The Edmonton WAM! is a

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

team in the

National Ringette League The National Ringette League (NRL) ''()'' is the premier league for the sport of ringette in North America and Canada's national league for elite ringette players aged 18 and up. The NRL is not a women's variant of a more well-known men's leag ...

's (NRL) Western Conference. Based in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, they are one of two NRL teams in the city, alongside the Edmonton Black Gold Rush. The WAM! also has a provincial rivalry with the

Calgary RATH The Calgary RATH is a ringette team in the National Ringette League's (NRL) Western Conference. The team is based in Calgary, Alberta. Team history The RATH were founded in 2007, with the name serving as an acronym for the values of "respect, ...

Team history

The WAM! were founded in 2004 at the same time as the NRL, which was first established in 2002, was moving towards playing its first season. It was not until 2007–08 that a proper National Ringette League division became a part of the annual Canadian Ringette Championships, but the WAM! found early success and won a national title representing Alberta in the Open Division at the 2007 national championships. The coach of the winning 2007 team was Lisa Brown, a member of the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame inducted in 2008 in the Athlete category. Brown was also a former player for the

Canada national ringette team , - !align=center style=background:pink , Seniors , - (''Alberta'') (''Ontario'') (''Quebec'') (''Canada West'') (''Canada East'') (''Canada East'') (''Canada West'') , - , - !align=center style=background:pink , Juniors , - (' ...

. The team won its first official NRL title at the 2010 Canadian Ringette Championships, hosted in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

. The WAM! avenged a loss from the 2009 gold medal game by defeating the Cambridge Turbos in the final by a score of 2–0 with goaltender Keely Brown posting a shutout. The Turbos and WAM! met in the final for a third straight year at the 2011 Championships, and Edmonton secured its second consecutive national title with a 4–2 victory in which Brown made 50 saves. The team remained competitive, including winning back-to-back bronze medals in 2014 and 2015. Jenna Debaji, Dailyn Bell and Jamie Bell were named to

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics ** Canadian Olympic Committee * Canada at the Paralympics ** Canadian Paralympic Committee * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at ...

for the

2016 World Ringette Championships The 2016 World Ringette Championships (''2016 WRC'') was an international ringette tournament and the 11th (XI) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Helsin ...

, where the team won silver. After the 2022 season, veteran Emily Lubbers retired from playing and became the head coach of the WAM! Lubbers was an athlete on the team since 2011, winning two silver and two bronze medals each at the national championships. In her first season as coach, Lubbers led the WAM! to a 22–4 record to finish atop the Western Conference. The team also played an exhibition match against

Team Alberta A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

in February ahead of the

Canada Winter Games 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 ...

. The team was a favourite ahead of the 2023 Canadian Championships in Regina, SK. There, the WAM! went undefeated to win their first national title since 2011. Gillian Dreger, Melissa Misutka, and Annie Debaji were all named to the tournament all-star team, while Misutka won Defence of the Year as well. After the 2023-2024 regular season placed them third in the west the WAM! had a 5-2 record at the 2024 Canadian Ringette Championships in Dieppe, NB where they defeated the Calgary Rath 10-3 for a second consecutive national championship. Gillian Dreger, Annie Debaji, and Melissa Misutka were all named in the tournament all-star team. Dreger and Mistuka were nominated and selected as Center of the Year and Defence of the Year respectively.

Season-by-season

Rosters

Current roster

Team Canada players

WAM! players have competed for the

at the

World Ringette Championships The World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather ...

(WRC) and are listed in the table below.

References

External links

Ringette Canada

Ringette Alberta
{{Alberta Sports National Ringette League Ringette teams Sports clubs and teams in Edmonton 2004 establishments in Canada Sports clubs and teams established in 2004 Women's sports clubs and teams in Alberta Women's sports in Edmonton 2000s in Edmonton