The Vancouver Griffins were a professional

women's ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team in 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). The team played its home games in

Queen's Park Arena Queen's Park Arena is a 3,500 seat multi-use arena located within Queen's Park in New Westminster, British Columbia. The arena was built in 1930 and opened on September 19. In its time, the Queen's Park Arena hosted the New Westminster Bruins o ...

, in

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

History

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 18 exhibition games against

Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

(CIAU) teams, British Columbia and Alberta provincial women's teams, 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,

. In the 2000-01 season, the only players that were not from British Columbia were goalie Krista Cloutier of Pickardville,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and forward Julia Berg, a member of the

Norway women's national ice hockey team The Norway women's national ice hockey team is the women's national ice hockey team in Norway. The team represents Norway at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)'s World Women's Championships and is controlled by Norges Ishockeyforbund. ...

. For the Griffins' 2001–02 season, the team was owned by British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame inductee Diane Nelson. The head coach was Nancy Wilson. Olympians

Nancy Drolet Nancy Drolet (born August 2, 1973) is a Canadian ice hockey player, international public speaker and philanthropist. She is the daughter of Denis Drolet and Viviane Dubé. Nancy has won 6 gold medals for Canada with the Canadian women's hockey te ...

Canada women's national ice hockey team The Canadian women's national ice hockey team is the ice hockey team representing Canada in women's hockey. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and participates in international competitions ...

Cammi Granato Catherine Michelle Granato (born March 25, 1971) is an American former ice hockey player and one of the first women to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November 2010. She currently works as an assistant general manager for the Vancou ...

) and

Shelley Looney Shelley Looney (born January 21, 1972 in Brownstown, Michigan and raised in Trenton, Michigan) is an American ice hockey player and head coach. She scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal game for Team USA at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the ...

of the

United States women's national ice hockey team The United States women's national ice hockey team is controlled by USA Hockey. The U.S. has been one of the most successful women's ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating ...

joined Vancouver Griffins. The Griffins' roster also included Burnaby's own 18-year-old Natashia Pellatt, a graduate of

Moscrop Secondary School Moscrop Secondary School is a publicly operated secondary school in Burnaby, British Columbia. The school serves grades eight through twelve and currently has an enrollment of about 1600 students. It is one of the three high schools in School Dis ...

. Other younger players included 15-year-old Courtney Unrah. The team played 31 exhibition games against local, CIAU, British Columbia and Alberta provincial women's teams, and NWHL teams. One of the highlights of the 2001-02 season was a victory over

Hayley Wickenheiser Hayley Wickenheiser (born August 12, 1978) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, resident physician and assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She was the first woman to play full-time professional men’s hockey in a positio ...

and her

Edmonton Chimos The Edmonton Chimos were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL). The team played its home games at River Cree Twin Arenas in Edmonton, Canada. The Owner was Arlan Maschmayer. History The Chimos ...

club by a 7-1 score. Nancy Drolet had a hat trick and Cammi Granato scored the other four goals against Edmonton. The Griffins joined the

Calgary Oval X-Treme The Calgary Oval X-Treme were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL). The team played its home games at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Oval X-Treme were a member of the National Wome ...

and

as a fully scheduled three team division in the NWHL for the 2002-03 season. The Griffins disbanded at the end of that season.

Season-by-season

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points.

Season standings

Inaugural Roster (2000-01)

http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyNWHL/ros_van.html

References

External links

NWHL website

Vancouver Griffins Logo

Hockey British Columbia
{{Professional Women's Hockey seasons National Women's Hockey League (1999–2007) teams Defunct women's ice hockey teams in Canada

Griffins The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back ...

Ice hockey clubs established in 2000 2000 establishments in British Columbia 2003 disestablishments in British Columbia Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2003 Women in British Columbia