The Toronto Aeros, often called Beatrice Aeros after their primary sponsor, the North York Aeros, and the Mississauga Aeros were a semi-professional women's ice hockey team that played in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

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 Ca ...

. The team played its home games in

Beatrice Ice Gardens Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporate ...

and Iceland Mississauga in

. In 2010, the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league ...

placed an expansion team back in Toronto and was sometimes known as the Aeros among fans. In 2011, the CWHL team eventually took on the name of

Toronto Furies The Toronto Furies were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto, Ontario, as members of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The Toronto Furies played their home games at the Mastercard Centre in Toronto. The team was establish ...

Team history

Originally playing out of

North York, Ontario North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...

, the senior Aeros were established in the

Central Ontario Women's Hockey League The Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL) is a defunct hockey league in Ontario, Canada. During the 1998-99 season, the COWHL was renamed the National Women's Hockey League as the teams from the former league began to compete against teams ...

and the

Ontario Women's Hockey Association The Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA) is the governing body of women's ice hockey in the Province of Ontario, Canada. The OWHA is a member of the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF), the Ontario branch of Hockey Canada. The Association was form ...

as the Aeros. The senior team was associated with an organization that operated several teams from youth to adult. Throughout the organization's history, the senior Aeros have also been known as the Toronto Aeros and North York Aeros. In 1999, the organization began being called the Beatrice Aeros after their main sponsor,

Beatrice Foods Canada Beatrice Foods Canada Ltd. is a dairy unit of Lactalis Canada based in Toronto. The Canadian unit of Beatrice Foods was founded in 1969 and separated from its American parent firm, Beatrice Foods in 1978. The Beatrice trademark in Canada is owne ...

, and played out of the

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. The senior Aeros joined the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

(NWHL) upon its launch in 1998. On March 22, 1998, Dana Antal scored at 5:31 of a 10-minute overtime period on a pass from

Jennifer Botterill Jennifer Botterill, (born May 1, 1979) is a Canadian former women's hockey player and current hockey broadcast television analyst who played for Harvard University, the Canadian national team, the Mississauga Chiefs, and the Toronto Aeros. Sh ...

as Team Alberta (represented by the Calgary Oval X-Treme) defeated Team Ontario (represented by the Beatrice Aeros) by a 3–2 mark to win the

Esso Women's Nationals The Esso Women's Nationals was the Canadian women's senior ice hockey championship from 1982 to 2008. The winners of the event received the Abby Hoffman Cup. The second place team was awarded the Fran Rider Cup, while the third place was given t ...

. During the

1999–2000 NWHL season 1999-2000 Final standings Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points. Playoffs Eastern Division Final Montréal Wingstar vs Sainte-Julie Pantheres * Saturday March 4, 2000: Sainte ...

, the Beatrice Aeros played the Sainte-Julie Pantheres in the championship game. In the second game of the final, Cherie Piper scored the game-winning goal with 9:06 left to play in the first period, and Lauren Goldstein earned the shutout for the Aeros. With the 1–0 win, Beatrice earned the championship based on goal differential. The team changed its name in 2003 to become the Toronto Aeros. In 2006–07 they relocated to Mississauga and changed their name to the Mississauga Aeros. They played their home games at the

in Toronto. After one season in Mississauga, the NWHL and the senior Aeros ceased operations in 2007. The

subsequently was created from the remnants of the NWHL. As part of the new league's reorganization, the NWHL's

Oakville Ice The Mississauga Chiefs were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in the Canadian National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They played in Mississauga, Ontario at the Hershey Centre and th ...

returned to affiliating with the

Mississauga Chiefs The Mississauga Chiefs were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in the Canadian National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They played in Mississauga, Ontario at the Hershey Centre and the ...

hockey organization and took the Mississauga Aeros place in the new league for 2007–08. The

played for three seasons before the CWHL restructured completely, folding the Chiefs team while subsequently placing a new team in Toronto, which then acquired many of the former Chiefs' players including

and

Sami Jo Small Sami Jo Small (born March 25, 1976) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the Canadian national team, she was a three-time Olympic medallist and four-time World Championship medallist. One of the founders of the now defun ...

. While officially the 2010–11 Toronto CWHL team had no name, but would sometimes be called the "Toronto Aeros" in the media. The CWHL team adopted the name

after their appearance 2011 Clarkson Cup.

Championship

List of NWHL Championship Cup won 1998 to 2007

* 1998–99 - Fran Rider Cup (second place at Esso Women's nationals) * 1999–2000 - Beatrice Aeros vs. Sainte-Julie Panthères, hosted in Brampton * 2000–01 - Beatrice Aeros vs. Sainte-Julie Panthères * 2001–02 - Beatrice Aeros vs. Brampton Thunder * 2004–05 - Toronto Aeros vs. Montreal Axion, hosted in Brampton

Season-by-season

Notable former players

References

{{Professional Women's Hockey seasons

Aeros Aeros is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer founded by a group of ex-Antonov engineers in the early 1990s to build hang gliders. It is located in Kyiv.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 41. Pag ...

Ice hockey clubs established in 2003 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2007 Women's ice hockey teams in Canada Canadian Women's Hockey League teams Defunct ice hockey teams in Canada 2003 establishments in Ontario 2007 disestablishments in Ontario Women in Ontario Sport in Mississauga