Courtney Birchard (born July 14, 1989) competes for the Canadian national women's ice hockey team. She made her debut for Team Canada in the 2010 Four Nations Cup. She was drafted 6th overall by the

Brampton Thunder The Markham Thunder was a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from Brampton, O ...

in the

2011 CWHL Draft The 2011 CWHL Draft was held on July 21, 2011 in Mississauga. The Montreal Stars had the first pick overall and selected Meghan Agosta from Mercyhurst College. Top 50 picks Draft picks by team Alberta Boston Brampton Burlington Mo ...

. Birchard was born in

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Playing career

Birchard was a 2007 graduate of Lincoln M. Alexander High School in Malton, Ontario. While at the school, Birchard lettered in ice hockey, soccer, basketball and badminton. In addition, she competed for the Toronto Jr. Aeros. While with the club, she won provincial titles in 2005 and 2006. The club was also playoff champions in 2004, 2006 and 2007. In 2007, she was the Jr. Aeros captain.

NCAA

Birchard had her first career point with an assist in her collegiate debut. It was on October 5, 2007, against St. Lawrence. Her first collegiate goal was on October 28, 2007, vs. the

Maine Black Bears The Maine Black Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of Maine. A member of the America East Conference, the University of Maine sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The men's and women's ice ...

. On October 17, 2009, she reached her 50th career point in a game against Niagara. During her freshman year of 2007–08 with the New Hampshire Wildcats, she accumulated 28 points (13 in Hockey East play). Birchard ranked second in Hockey East rookie scoring at 0.85 ppg. The Wildcats qualified for the NCAA tournament and Birchard scored a goal in the NCAA quarterfinal win vs. St. Lawrence. On February 16, she established career highs in goals (two) and points (four) vs. the

Vermont Catamounts The Vermont Catamounts are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs of the University of Vermont, based in Burlington, Vermont, United States. The school sponsors 18 athletic programs (8 men's, 10 women's), most of which compete in the NCAA ...

. The 2008–09 season was her sophomore season and Birchard skated in all 32 regular-season games, while participating in three postseason games. For the season, she had accumulated 23 points (10 in conference play). She notched a goal in the NCAA quarterfinal game vs. Minnesota Duluth. Against Niagara (October 12), she matched her personal best of two goals scored in one game. In nineteen games, she registered at least one point. In her junior season (2009–10), Birchard missed the last six games of the season due to injury. Statistically, Birchard ranked fifth in the NCAA in defensemen scoring (0.81 ppg). Birchard led the Wildcats in shots (136) and tied for the lead in game-winning goals. She accumulated 13 points in conference play. One of the highlights of the season was accumulating a career-high three assists in the Sun Life Frozen Fenway game on January 8 vs. the Northeastern Huskies. Game winning goals were scored against Colgate (October 9), Connecticut (October 31 and February 7), and Northeastern (November 29).

Hockey Canada

Birchard was part of the 2007-08 Hockey Canada Women's Under-22 Team that competed in the MLP Cup. She attended the Canadian Development Camps in numerous years. In 2007, she participated in the U-19 National Development Camp. The following year, she was invited to the U-22 National Development Camp. She was part of the Canadian National Under 22 team that competed in the

2011 MLP Cup The 2011 MLP Nations Cup was a women's ice hockey tournament that featured five countries' national teams in addition to Canada, who played with their national under-22 team. Canada has defended the title which they won in 2010. All games were con ...

. She travelled to Bratislava, Slovakia to participate in the 2011 IIHF High Performance Women's Camp from July 4–12. On April 17, 2012, Birchard along with

Meghan Agosta Meghan Christina Agosta (born February 12, 1987) is a Canadian women's ice hockey forward, who last played for the Montreal Stars of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. Agosta plays for the Canada women's national ice hockey team and is a gol ...

Gillian Apps Gillian Mary Apps (born November 2, 1983) is a women's ice hockey player. Apps was a member of the Canadian National Hockey Team that won back to back Gold Medals in three consecutive Olympic Games. As a psychology major at Dartmouth College in ...

Caroline Ouellette Caroline Ouellette (born May 25, 1979) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current associate head coach of the Concordia Stingers women's ice hockey program. She was a member of the Canadian national women's ice hockey team and a member ...

, and head coach Dan Church took part in the opening face off of the playoff game between the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

and the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

at ScotiaBank Place.

CWHL

Birchard scored a goal for the

in the championship game of the

2012 Clarkson Cup The 2012 Clarkson Cup is a women's ice hockey tournament that was contested in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Niagara Falls, Ontario to determine the champion of the Canadian Women's Hockey League from March 22, 2012 to March 25, 2012. The Montreal Stars d ...

Coaching career

She served as the head coach at Havergal College in Toronto and also served as an assistant for the Oakville Hornets organization. On July 31, 2018, the Toronto Furies signed Kessel as their new head coach. In addition, Ken Dufton was named as an advisor to the team.

Awards and Honours

*AWCHA All-America Second Team (2010) *Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award candidate (2010) *Hockey East First Team All-Star (2010) *Hockey East All-Academic Team (2009) *Hockey East All-Tournament Team (2009) *Hockey East Player of the Week (Week of November 9, 2009) *Hockey East Mission Rookie of the Week (Week of March 17, 2008) *2010-11 New England Women's Division I All-Stars *2011 Karyn Bye Award (New Hampshire MVP)

Career stats

NCAA

Personal life

Birchard is married to Blake Kessel, whose siblings include hockey players

Phil Kessel Philip Joseph Kessel Jr. (born October 2, 1987) is an American professional ice hockey winger for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Peng ...

and Amanda Kessel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessel, Courtney 1989 births Living people Canadian women's ice hockey forwards New Hampshire Wildcats women's ice hockey players Sportspeople from Etobicoke Ice hockey people from Toronto