The Markham Thunder was a professional women's

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

team in 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 leag ...

(CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

, to

Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...

, for the 2017–18 season. The CWHL ceased operations in 2019 and no further statements or actions were taken with the franchise.

Team history

The city of Brampton had a long history of women's ice hockey, starting with the creation of the Brampton Canadettes in 1963, whose management created the Dominion Ladies Hockey Tournament in 1967 (operating today as the Canadettes Easter Tournament). In 1998, after local athlete

Cassie Campbell Cassie Dawin Campbell-Pascall (born November 22, 1973) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and a current broadcaster for Sportsnet and ESPN. Born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Campbell grew up in Brampton, Ontario, playing for the Brampton Can ...

returned home from her silver-medal victory with Team Canada in the successful introduction of women's ice hockey at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, she commiserated with Brampton acting mayor Sue Fennell about the lack of a top level women's team in Brampton. Fennell purchased a franchise, which she named the Brampton Thunder, 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 ...

(COWHL), a league which had operated since 1980. From its first 1998–99 COWHL season, the Thunder played its home games in the Brampton Centre for Sports & Entertainment (renamed the Powerade Centre in 2005), which also started operation in 1998. On 15 February 1999, during the 1998–99 COWHL season, Fennell was instrumental in turning the COWHL into 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), becoming its first President. The Brampton Thunder won the first NWHL Championship Cup, in 1998–99. The Thunder would also win the final NWHL Championship Cup, in 2006–07. In between, the Thunder appeared in three other NWHL Championship Cup finals, but were defeated by the Beatrice Aeros in 2002, 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 ...

in 2004, and the

Montreal Axion The Montreal Axion were a National Women's Hockey League team (2003 to 2007) located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Axion represented Quebec at the 2005 Esso Women's Nationals. They were previously known as Bonaventure Wingstar (1998–99) and ...

in 2006. They also played in 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 ...

and were victorious in 2006, defeating the Montreal Axion to claim the national title. The Thunder also had the distinction of having their home arena serve as the site of all NWHL Championship Cup games. The Brampton Thunder was a significant contributor to the roster of the Canadian national women's hockey team at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

, with three players (

Vicky Sunohara Vicky Sunohara (born May 18, 1970) is a Canadian ice hockey coach, former ice hockey player, and three-time Olympic medallist. She has been described as "the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey" and is recognized as a trailblazer and pioneer for the ...

Jayna Hefford Jayna Hefford (born May 14, 1977) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current chairperson of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association. During her career, she won multiple medals at the Winter Olympics and IIHF World Women's ...

, and Gillian Ferrari) contributing to Canada's gold medal win. Brampton Thunder player Kathleen Kauth also participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics, playing for the bronze medal-winning American national women's hockey team. A fifth Brampton Thunder player, goaltender Cindy Eadie, also participated in the Olympics, in 2004, with the Canadian

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

team. In 2007, the NWHL suspended operations. Players from the seven disbanded NWHL teams joined seven corresponding teams in the new

(CWHL). Players from the NWHL Brampton Thunder joined the new CWHL franchise Brampton Canadettes-Thunder (generally called the Brampton Thunder), continuing the legacy of Brampton's women's ice hockey teams, starting with the 1963 Canadettes team and the 1998 Thunders team. On January 18, 2011, the Thunder competed against the Montreal Stars at the Invista Centre in Kingston, Ontario - team captain

’s hometown. Her number 15 was raised to the rafters of the Invista Centre on behalf of the Kingston Area Minor Hockey Association. As of 2012, no sweaters bearing Hefford’s number will be used in Kingston Minor Hockey. On November 2, 2011, Jesse Scanzano appeared in one game for the Brampton Thunder, on loan from the

Toronto Aeros 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 and Mississauga, Ontario. The team played its home ...

. The game was an exhibition contest versus her alma mater, the Mercyhurst Lakers. In the second period of said contest, Scanzano scored the game-winning goal as the Thunder defeated the Lakers 3–1. In the CWHL 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 ...

, Brampton fell to the

Montreal Stars Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

4–2. Two Thunder players earned awards for their play in the 2012 Clarkson Cup, with the Outstanding Defender award going to

Molly Engstrom Molly Marie Engstrom (born March 1, 1983) is an American retired ice hockey player and the cuurent head coach of the Maine Black Bears women's ice hockey program in the Hockey East (HEA) conference of the NCAA Division I. During her playing care ...

, while netminder Liz Knox earned the Outstanding Goaltender award. At the

3rd CWHL All-Star Game The 3rd Canadian Women's Hockey League All-Star Game took place on February 12, 2017, at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event featured three 20-minute periods, and 34 players were named as participants Jess Jones and Jillian Sa ...

, Jess Jones of the Thunder, along with

Jillian Saulnier Jillian Pauline Saulnier (born March 7, 1992) grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was the first female ice hockey player to represent Nova Scotia at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in 2015. She is a two-timOlympianfoTeam Canada w ...

both scored a hat trick, becoming the first competitors in CWHL All-Star Game history to achieve the feat. Before the start of the

2017–18 CWHL season The 2017–18 CWHL season is the 11th season of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. This is also the first season in which the teams pay their players a salary. It would also prove to be the final full season in which Brenda Andress served as com ...

, the Brampton Thunder relocated east, to

, with home games at the Thornhill Community Centre, in Markham's Thornhill neighbourhood. The renamed Markham Thunder won the 2018 Clarkson Cup as CWHL Playoffs Champions. Against the

Kunlun Red Star HC Kunlun Red Star () is a Chinese ice hockey club that joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) prior to the 2016–17 season. History Preparation of the team In March 2016, representatives of Kunlun Red Star and the KHL signed a protocol o ...

for the Clarkson Cup championship game, Markham's Laura Stacey scored with 2:11 left in the 4-on-4 overtime for a 2–1 victory and its first Cup win.

Season-by-season

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

NCAA exhibitions

CWHL draft picks

*The following is a listing of their top draft picks. For full draft information, please see the respective draft pages.

Team captains

Scoring leaders

Year-by-year

All-time leaders

Awards and honours

* Brampton Canadettes Thunder won the first CWHL championship on 22 March 2008, winning 4–3 over 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 ...

in the final. * Markham Thunder won their first Clarkson Cup as CWHL Champions on 25 March 2018. The 2–1 win in overtime featured goals from Nicole Brown, and Laura Stacey. *

Lori Dupuis Lori Dupuis (born November 14, 1972) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player. Playing career Dupuis was born and raised just outside Cornwall, Ontario. She is a former member of the Cornwall Wolverines of the OWHA. She started with the Wolverin ...

, Top forward in the

2010 Clarkson Cup The 2010 Clarkson Cup was contested at the Elgin Barrow Arena in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. The four competing teams included the Brampton Thunder, Minnesota Whitecaps, Mississauga Chiefs, and Montreal Stars. Quali ...

, Top defender in the

*Bobbi-Jo Slusar, Player of the Game, 2010 Clarkson Cup Final *Courtney Birchard, Outstanding Rookie of the Year, 2011 * Liz Knox, Top Goaltender of the Clarkson Cup, 2012 *Laura Fortino, Defensemen of the Year, 2015–16 *Tyler Fines, Coach of the Year, 2015–16 * Jess Jones, Co-winner, 2017 Angela James Bowl *Laura Stacey, Rookie of the Year, 2016–17 *

Jamie Lee Rattray Jamie Lee Rattray (born September 30, 1992) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player for the Markham Thunder. Life As a member of the gold medal-winning squad at the 2010 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, a hockey card of her was featured i ...

, 2018 Jayna Hefford Trophy *

Erica Howe Erica Howe (born July 17, 1992) is an ice hockey goaltender, currently with the PWHPA. As a member of the gold medal winning squad at the 2010 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, a hockey card of her was featured in the Upper Deck 2010 World of S ...

, Most Valuable Player, 2018 Clarkson Cup * Victoria Bach, Rookie of the Year, 2018–19 * Jim Jackson, Coach of the Year, 2018–19

Notable players

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 ...

Victoria Bach Victoria Bach (born July 12, 1996) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player with PWHL Toronto of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and the Canadian national team. A graduate of Boston University, she was the first player in the Terr ...

* Megan Bozek * Delaney Collins *

* Laura Fortino *

* Jocelyne Larocque * Cherie Piper *

Laura Stacey Laura Rachel Stacey (born May 5, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey player, currently affiliated with the Montreal chapter of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and a member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team. ...

References

External links

* {{Markham, Ontario, state=collapsed Brampton Thunder

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

Sport in Markham, Ontario Ice hockey clubs established in 1999 Women's ice hockey teams in Canada Ice hockey teams in Ontario Canadian Women's Hockey League teams National Women's Hockey League (1999–2007) teams 1999 establishments in Ontario Women in Ontario