U Sports women's ice hockey
Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 U Sports women's ice hockey season
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| Formerly | CIAU women's ice hockey, CIS women's ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 1997 |
| No. of teams | 30, in four conferences |
| Country | Canada |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Calgary Dinos |
| Most titles | Alberta Pandas (7) |
| Official website | U Sports women's ice hockey |
U Sports women's ice hockey is the highest level of play at the university level under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Women's ice hockey has been played in U Sports since the 1997-98 season, when the governing body was known as the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union, following a long stint of teams only competing in the OUA. There are 30 teams, all of which are based in Canada, that are divided into four conferences that are eligible to compete for the year-end championship. As these players compete at the university level, they are obligated to follow the rule of standard eligibility of five years. This competition is considered as the second level in the pyramid of Canadian women's hockey, below the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL).
The 1890s marked the beginning of the first women's ice hockey teams in Canadian universities. These universities included the University of Toronto in Toronto, Queen's University in Kingston, and McGill University in Montreal. In 1908, other schools such as the Calgary Collegiate Institute and Mount Royal University began to ice competitive teams as well. In the early years, teams played behind closed doors and men were not authorized to attend the matches. The referee was the only man present during the matches. Starting in 1900, male spectators were authorized to assist in women's matches in most of the Canadian provinces and some university teams. During this time, there was no university women's league and some university women's teams competed against rivals representing cities. Sometimes, they were forced to cross big geographical distances by train in order to participate in tournaments
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