Vancouver Griffins

Vancouver Griffins
City	Vancouver, Canada
League	National Women's Hockey League
Division	Western
Founded	2000
Home arena	Queen's Park Arena
Colors	Dark blue, red & blue grey
Owner(s)	Phillip DeGrandpre
General manager	Nancy Wilson
Head coach	Sylvain Leone, Nancy Wilson
Captain	Cammi Granato

The Vancouver Griffins were a professional women's ice hockey team in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). The team played its home games in Queen's Park Arena, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.

The team was established in January 2000 by local businessman Phillip DeGrandpre. The Griffins were voted in by the NWHL in May 2000. The Griffins would become the first expansion team for the NWHL outside their traditional Ontario and Quebec base.

In 2000-01, the Vancouver Griffins played an exhibition schedule of local, CIAU and NWHL teams. The first head coach of the Griffins was Sylvain Leone. The club’s first roster was selected at a training camp in August 2000 in Abbotsford, British Columbia. In the 2000-01 season, the only players that were not from British Columbia were goalie Krista Cloutier of Pickardville, Alberta, and Norwegian national team forward Julia Berg.

For the second season (2001–02), the team was owned by British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame inductee Diane Nelson. The head coach was Nancy Wilson. Olympians Nancy Drolet of Canada women's national ice hockey team, Cammi Granato) and Shelley Looney of the United States women's national ice hockey team joined Vancouver Griffins. The Griffins' roster also included Burnaby's own 18-year-old Natashia Pellatt, a graduate of Moscrop Secondary School. Other younger players included 15-year-old Courtney Unrah. One of the highlights of the 2001-02 season was a victory over Hayley Wickenheiser and her Edmonton Chimos club by a 7-1 score. Nancy Drolet had a hat trick and Cammi Granato scored the other four goals against Edmonton.

...
Wikipedia