U Sports women's ice hockey championship

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.

U Sports women's ice hockey championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Championship
SportIce hockey
Founded1998; 26 years ago (1998)
First season1998
Organising bodyU Sports
No. of teams8
CountryCanada
Most recent
champion(s)
Concordia Stingers (4th title)
Most titlesAlberta Pandas (8)
Official websiteusports.ca/en/championships/hockey/f

History

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]

Results

YearWinnerScoreRunner-upHost
1998Concordia Stingers (1)4–1Toronto Lady BluesConcordia Stingers
1999Concordia Stingers (2)2–0Alberta PandasToronto Lady Blues
2000Alberta Pandas (1)2–0McGill MartletsConcordia Stingers
2001Toronto Lady Blues (1)4–3Regina CougarsCalgary Dinos
2002Alberta Pandas (2)5–2Wilfrid Laurier Golden HawksRegina Cougars
2003Alberta Pandas (3)5–4 (OT)Toronto Lady BluesRegina Cougars
2004Alberta Pandas (4)2–0Ottawa Gee-GeesMcGill Martlets
2005Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (1)4–1Alberta PandasMcGill Martlets
2006Alberta Pandas (5)2–1Wilfrid Laurier Golden HawksSt. Francis Xavier X-Women
2007Alberta Pandas (6)4–0McGill MartletsOttawa Gee-Gees
2008McGill Martlets (1)2–0Wilfrid Laurier Golden HawksOttawa Gee-Gees
2009McGill Martlets (2)3–1[4]Wilfrid Laurier Golden HawksSt. Francis Xavier X-Women
2010Alberta Pandas (7)2–0[5]McGill MartletsSt. Francis Xavier X-Women
2011McGill Martlets (3)5–2St. Francis Xavier X-WomenWilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks
2012Calgary Dinos (1)5–1[6][7]Montreal CarabinsAlberta Pandas
2013Montreal Carabins (1)3–2Calgary DinosToronto Lady Blues
2014McGill Martlets 4)4–3 (2OT)[8][9]Montreal CarabinsSt. Thomas Tommies
2015Western Mustangs (1)5–0 [10][11]McGill MartletsCalgary Dinos
2016Montreal Carabins (2)8–0[12]UBC ThunderbirdsCalgary Dinos
2017Alberta Pandas (8)2–1 (2OT)[13]McGill MartletsQueen's Gaels
2018Manitoba Bisons (1)2–0Western MustangsWestern Mustangs
2019Guelph Gryphons (1)1–0McGill MartletsUPEI Panthers
2020Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[2]UPEI Panthers
2021Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[3]Montreal Carabins
2022Concordia Stingers (3)4–0Nipissing LakersUPEI Panthers[14]
2023Mount Royal Cougars (1)4–3 (OT)Concordia StingersMontreal Carabins[14]
2024Concordia Stingers (4)3–1Toronto Varsity BluesSaskatchewan Huskies[15]
2025Waterloo Warriors[15]

[1]

Appearances

AppearancesTeamWinsLossesWin %
10Alberta Pandas82.800
9McGill Martlets46.400
5Concordia Stingers41.800
5Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks14.200
4Montreal Carabins22.500
4Toronto Varsity Blues13.250
2Calgary Dinos110.500
2Western Mustangs110.500
1Manitoba Bisons101.000
1Guelph Gryphons101.000
1Mount Royal Cougars101.000
1Regina Cougars01.000
1Ottawa Gee-Gees01.000
1St. Francis Xavier X-Women01.000
1UBC Thunderbirds01.000

Ontario champions pre-1998 national championship

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.

WIAU champions (1921–1971)

1921–22 University of Toronto
1922–23 University of Toronto
1923–24 University of Toronto
1924–25 University of Toronto
1925–26 Queen's University
1926–27 University of Toronto
1927–28 University of Toronto
1928–29 University of Toronto
1929–30 University of Toronto
1930–31 Queen's University
1931–32 University of Toronto
1932–33 University of Toronto
1933–34 University of Toronto
1934–35 University of Toronto
1935–36 University of Toronto
1936 at 1948 No official competition
1948–49 University of Toronto
1949–50 University of Toronto
1950–51 University of Toronto
1951 to 1960 No official competition
1960–61 University of Toronto
1961–62 University of Toronto
1962–63 University of Toronto / Queen's University
1963–64 University of Toronto
1964–65 University of Toronto
1965–66 University of Toronto
1966–67 University of Guelph
1967–68 University of Guelph
1968–69 University of Guelph
1969–70 University of Guelph
1970–71 McMaster University

OWIAA champions (1972–1997)

1971–72 University of Guelph
1972–73 Queen's University
1973–74 University of Guelph
1974–75 Queen's University
1975–76 McMaster University
1976–77 Queen's University
1977–78 McMaster University
1978–79 Queen's University
1979–80 University of Toronto
1980–81 University of Toronto
1981–82 University of Toronto
1982–83 York University
1983–84 University of Toronto
1984–85 University of Toronto
1985–86 University of Toronto
1986–87 York University
1987–88 University of Toronto
1988–89 University of Toronto
1989–90 University of Toronto
1990–91 University of Toronto
1991–92 University of Toronto
1992–93 University of Toronto
1993–94 Université de Toronto
1994–95 University of Guelph
1995–96 University of Toronto
1996–97 York University

Reference[16]

References