Ice Hockey Wiki
Register
Advertisement
National Women's Hockey League (1999)
NationalWomensHockeyLeague
Sport Ice hockey
Founded 1999
No. of teams n/a
Ceased 2007

The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) was a women's ice hockey league. The NWHL league was in service from 1999 to 2007, and ran by the Ontario Women's Hockey Association.[1]

History[]

The NWHL superseded the old Central Ontario Women's Hockey League in 1998–99. After the old COWHL dropped down to three teams in 1997–98, the new league expanded to Brampton, Ottawa and the Montreal area (Montreal, Bonaventure and Laval) in 1998–99. The league was officially renamed the National Women's Hockey League on Feb. 16, 1999 with Al Dawson as the league's first president. In the inaugural season, the Beatrice Aeros won the West Division while the Bonaventure Wingstar won the East Division. The league lasted nine years before it disbanded following the 2006–07 season. In 2007–08, players from the old NWHL joined new teams in similar markets in the newly formed Canadian Women's Hockey League.

Structure[]

The League consisted of two divisions: the older Eastern Division (later the Eastern and Central Divisions) consists of seven teams based in Ontario and Quebec, while the Western Division was formed in 2002 with the addition of the Calgary Oval X-Treme, Edmonton Chimos, and the Vancouver Griffins. The Griffins only lasted one season, and the high travel costs for the two Alberta teams caused them to break away in 2004 and form the Western Women's Hockey League.

The two leagues agreed to merge in 2006, however this merger broke down midseason, and the WWHL remained independent.

Due to the expected merger, the NWHL was split into the Eastern and Central divisions, with the WWHL teams expected to make up the Western Division. The Eastern and Central Division teams played a 35-game unbalanced but interlocking schedule, with the four teams from the Central Division and the top two teams from the Eastern Division qualifying for the postseason. In the NWHL playoffs, teams played a best-of-three series to determine the Eastern and Central Division champions, who face off for the championship.

Teams from the Eastern and Central Divisions did not play against the Western Division teams at all in the regular season or postseason, although there were plans to have all three divisions compete in the playoffs before the league folded.

NWHL Franchises[]

The following is an old list of former franchises in all three divisions of the National Women's Hockey League.

Team Centre Arena Tenure Fate
Brampton Thunder Brampton, Ontario Powerade Centre 1998-2007 join Canadian Women's Hockey League as Brampton Canadettes Thunder
Laval Le Mistral Laval, Quebec Colisée de Laval 1998-2001 fold or renamed Metropol Le Cheyenne
Mississauga Chiefs Mississauga, Ontario Hershey Centre 1998-2000 renamed Mississauga Ice Bears
Bonaventure Wingstar Montreal, Quebec Centre Étienne Desmarteau 1998-1999 renamed Montreal Wingstar
Montreal Jofa Titan Montreal, Quebec Ed Meagher Arena 1998-1999 fold
North York Aeros Toronto, Ontario Beatrice Ice Gardens 1998-1999 renamed Beatrice Aeros
National Capital Raiders Ottawa, Ontario Sandy Hill Arena 1998-1999 renamed Ottawa Raiders
Scarborough Sting Scarborough, Ontario Mid Scarborough Arena & Malvern Arena 1998-2000 renamed Toronto Sting
Beatrice Aeros Toronto, Ontario Beatrice Ice Gardens 1999-2003 renamed Toronto Aeros
Clearnet Lightning Toronto, Ontario Ajax Community Centre 1999-2001 renamed Telus Lightning
Montreal Wingstar Montreal, Quebec Centre Étienne Desmarteau 1999-2003 renamed Montreal Axion
Ottawa Raiders Ottawa, Ontario Barbara Ann Scott Arena (1999-2003)
Sandy Hill Arena(2003-2004)
Bell Sensplex (2004-2007)
1999-2007 join Canadian Women's Hockey League as Ottawa Capital Canucks
Sainte-Julie Pantheres Sainte-Julie, Quebec Sainte-Julie Arena 1999-2001 renamed Quebec Avalanche
Mississauga Ice Bears Mississauga, Ontario Hershey Centre 2000-2003 renamed Oakville Ice
Toronto Sting Scarborough, Ontario Mid Scarborough Arena & Malvern Arena 2000-2001 fold
Metropol Le Cheyenne Laval, Quebec Colisée de Laval 2001-2002 fold or renamed Sainte-Julie Pantheres
Telus Lightning Toronto, Ontario Ajax Community Centre 2001-2005 renamed Durham Lightning
Quebec Avalanche Laval, Quebec Colisée de Laval 2002-2007 fold
Oakville Ice Oakville, Ontario 2003-2007 join Canadian Women's Hockey League as Mississauga Chiefs
Montreal Axion Montreal, Quebec Centre Étienne Desmarteau 2003-2007 fold
Toronto Aeros Toronto, Ontario Beatrice Ice Gardens 2003-2006 relocacted to Mississauga; renamed Mississauga Aeros
Durham Lightning Toronto, Ontario 2005-2006 renamed Etobicoke Dolphins
Mississauga Aeros Mississauga, Ontario Iceland Mississauga 2006-2007 fold
British Columbia Breakers Langley, British Columbia George Preston Arena 2006-2007 stay with Western Women's Hockey League for 2007-08 season
Calgary Oval X-Treme Calgary, Alberta Olympic Oval 2006-2007 stay with Western Women's Hockey League for 2007-08 season
Edmonton Chimos Edmonton, Alberta Enoch Recreation Centre 2006-2007 stay with Western Women's Hockey League for 2007-08 season
Etobicoke Dolphins Toronto, Ontario 2006-2007 join Canadian Women's Hockey League as Vaughan Flames
Minnesota Whitecaps Saint Paul, Minnesota TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center 2006-2007 stay with Western Women's Hockey League for 2007-08 season
Saskatchewan Prairie Ice Lumsden, Saskatchewan Lumsden Community Sports Centre 2006-2007 suspend operations in summer of 2007
Strathmore Rockies Strathmore, Alberta Strathmore Family Centre 2006-2007 stay with Western Women's Hockey League for 2007-08 season

Championship[]

Since 2006, the championship of the Eastern and Central Division was awarded the Clarkson Cup, while the (officially unnamed) NWHL Champions Cup was awarded prior to 2006. Though the league and the WWHL were considered merged for the 2006–07 season, the WWHL teams did not compete for the Clarkson Cup, instead playing for the WWHL Champions Cup. The Clarkson Cup is now won in a playoff between Western Women's Hockey League WWHL and CWHL teams.

A list of NWHL winners (winner is in bold):

(Brampton have the distinction of having their home arena serve as the site of all NWHL Championship Cup games ).

Season Champion Finalist Place
2006–07 Brampton Thunder Montreal Axion Brampton
2005–06 Montreal Axion Brampton Thunder Brampton
2004–05 Toronto Aeros Montreal Axion Brampton
2003–04 Calgary Oval X-Treme Brampton Thunder Brampton
2002–03 Calgary Oval X-Treme Beatrice Aeros Brampton
2001–02 Beatrice Aeros Brampton Thunder Brampton
2000–01[2] Beatrice Aeros[3] Sainte-Julie Pantheres[4] Brampton
1999–2000 Beatrice Aeros Sainte-Julie Pantheres Brampton
1998–99 Brampton Thunder Bonaventure Wingstar Brampton

Scoring champions[]

  • 2006–07 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2005–06 – Sommer West, Toronto Aeros
  • 2004–05 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2003–04 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2002–03 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2001–02 – Amy Turek, Beatrice Aeros
  • 2000–01 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder & Amy Turek, Beatrice Aeros
  • 1999-00 – Karen Nystrom, Brampton Thunder
  • 1998–99 – Stephanie Boyd, Brampton Thunder

Goal-scoring champions[]

  • 2006–07 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2005–06 – Sommer West, Toronto Aeros
  • 2004–05 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2003–04 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2002–03 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 2001–02 – Amy Turek, Beatrice Aeros
  • 2000–01 – Jayna Hefford, Brampton Thunder
  • 1999-00 – Karen Nystrom, Brampton Thunder
  • 1998–99 – Angela James, Beatrice Aeros

2015 league[]

In March 2015, a new league was announced, also called the National Women's Hockey League, but separate from the former, unrelated NWHL.

See also[]

References[]

  1. Women’s hockey leagues in trademark dispute over rights to 'NWHL' (English). Globe and Mail (27 April 2016). Retrieved on 7 January 2017.
  2. NWHL Finals (2000-03-19). Retrieved on 2016-12-02.
  3. Beatrice (North York) Aeros 2000 Preview (2000-09-15). Retrieved on 2016-12-02.
  4. Sainte-Julie Pantheres 2000 Preview (2000-09-15). Retrieved on 2016-12-02.

External links[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at National Women's Hockey League (1999). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


Advertisement