only teams from Ontario would compete for a women's ice hockey championship.
The trophy was donated by Katherine Cartwright in 1998, which is when the championship was first contested. Cartwright was the first head coach of the Queen's Gaels women's hockey program in 1971 and led the movement to reinstate women's hockey at the collegiate level in 1960, following a nine-year hiatus. [1]
With the completion of the 2022 championship, the Alberta Pandas have won the most national championships, with eight wins in 10 appearances, followed by the McGill Martlets, with four wins in nine appearances. The Concordia Stingers and Montreal Carabins are next with three and two titles, respectively, followed by six teams with one win each.
The 2020 championship tournament was cancelled after two semi-final games had been played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [2] On 15 October 2020, it was announced that the 2021 national championship was also cancelled. [3]
Appearances | Team | Wins | Losses | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Alberta Pandas | 8 | 2 | .800 |
9 | McGill Martlets | 4 | 6 | .400 |
5 | Concordia Stingers | 4 | 1 | .800 |
5 | Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks | 1 | 4 | .200 |
4 | Montreal Carabins | 2 | 2 | .500 |
4 | Toronto Varsity Blues | 1 | 3 | .250 |
2 | Calgary Dinos | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
2 | Western Mustangs | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
1 | Manitoba Bisons | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
1 | Guelph Gryphons | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
1 | Mount Royal Cougars | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
1 | Regina Cougars | 0 | 1 | .000 |
1 | Ottawa Gee-Gees | 0 | 1 | .000 |
1 | St. Francis Xavier X-Women | 0 | 1 | .000 |
1 | UBC Thunderbirds | 0 | 1 | .000 |
Previously, the only significant Canadian university women's ice hockey championship was the determination of the champions in the large Ontario associations, as the few non-Ontario teams tended to play against local or regional community teams rather than in organized interuniversity associations. In Ontario, the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WIAU) existed from 1921–22 to 1970–71, then merged with the Ontario-Quebec University Athletic Association to forme the Ontario Women's Interuniversity Athletic Association (OWIAA), competing from 1971–72 to 1996–97. The OWIAA awarded the Dr. Judy McCaw trophy to its annual champion.
Reference [19]
The U Sports Women's Basketball Championship, branded as the Women's Basketball Final 8, is a Canadian university basketball tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The Bronze Baby trophy is awarded to the winners.
U Sports women's ice hockey is the highest level of play of women's ice hockey at the university level under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Women's ice hockey has been played in U Sports since the 1997-98 season, when the governing body was known as the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union, following a long stint of teams only competing in the OUA. There are 35 teams, all of which are based in Canada, that are divided into four conferences that are eligible to compete for the year-end championship. As these players compete at the university level, they are obligated to follow the rule of standard eligibility of five years.
The Toronto Varsity Blues are the intercollegiate sports program at the University of Toronto. Its 43 athletic teams regularly participate in competitions held by Ontario University Athletics and U Sports. The Varsity Blues trace their founding to 1877, with the formation of the men's football team. Since 1908, Varsity Blues athletes have won numerous medals in Olympic and Paralympic Games and have also long competed in International University Sports Federation championships, Commonwealth Games, and Pan American Games.
Ontario University Athletics is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, and releases about those programs and events to the public and the media. This is similar to what would be called a college athletic conference in the United States. OUA, which covers Ontario, is one of four such bodies that are members of the country's governing body for university athletics, U Sports. The other three regional associations coordinating university-level sports in Canada are Atlantic University Sport (AUS), the Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CW), and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).
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The McGill Martlets ice hockey team represents McGill University, based in Montreal, Quebec in U Sports women's ice hockey. They are members of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and have won four U Sports women's ice hockey championships. Some players have participated internationally, including in the World Student Games. Home games are played at McConnell Arena.
The Ontario University Athletics (OUA) came into being in 1997 with the merger of the Ontario Universities Athletics Association and the Ontario Women's Intercollegiate Athletics Association. This is similar to what would be called a college athletic conference in the United States.
The Toronto Varsity Blues women's ice hockey program represents the University of Toronto in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports. Three-time Olympic medalist Vicky Sunohara has served as head coach since the 2011–12 season.
The Alberta Pandas ice hockey team represents the University of Alberta in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association of U Sports. The team was led by head coach Howie Draper from 1997 until 2023, when Draper left to become head coach of PWHL New York. The current head coach is Darren Bilawchuk. The program has won the most Canada West conference championships with 14 and the most U Sports national championships with eight.
The York Lions women's ice hockey team represents York University in Toronto, Ontario in the sport of ice hockey in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports. The York Lions have won three OUA championships in their program history while making one appearance in the U Sports women's ice hockey championship tournament since its inception in 1998.
The Guelph Gryphons are an ice hockey team that represents the University of Guelph. They compete in the Ontario University Athletics Conference in U Sports. The program has yielded seven McCaw Cup conference championships and one Golden Path Trophy national championship, coming in 2019.
The Western Mustangs women's ice hockey team represents the University of Western Ontario Western Mustangs and competes in the Ontario University Athletics conference, which participates nationally in the U Sports athletic program. The Mustangs play at Thompson Arena in London, Ontario.
Mélodie Daoust is a Canadian former ice hockey player. She played one season in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) for Montreal. She competed with the Canadian national team in numerous international tournaments and won a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics. As a member-player of the PWHPA, she was featured in many of the organization's showcases, including the Elite Women's 3-on-3 hockey game at the Skills Competition of the 2020 NHL All-Star Game.
The 2011–12 Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's ice hockey season represented a season of play in Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's ice hockey. The Calgary Dinos women's ice hockey program claimed their first CIS national title.
The Montreal Carabins women's ice hockey team defend the colours of the Université de Montréal and are members of the Quebec Student Sports Federation (RSEQ), and compete for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's ice hockey championship. One Carabins player have participated internationally, including the World Student Games. Home games are contested at l'aréna du CEPSUM. In addition, the Women's ice hockey team are connected to the club Montreal Carabins.
Queen's Gaels women's ice hockey is the representative women's ice hockey program of Queen's University at Kingston in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The team plays in the women's ice hockey section of Ontario University Athletics (OUA), one of the four regional governing bodies that comprise U Sports.
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The 2019 U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Championship was held March 14–17, 2019, in Charlottetown, P.E.I., to determine a national champion for the 2018–19 U Sports women's ice hockey season.
The 2015 CIS Women's Ice Hockey Championship was held from March 12–15, 2015, in Calgary, Alberta, to determine a national champion for the 2014–15 CIS women's ice hockey season. The entire tournament was played at the Markin MacPhail Centre near the campus of the University of Calgary. The Western Mustangs defeated the McGill Martlets in a 5-0 shutout win to capture their first national championship. Anthea Lasis, Ally Galloway, Stacey Scott, Kendra Broad and Casey Rosen scored for the Mustangs. Goaltender Kelly Campbell recorded 38 saves in the win, gaining recognition as the Tournament MVP.