The Golden Path Trophy is a national collegiate sports award, presented annually to the

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 hoc ...

champions 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 C ...

, Canada's governing body for university sports. The trophy was donated by Katherine Cartwright in 1998, which is when the championship was first contested. Cartwright was the first head coach of the Queen's Gaels women's hockey program in 1971 and led the movement to reinstate women's hockey at the collegiate level in 1960, following a nine-year hiatus.

History

The championship has been competed for in U Sports since 1998, when the sport was established in what was then known as the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union. Prior to that, only teams from

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 C ...

would compete for a

championship. With the completion of the 2022 championship, the Alberta Pandas have won the most national championships, with eight wins in 10 appearances, followed by 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 ...

, with four wins in nine appearances. The

Concordia Stingers The Concordia Stingers are the athletic teams that represent Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They compete with other schools in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, and more specifically in Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (R ...

and

Montreal Carabins The Montréal Carabins are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Teams play at the CEPSUM Stadium and at l'aréna du CEPSUM, located at the Université de Montréal campus. ...

are next with three and two titles, respectively, followed by six teams with one win each. The Alberta Pandas hold the record of three consecutive championships, from 2002 through 2004. The 2020 championship tournament was cancelled after two semi-final games had been played due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On 15 October 2020, it was announced that the 2021 national championship was also cancelled.

Champions

Championships Women's Hockey History
/ref>

Championship appearances

Ontario champions pre-1998 national championship

Previously, the only significant Canadian university women's ice hockey championship was the determination of the champions in the large Ontario associations, as the few non-Ontario teams tended to play against local or regional community teams rather than in organized interuniversity associations. In Ontario, the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WIAU) existed from 1921–22 to 1970–71, then merged with the Ontario-Quebec University Athletic Association to forme the Ontario Women's Interuniversity Athletic Association (OWIAA), competing from 1971–72 to 1996–97. The OWIAA awarded the Dr. Judy McCaw trophy to its annual champion.

WIAU champions (1921–1971)

:1921–22

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

:1922–23 University of Toronto :1923–24 University of Toronto :1924–25 University of Toronto :1925–26 Queen's University :1926–27 University of Toronto :1927–28 University of Toronto :1928–29 University of Toronto :1929–30 University of Toronto :1930–31 Queen's University :1931–32 University of Toronto :1932–33 University of Toronto :1933–34 University of Toronto :1934–35 University of Toronto :1935–36 University of Toronto :''1936 at 1948 No official competition'' :1948–49 University of Toronto :1949–50 University of Toronto :1950–51 University of Toronto :''1951 to 1960 No official competition'' :1960–61 University of Toronto :1961–62 University of Toronto :1962–63 University of Toronto / Queen's University :1963–64 University of Toronto :1964–65 University of Toronto :1965–66 University of Toronto :1966–67

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

:1967–68 University of Guelph :1968–69 University of Guelph :1969–70 University of Guelph :1970–71

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

OWIAA champions (1972–1997)

:1971–72

:1972–73 Queen's University :1973–74 University of Guelph :1974–75 Queen's University :1975–76

:1976–77 Queen's University :1977–78 McMaster University :1978–79 Queen's University :1979–80 University of Toronto :1980–81 University of Toronto :1981–82 University of Toronto :1982–83

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 ...

:1983–84 University of Toronto :1984–85 University of Toronto :1985–86 University of Toronto :1986–87 York University :1987–88 University of Toronto :1988–89 University of Toronto :1989–90 University of Toronto :1990–91 University of Toronto :1991–92 University of Toronto :1992–93 University of Toronto :1993–94 Université de Toronto :1994–95 University of Guelph :1995–96 University of Toronto :1996–97 York University ReferenceOntario University Athletics OUA Women's Hockey
/ref>

References

External links

U Sports Women's Hockey Championship
{{U Sports championships U Sports ice hockey trophies and awards

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

U Sports ice hockey