Western Women's Hockey League
Sport
| Ice Hockey
|
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Founded
| 2004
|
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Ceased
| 2011
|
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Countries
| Canada
|
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The
Western Women's Hockey League
(WWHL) was a women's hockey league in
Canada
. The league was established in
2004
, and consisted of teams in Canada (some former
National Women's Hockey League
teams) and one from the
United States
. The league office was in
Vancouver, British Columbia
, and managed by Recreation Sports Management.
History
[
edit
]
On July 13,
2006
, the
National Women's Hockey League
announced it would absorb the WWHL's teams into its new West division. However, scheduling conflicts between the 2007 Women's World Championships and the WWHL championship game saw the merger collapse.
In 2007,
Hockey Canada
announced it would revamp the
Esso Women's Nationals
, with the WWHL champion and finalist meeting the
Canadian Women's Hockey League
(CWHL) champion and finalist.
[1]
Since 2009, teams from the two leagues instead compete for the
Clarkson Cup
at the end of the season.
In 2010, the WWHL champion Minnesota Whitecaps won the Clarkson Cup tournament, defeating three rivals from the CWHL.
The CWHL announced on April 19, 2011, that it would merge with the Western Women's Hockey League for the 2011?12 season. The merger would feature one team based in
Edmonton
and
Calgary
and would be combination of the former WWHL franchises the
Edmonton Chimos
and
Strathmore Rockies
. The team would play their games in various locations around Alberta.
[2]
However, the WWHL was never folded properly. The WWHL executive committee accepted the resignations of the owners of the Strathmore Rockies and Edmonton Chimos at their meeting in Minneapolis on August 19, 2011. The president of the WWHL also stepped down at that time. New board members were elected and the league began a series of monthly board meetings to develop their 2011?12 season and their strategic plan as sanctioned by Hockey Alberta.
In 2012, the relations between the LCHF and the WWHL tightened: the director-manager of the
Minnesota Whitecaps
accused the CWHL of deliberately sabotaging possible participation of Whitecaps in the next
Clarkson Cup
tournament.
[3]
As of 2015, the league website is defunct. The
Minnesota Whitecaps
continue to be an active team as part of the
National Women's Hockey League
, and the
Manitoba Maple Leafs
were active as late as 2014.
Championship
[
edit
]
The champion of the WWHL is given the WWHL Champions cup.
A list of WWHL winners (winner is in
bold
):
- 2004?05 -
Calgary Oval X-Treme
vs. Edmonton Chimos in Calgary, Alberta
- 2005?06 -
Calgary Oval X-Treme
vs. Minnesota Whitecaps in
Lumsden, Saskatchewan
- 2006?07 -
Calgary Oval X-Treme
vs. Minnesota Whitecaps
- 2007?08 -
Calgary Oval X-Treme
vs. Minnesota Whitecaps
- 2008?09 -
Minnesota Whitecaps
vs. Calgary Oval X-Treme
- 2009?10 -
Minnesota Whitecaps
vs. Strathmore Rockies
- 2010?11 -
Minnesota Whitecaps
Former teams
[
edit
]
The
Chinese national women's team
also played an exhibition schedule against WWHL teams in the 2007?08 season with points counting in league standings.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
WWHL teams websites
[
edit
]
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