The Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL) is a defunct hockey league in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. During the 1998–99 season, the COWHL was renamed the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

as the teams from the former league began to compete against teams from Quebec.

Teams

* Guelph Eagles * Hamilton Golden Hawks * London Devilettes *

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 t ...

* Newtonbrook Panthers * Peterborough Skyway *

Peterborough Pirates The Peterborough Pirates were an English ice hockey team. It was established in 1982, as the senior adult semi-professional team of the newly formed Peterborough Ice Hockey Club. ''The Pirates'', based at the East of England Ice Rink, Peterboro ...

* Junior Aeros * Scarborough Firefighters * Scarborough Sting * North York Aeros * Toronto Red Wings

Final Standing year by year

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

Non-available

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

For this last season, there was only three teams in the COWHL. The three teams played each other five times at home and five times on the road. In addition, they will play exhibition games against the Ottawa Senior AAA and the Brockvill Senior AAA teams.

Players

*Geraldine Heaney began playing for 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 ...

at the age of 13, winning six provincial championships. *For the first 17 years of her participation in the COWHL,

Cathy Phillips Cathy Phillips (born August 7, 1960) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and coach. A seventeen-season goaltender in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL), she also played with the Canadian women's national ice hockey team. Phi ...

played for two different teams: Burlington and Hamilton. She was voted Top Goaltender 14 times and Most Valuable Player twice during her years of play in the COWHL.

International

IIHF women's worlds

*Mirjam Baechler, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team Switzerland 1992–1997) *Amanda Benoit, North York Aeros (Team Canada 1996) *

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

, North York Aeros (Team Canada 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997) *

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 Wolverine ...

, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team Canada 1995, 1996, 1997) *Kelly Dyer, North York Aeros (Team USA 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995) *Marianne Grnak, North York Aeros (Team Canada 1994, 1995, 1996) *Geraldine Heaney, North York Aeros (Team Canada 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997) *

Jayna Hefford Jayna Hefford (born May 14, 1977) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). Hefford got her start in the sport of ringette but soon moved ...

, Mississauga Chiefs (Team Canada 1997) *Andria Hunter, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team Canada 1992, 1994) *

Angela James Angela James (born December 22, 1964) is a Canadian former ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markin ...

, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team Canada 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997) *Sari Krooks, North York Aeros (Team Finland 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996) *Sue Merz, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team USA 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997) * Karen Nystrom, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team Canada 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997) *Margot Page, Mississauga Chiefs (Team Canada 1990, 1992, 1994) *Marion Pepels, London Devilettes (Team Netherlands 1990–1996) * Cheryl Pounder, North York Aeros (Team Canada 1994, 1996) *Nathalie Rivard, Mississauga Chiefs (Team Canada 1992) * Laura Schuler, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team Canada 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997) *Jeanine Sobek, Newtonbrook Panthers (Team USA 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996) *

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 ...

, Scarborough Firefighters (1990 to 1994), Toronto Red Wings (1994 to 1996), and the Newtonbrook Panthers (1996 to 1997)Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 4, p.430, Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Markham, ON and Allston, MA, (Team Canada 1990, 1996, 1997)

Olympians

The following players from the COWHL represented Canada in ice hockey at the Winter Olympic games.

Awards and honours

*Angela James, Most Valuable Player, COWHL, 1991 * Karen Nystrom, Won COWHL scoring title in 1991-92 (runner-up in 1990–91, 1992–93 and 1996–97) * Karen Nystrom, COWHL All-Star Team every year from 1989 to 1997 * Karen Nystrom, OWHA champion with Scarborough Firefighters, 1991

Esso Nationals

Over the years, teams from the COWHL represented the province of Ontario in the Canadian National Women's Hockey championships (also known as the Esso Nationals). The winner of the gold medal was also awarded the

Abby Hoffman Cup The first instances of organized women's ice hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it was played at the university level. The Women's Hockey Association claims that the city of Ottawa, Ontario hosted the first game in 1891. In 1920, Lady ...

. * Beatrice Aeros, Silver medal, 1996Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 4, p.66, Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Markham, ON and Allston, MA, * Beatrice Aeros, Bronze Medal, 1999.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Central Ontario Women's Hockey League : 1992-93

Women's ice hockey leagues in Canada Defunct ice hockey leagues in Ontario National Women's Hockey League (1999–2007) Women's sports in Ontario