Canadian women's ice hockey history

The first instances of organized women's ice hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it is played at the university level. The Women's Hockey Association claims that the city of Ottawa, Ontario hosted the first game in 1891. In 1920, Lady Meredith, wife of Sir Vincent Meredith of Montreal donated the Lady Meredith Cup for the Quebec Ladies' Hockey Association, said to be the first women's ice hockey trophy to be competed for in Canada. In February 1921 a women's international championship series was played in conjunction with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. One of the first professional teams were the Vancouver Amazons from the 1920s. They were the first women's hockey team from Vancouver to participate in the invitational women's hockey tournament sponsored by the Banff Winter Carnival. On December 16, 1922, a meeting was held to announce the Ladies Ontario Hockey Association was formed. The Dominion Women's Amateur Hockey Association was founded in winter 1933. Lady Bessborough, the wife of Governor General of Canada Lord Bessborough donated a championship trophy In 1978 Cookie Cartwright solely organized the Ontario Women's Hockey Association. She solicited help from several experienced hockey people such as Rhonda Taylor, Bev Mallory, Carl Noble and later on Frank Champion Demers. Rhonda Taylor became the first Development Coordinator for the women's game in the Province. Coaches were quoted in the Toronto Star that Rhonda may bring the women's game into respectabality. In 1982 the first Women 's Nationals occurred in Canada under the guidance of Rhonda Taylor, who after went on to become the first woman to sit on Hockey Canada's Board of Directors. Rhonda was the first individual to take women's hockey into the Corporate Board Room of Canada. For the first Nationals she was able to seek National Sponsorship from Shopper's Drug Mart and Air Canada. In 1982 Rhonda lobbied several Provinces to eliminate intentional checking from the women's game. All Provinces voted for the rule change except for one province.

In April 1987, Toronto, Ontario hosted the first ever Women's World Championship, though the tournament was not recognized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Ontario Women's Hockey Association hosted the tournament. During the tournament, representatives from participating nations met to establish a strategy to lobby the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for the creation of a Women's World Championship. The first IIHF-sanctioned tournament was held in Ottawa, Ontario in 1990. Women's hockey was included in the Olympics for the first time in 1998.

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