The York Lions women's ice hockey team represents

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

in the sport of

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 hock ...

in the Ontario University Athletics conference of

U Sports 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 Ca ...

. The York Lions have won three OUA championships in their program history while making one appearance in the

U Sports women's ice hockey championship The Golden Path Trophy is a national collegiate sports award, presented annually to the women's ice hockey champions of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. The trophy was donated by Katherine Cartwright in 1998, which is when ...

tournament since its inception in 1998.

History

On February 11, 2000, the Ontario University Athletics women's ice hockey program saw its longest game take place. The

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

's Rhonda Mitchell scored on a 35-foot slap shot. It was the 5:07 mark of the eighth period and the Varsity Blues defeated York University. Although the victory allowed the U of T to advance to the OUA gold medal game, it was the longest in the history of Canadian women's hockey (since broken). The game lasted over five hours and ten minutes. York's player of the game was goaltender Debra Ferguson, as she valiantly made 63 saves over 125 minutes. On February 5, 2011, two Lions players, forward Courtney Unruh and defender Kelsey Webster (and assistant coach Stacey Colarossi) were part of the Team Canada roster that captured gold at the 2011 Winter Universiade title as Canada defeated Finland 4–1 in the gold-medal final. Autumn Mills was the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) nominee for the 2011 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Marion Hillard Award. After seven years of finishing out of the playoffs, the 2019-20 Lions team finished with a record and a third-place finish in the OUA. The Lions swept both the

Waterloo Warriors The Waterloo Warriors are the athletic teams that represent the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The Warriors have found success over certain spans in football, hockey, rugby, golf and basketball among others, and the Warriors ...

and

Nipissing Lakers The Nipissing Lakers are the athletic teams that represent Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, Canada that compete in U Sports. The Lakers varsity programs compete in men's and women's basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross c ...

in the OUA playoffs before losing the McCaw Cup championship to the Toronto Varsity Blues in a sudden death 1–3 loss. Because the Lions were an OUA finalist, the team qualified for the

for the first time in program history in 2020. However, because of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

, the tournament was cancelled on the day that the Lions were scheduled to play against the

McGill Martlets The McGill Redbirds (formerly the McGill Redmen) and McGill Martlets are the varsity athletic teams that represent McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team name According to Suzanne Morton, a professor of history at McGill, the name ...

in the opening round game. The 2020–21 season was cancelled due to the pandemic and the Lions finished last in their division following their return to play in 2021–22.

Recent results

International contests

Lions in pro hockey

Lions selected in the CWHL Draft

Lions selected in the NWHL Draft

Taylor Davison made U Sports history, becoming the highest drafted player from a U Sports team to be taken in the NWHL Draft. As a side note, Davison's selection was announced by

Angela James Angela Diane James (born December 22, 1964) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played at the highest levels of senior hockey between 1980 and 2000. She was a member of numerous teams in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL) ...

Awards and honours

Team MVP

''This is an incomplete list'' *2009-10: Kelsey Webster *2010-11: Courtney Unruh *2011-12: Lisa Stathopulos *2012-13: Lisa Stathopulos *2013-14: Megan Lee *2014-15: Lisa Stathopulos *2015-16: Megan Lee *2016-17: Erin Locke *2017-18: Erin Locke *2018-19: Erin Locke *2019-20:

School honours

*Autumn Mills, York University female athlete of the week for the period ending Jan. 30, 2011. * 2011 York Lions Athletics Bryce M. Taylor Award:

Autumn Mills Autumn Mills (born July 24, 1988) is a former competitor with the York Lions women's ice hockey program. She is a member of the Canada women's national baseball team which won a silver medal at the Baseball at the 2015 Pan American Game ...

* 2012 York Lions Athletics Female Rookie of the Year,

Kristen Barbara Kristen Barbara (born October 30, 1992) is a Canadian ice hockey defenceman, last played for the Metropolitan Riveters in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). Playing career Across five years with the York Lions women's ice hockey program, ...

*2015 Charles Saundercook Memorial Trophy: Lisa Stathopulos *2016 Roar Cup *2021 Sport Council Award: Lauren Dubie (co-winner with rugby player Lauren Walter)

Lions Legacy Awards

*2015 Lions Legacy Awards: Kiri Langford Co-winner *2016 Lions Legacy Awards: Megan Lee *2017 Lions Legacy Awards: Rianna Langford and Amy Locke (co-winner with soccer player Marilyn Grammenopoulos and track & field competitor Muad Issa) *2019 Lions Legacy Awards: Jenna Gray (co-winner with volleyball player Cadence Currie and track & field athlete Bailey Francis) *2021 Lions Legacy Awards: Kaleb Dahlgren and Lauren Dubie (co-winner with soccer player Teni Odetoyinbo)

U Sports honours

*Kelsey Webster, 2010 All-CIS Second Team *Kristen Barbara, CIS All-Rookie Team (2011–12)

OUA honours

*Lisa Stathopulos, OUA Most Valuable Player (2014–15) *Erin Locke, OUA Marion Hilliard Award (2019–20)

OUA in-season

, Pioneer Petroleums Ontario University Athletics (OUA) female athlete of the week for the period ending Jan. 30, 2011.

OUA All-Stars

First Team

*Marnie Barow, First Team (1990–91) *Marnie Barow, Second Team (1991–92) *Marnie Barow, First Team (1992–93) *Michelle Clayton, First Team (1993–94) *Michelle Clayton, First Team (1995–96) *Taylor Davison, First Team (2019–20) *Allyson Fox, First Team (1996–97) *Debra Ferguson, First Team (1996–97) *

Sari Krooks Sari Kristiina Krooks (born 2 February 1968 in Vaasa) is a Finnish retired ice hockey player. She played on the women's ice hockey team for Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics Finland competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Med ...

, First Team (1996–97) *Sari Krooks, First Team (1999–2000) *Katie Quinn, First Team (1995–96) *Melanie Roach, First Team (1998–99) *Melanie Roach, First Team (1999–2000) *Kelsey Webster, 2010 All-OUA First Team

Second Team

*Heather Balbraith, Second Team (1996–97) *Michelle Campbell, Second Team (1989–90) *Michelle Clayton, Second Team (1994–95) *Allyson Fox, Second Team (1995–96) *Allyson Fox, Second Team (1997–98) *Collette Good, Second Team (1997–98) *Karent Kett, Second Team (1998–99) *Katie Quinn, Second Team (1993–94) *Katie Quinn, Second Team (1994–95) *Shanley White, Second Team (1997–98)

Postseason awards

*Debra Ferguson, Player of the Game, OWIAA Final (February 25, 1997) *Debra Ferguson, Player of the Game, OUA Semifinal (February 11, 2000) *Collette Good, Player of the Game, OWIAA Semi-final (February 24, 1997)

International

*In April 2011, Lions player Kiri Langford was a member of the New Zealand national team that won the gold medal at the 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship Division IV competition in Reykjavik, Iceland. *During the month of August 2011, it was announced that Lions head coach Dan Church would also serve as the head coach during the

2011–12 Canada women's national ice hockey team The 2011–12 women's national hockey team represented Canada in various tournaments during the 2011-12 hockey season. The head coach of the National team was York Lions women's ice hockey coach Dan Church. News and notes *June 23, 2011: Sixteen ...

. *Dan Church Head Coach : 2009 Winter Universiade

References

{{U Sports women's ice hockey York University York Lions women's ice hockey