This page contains information about women's university hockey teams in Canada. If anyone has information about new teams for this season, or teams that will be in different leagues, please send it to me, and I'll try to keep this page as up-to-date as possible. Thanks in advance.
If you need to get in contact with a coach of a Canadian university women's hockey team, please see the Canadian University Hockey Directory for contact information.
The first-ever Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) National title for women's ice hockey was held at the end of the 1997-98 sesaon! The winner within each region in Canada competes for the national (CIAU) title at the end of each season. Women hockey players will now have to follow the standard 5-year eligibility rule.
For general informaton about Women's University Hockey in both Canada and the United States, please see the Women's University Hockey page.
Note: # Varsity status started in 2002-2003.
British Columbia
Teams: University of British Columbia - Varsity
(official UBC page)
This information was provided by Jana Horsman (horsman@unixg.ubc.ca).
I play on the UBC Women's Varsity Hockey team which was started up in the 1994-95 season by my coach, Laura Bennion and with the help of others. While we don't have an inter-university league to play in yet, we compete in the Lower BC Mainland Women's Hockey League. This weekend (March 2-3, 1996), we are playing in the Provincial Championships in the 'AA' division with the hopes of continuing onto the Western Shields in Manitoba at the beginning of April. Last year we played in the single 'A' league, and we're hoping to move up to the 'AAA' division next year. The program has expanded significantly in its short history and we are hoping that it will gain much popularity to encourage other universities in the West, along with the rest of the country, to establish teams to warrant a CIAU league in the near future.
The UBC Thunderbirds had a successful 1995-96 season. They placed second in the 1996 Senior AA regular season and first in the 1996 Senior AA playoffs. They won the Burnaby 8 Rinks Centre Ice Female Hockey School's Ice Breaker Tournament, and they placed third in the 1996 Senior AA provincial championship. For more information about the Senior AA league in British Columbia, see the Women's Hockey in British Columbia web page.
And this information is from tammy schulz (tfschulz@intergate.bc.ca) on August 7th, 1996:
I have seen from time to time, enquiries as to whether there is a University team here in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia Canada.
Just wanted to let you know that there is a team called the UBC Thunderbirds, who are presently in the process of gaining varsity status for their highly skilled university team. They have good ice times, good rates, and they have moved up quickly in the divisions of our league. They have tryouts each year and they have extremely qualified coaches who have built a solid Senior team, probably to play at the elite level this upcoming season.
I hope this has opened some doors for those of you who have inquired and if you wish to contact the coach of the TBirds, you can E-Mail Laura Bennion at unixg.ubc.ca (stevenmm@unixg.ubc.ca).
And this information is from Michelle Preston (michellp@netinfo.ubc.ca) on September 18th, 1996:
We started the UBC team in the 1994-95 season. We played in the AA division in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, and won the this division both years. For the 1996-97 season, we are playing in the senior AAA division. Unfortunately we are unable to compete amongst other universities because there are none close enough. Therefore we only play with teams from around our area.
Alberta
Teams: University of Alberta Pandas - Varsity
University of Alberta Ice Breakers - Club
University of Calgary Dinos - Varsity
University of Lethbridge Pronghorns - Club
This information was provided by Erin van de Wetering (ecv@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca) who plays for the University of Alberta Pandas varsity team.
The University of Alberta Pandas has varsity status, starting in the 1997-98 hockey season. There is still a University of Alberta Ice Breakers team which is a club team. The University of Alberta Pandas varsity team participates in the NALHA, where they play against about 7 other women's teams. They are planning to attend a tournament from January 15 to January 18 1998 at the U of S.
This information was provided by Rosalind Barrington Leigh (rbarring@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca) who plays for the Edmonton Chiefs and the University of Alberta Ice Breakers Club team.
The University of Alberta has resurrected its Women's Ice Hockey Club team and is thriving with two qualified coaches, 4 hrs/week of free ice time (early in the morning of course!!) and over 30 members. We have played 4 exhibition games against league teams and next year hope to enter one of our own (the "U of A IceBreakers"!). We want to host a tournament between clubs of all western Universities for next year. Anyone who is interested or has names of contacts for the clubs in the West, please contact me at rbarring@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca. Keep your sticks on the ICE!!
The U of A club is not registered as a team in the NALHA League yet (we hope to be next year though!). We have played the Edmonton Blades, the Edmonton Warriors (twice) and played the Edmonton Chiefs (my team) on Sunday (the University team won 7-5!). We are currently trying to contact the athletic directors of all western Universities to get in touch with clubs if they exist.
New January 9th, 1998:
The
University of Alberta Pandas, along with UBC, U of C, U of
Lethbridge, U of S, and U of M will meet for Westerns in Calgary
two weeks before Nationals in Montreal.
See this link for information about club hockey in Alberta.
Saskatchewan
Teams: University of Regina Cougars - Varsity
University of Regina Ice Breakers - Club
University of Saskatchewan - Varsity
This information was provided by AnneMarie Brown (annemariebrown@home.com), formerly of the University of Regina Cougers women's club hockey team.
The University of Regina was granted varsity status for the 1998-99 CIAU season. Here is the news release stating the acceptance of varsity status. The University of Regina also has a club team called the Ice Breakers.
From the University of Saskatchewan's hockey web page, there are links to the following information for the women's hockey team: profiles, statistics, schedule, and results. The University of Saskatchewan has a varsity team. This team has been around for 2-3 years (as of 1997) at the varsity level. They were a club team before becoming a varsity team.
The University of Regina Women's Hockey team is coached by Dick Wiest and Bob Balfour. They have been recently been granted varsity status for the 1998-1999 season. The U of R club played in the Hockey Regina - Senior Division during the 1997-98 season. The U of R has played against the Universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Lethbridge at their tournament in Pense, mid-November and attended the U of Saskatchewan tournament that featured the universities of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge and Manitoba. The team is very competitive and of the same caliber as other varsity teams they have played. For the lastest news, stats and scores contact the U of Regina women's hockey club homepage.
See this link for information about club hockey in Saskatchewan.
Manitoba
Teams: University of Manitoba
1997-98 & 1998-99
The University of Manitoba Bison Women have competed at the Varsity
level since the 1997-1998 hockey season. In the 1997-98 season, they
competed in the Winnipeg Women's hockey league, as well as attending
CanWest in February. At CanWest, they lost the gold medal game (in
overtime) to the University of Alberta Pandas (4-3). They did not
compete in the Winnipeg Women's league during the 1998-99 season, and
placed a sixth at CanWest.
1995-96
The University of Manitoba Lady Bisons club team played a 3-game
series against the Sweat Camp Storm to determine the 1996 Manitoba
Provincial champion. The Sweat Camp Storm from Winnipeg Manitoba
won the provincials and will be representing Manitoba at the Nationals
in Moncton. The three game series against the University of Manitoba
was filled with excitement.
The University of Manitoba took a lead in the series by beating the Storm 5-0 in the first game. Storm came back to beat the University of Manitoba 3-0 in the second game. The Storm finished it off in the third game beating U of M 2-1. It was a scoreless third period. It was a thrilling series and many fans were there to share in the excitement.
See this link for information about club hockey in Manitoba.
Ontario
If you are a McMaster student and you want to play for McMaster's team, call Jennifer Neilson at 519-941-3486 until August 31, and 905-524-1894 after classes start.
Momentum is still growing for the University of Waterloo's club team. They have regular ice time and are playing exhibition games around the province. Sara Manning may be able to answer some of your questions, as she formerly played for U of Waterloo's club team.
After three years of trying, the University of Western Ontario was given permission to field a club team for the 1998-99 season. The university has agreed to put Western in the OUA for the 1999-2000 season, but the extent of financial support from the University is still to be determined (intercollegiate athletics budgets under review at the time of writing). FYI, Western underwent a complete strategic review of its IA program last year and as a result is revamping its structure and approach. Gender equity was cited as a priority and women will receive equivalent funding to the men's program on a phased in approach. This may seem slow, but its progress nonetheless.
See this link for information about club hockey in Ontario.
QuébecThe Quebec (QSSF) university varsity teams in 98-99 were Concordia, McGill, and UQTR, along with 3 CEGEP (college) teams, Brebeuf, St-Laurent, and John-Abbott. The regular season is 14 games (4 against teams in the college or university division and 2 against the teams from the other division). The first CIAU national women's champion (1998) is from our league (Concordia) as the bronze medal team (UQTR). So we have a very stiff competition in our league.
Concordia, Trois Rivières, and McGill compete for the QSSF title each season. The 2nd and 3rd place teams play off against each other, and the first place team gets a bye to the QSSF championship game. The regular season schedule also includes games against College St. Laurent, College Brebeuf, and John Abbott College, who compete in a CEGEP division.
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees will take to the ice starting in the 1999-2000 season, and will play in the Quebec league (QSSF) along with the likes of Concordia, McGill, and the University of Quebec-Trois Rivieres. Many people have invested time, money and effort into this project, especially the head coach Norm Chouinard. Along with the newly appointed duties of head coach, he is also a professor at the university, has his master level in coaching of hockey, presently helps the Ottawa Senators of the NHL, and was an enormous help in the acquisition of the team. Acting as an assistant coach is Ed Ratushny, a law professor at the university, level 5 coach, and creator, along with Chouinard, of the National Capital Competitive Program (NCCP), which is composed of the best female hockey players in the Ottawa area. Also an assistant coach is Angela Martin, who is a student of human kinetics at the university, and at time of graduation, will receive her level 3 coaching of hockey. She wrote the proposal which eventually brought the team. The Gee-Gees have a 22 game schedule, in addition to the participation in a few tournaments. They have named three honorary members to the team who are also Ottawa alumni: Jacques Martin, Head Coach of the Ottawa Senators, Murray Costello of the Canadian Hockey Association, and Kim Ratuschny of the 1990 Women's World Championship team.
U of Ottawa also has a women's club team (OWHA B-level) which plays in the ODWHA league with other community teams. This club team will continue next year, along with women's intramural hockey leagues.
The St. Laurent Patriotes continue to prove their dominance in the Quebec Women's College Hockey League, winning another Playoff Championship title. The Patriotes, who have won several consecutive "AA" Championships, defeated College Brebeuf 2-1, Wednesday, in the visitors rink to sweep the best of three series in two straight.
St. Laurent won the series opener last Friday 5-1 on home ice. The Patriotes advanced to the league final with a two-game series sweep of John Abbott College in the semi-final. Brebeuf bounced CEGEP St. Jerome in two straight in the other semi-final.
Cegep:
A College in Quebec (Cegep) is like a pre University program or it a student graduates from Grade 12 in another province and wants to do a technical or vocational program or upgrade for University we would perform that function as well.
Much thanks to assistant coaches, Alyson Fournier (BKD7@MUSICB.MCGILL.CA) of the McGill Women's varsity hockey team for providing the information about the teams, and Julie Healy ( jhealy@alcor.concordia.ca. of Concordia University for providing the information about the 1995-96 league standings, playoffs, and awards.
Thanks to Sarah Proud
(pr930951@arus.ubishops.ca)
for providing the following information:
"Bishop's University, in conjunction with Champlain College, in
Lennoxville Québec, have had a women's hockey team for a number of
years As recently as 1992-3, we were part of the Québec Women's
Universtiy Hockey League, but loss of funds and players have left us
out of the league. However, we retain our status as a varsity team.
We play games against local women's teams and college teams in the
area. Our program is going strong and we are eagerly looking forward
to the next couple of years."
See this link for information about club hockey in Québec.
Nova Scotia University Hockey League
Teams: Acadia University, Wolfville, NS - Club
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS - Club
St. Mary's University, Halifax, NS - Varsity
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS - Club
Mount Allison, Sackville, NB - Club
St. Mary's University, Dalhousie University, Acadia University, and St. Francis Xavier University compete in the newly formed University Division of the Nova Scotia Women's Hockey League (NSWHL).
There were a total of 9 teams in the NSWHL during the 1996-97 season. These teams were:
The 1996-97 Nova Scotia Championship was held March 19-21, 1997 at Dalhousie University.
The following information about women's hockey at Acadia university was provided by Jane Clark (dcs@istar.ca) on October 13, 1996:
Acadia womens hockey (AWH) dates back to about 1986 when a group of girls started a club team. Among its more famous members were Stacey Wilson and Angela James. Shelley Parsons-Davies and Trish Belland have kept the team running since that time. AWH boasts several provincial titles dating back to a two and three team league, to our present day eight team league. The title of our league is the Nova Scotia Womens Hockey League (NSWHL) of which John Turnbull is our 1996-97 league president. The league consists of : Acadia University, Dalhousie University, Saint Mary's University, Halifax Breakers, Sackville, Shearwater, United Nations (Brookfield), and Truro. In previous years we have had different teams join as well including Pictou, who were our provincial representatives last year, and east hants who along with Acadia were instrumental in the beginnings of the league.
The following information was provided by Aaron Stubbert (x94fgj@juliet.stfx.ca) who is an assistant coach for St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. "Our first season was last year (1994-95 season) which consisted of games with local area teams and a weekend series with Dalhousie University (which we won). We are still not recognized as a varsity team but are striving for that later in years to come. We are trying to reach out to people with the interest in women's hockey and to have it recognized. We are at mid-season and are in the middle of what has been a very productive year. Even though we fund our team on the funding we can produce ourselves, we do accomplish a lot. We build strong team unity, hard work and most of all a love for the game. Myself, I am a 3rd year Psychology Major and 1 of 3 coaches on the team."
March 12, 1996:
Our X-Women (Xavier University) hosted a tournament which saw our team
lose in the finals in a shoot-out to the Antigonish Bulldogs 4-3. We had
previously beaten them in the round robin 6-0 (I guess we got lazy).
Other teams with a strong showing were the University of New Brunswick
and Saint Mary's teams. Our next tournament will be this weekend in
Fredericton as the University of New Brunswick hosts their annual
tourney. We are hoping this time for a better result.
See this link for information about club hockey in Nova Scotia.
New Brunswick
Teams: University of New Brunswick Red Blazers - Club
This information was provided by Lesley Reddon (H8Y8@unb.ca) who currently plays goalie for the Men's University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds and the women's Moncton Maritime Sports Blades. She also played for Team Canada at the 1994 and 1997 World Championships, the women's University of Toronto Varsity Blues, and the Toronto Aeros Senior AAA women's team.
The University of New Brunswick Red Blazers women's team do not have official status as a varsity team, but have operated as a club team for a number of years. Players include both students and non-students.
Due to a lack of competition, the team does not compete in a league. The Red Blazers are one of 3 Senior B women's teams registered with the NBAHA (Grand Falls and Shediac are the others). In addition to these two teams, UNB plays exhibition games against some Maine schools (Bates College, Bowdoin and University of Maine), other Atlantic Canadian women's university club teams (St. Francis Xavier, Saint Mary's, Acadia, Dalhousie and Mount Allsion) and bantam boys teams.
See this link for information about club hockey in New Brunswick.
The following information was provided by Ryan Parent, head coach of the women's college hockey team at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology:
A national championship for college athletics in Canada has been approved with Quebec at the start of the 2001 season. I believe John Abbott and Dawson are two of the colleges in Quebec, I am not sure who the rest are. Scholarships will be available in Alberta at the start of this season to cover tuition for each player.
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