The Montreal Axion were a

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 ...

team (2003 to 2007) located in

Montreal 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 ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Axion represented Quebec at the 2005 Esso Women's Nationals. They were previously known as Bonaventure Wingstar (1998–99) and Montreal Wingstar (1999–2003). This team was succeeded as the women's professional hockey team of Montreal by 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 ...

in the Canadian Women's Hockey League, starting with the 2007–2008 season.

History

The team evolved in the National Women's Hockey League starting in the 1998–99 season. During the inaugural season, they were named the "Bonaventure Wingstar", then the following season, they became the "Montreal Wingstar". Five years after its creation, in 2003, the team was renamed the Montreal Axion.

Season-by-season

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points. ;1998–99 The team takes gains the first championship of its division. During the playoff rounds, the Wingstar manages to steal in the first tour by winning its 2 matches and to consider for championship finale. The team loses the finale match 2–5 against

Brampton Thunder The Markham Thunder was a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from Brampton, O ...

which is crowned champion. ;1999–2000 The second season is more difficult and the Wingstar escapes from a single point the first position to the Division classification. In playoffs, St-Julie's panthers eliminate Wingstar from the first round: :On Saturday, 4 March 2000: St-Julie Panthers 6–0 Montreal Wingstar :On Sunday, 5 March 2000: Montreal Wingstar 2–1 St-Julie Panthers :in Extra time): Montreal Wingstar 0–1 St-Julie Panthers ;2000–01 The big addition of the 2000–01 season is the arrival of the

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Manon Rhéaume. Rhéaume performed indeed and help the team to finish at the top of the East Division. The team's attack is not outdone by the presence of

Caroline Ouellette Caroline Ouellette (born May 25, 1979) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current associate head coach of the Concordia Stingers women's ice hockey program. She was a member of the Canadian national women's ice hockey team and a member ...

and France St-Louis. Behind the bench, Julie Healy acts as coach. Healy sees furthermore in the supervision of

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 ...

. ;2004–05 Several new players come lent strong hand to the team, among others Gina Kingsbury,

Angela Ruggiero Angela Marie Ruggiero (born January 3, 1980) is an American former ice hockey defenseman, gold medalist, and four-time Olympian. She was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2010 to 2018 and served as a member of the Executive Bo ...

, Jenny Lavigne and Annie Desrosiers.Hockey Canada
/ref> For

Goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Charline Labonté Charline Labonté (born October 15, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Labonté played professionally for the Montreal Stars/Les Canadiennes de Montreal of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She was a member of the C ...

replaces Manon Rhéaume. The Axion ends in the 1ier Division rank and 3th in the league. Gina Kingsbury score 31 goals and has 29 assist. She finish the season of 30 matches with more than 60 points contributing to the Axion'successes. In the Playoff rounds, Montreal Axion goes to finale game but loses in barrage 5–4 against Toronto Aeros. Also Montreal Axion represents Quebec to the 2005 Esso National Championships. ;2005–06 Axion of Montreal wins the National Women's Hockey League Championship by a victory 1–0 against

in front of 6 000 supporters at

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 ...

. The victorious Goal is scorer by

Lisa-Marie Breton Lisa-Marie Breton (born August 3, 1977) is an assistant coach with Les Canadiennes de Montréal (formerly Montreal Stars). For the 2010–11 Montreal CWHL season, Breton is the team captain. Breton has also competed for the Canada women's natio ...

and the

Shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

goes to

. Axion beforehand finished in the second rank) of its division, behind Ottawa Raiders. It is about the only championship taken gained by Montreal Axion in the history of the

. ;2006–07 Less fortunate, this season, Montreal Axion ends in the Division 5th rank of the regular season but recovers serial eliminating heats: at first by gaining the East Division Championship then by participating in Championship Finale of National Women's Hockey League. Brampton Thunder triumphs 4–0 against Montreal Axion. Bramton Thunder so takes gains the championship. In the grip of grave difficulty financiers, the National Women's Hockey League stops its activities a little time after

Season standings

NWHL Championships

* 1998–99 finalist and lost the final game again Brampton Thunder * 2004–05 finalist and lost the final game again Toronto Aeros * 2005–06 won the championship * 2006–07 finalist and lost the final game again Brampton

2006–07 roster

Notable players

Several former players of Montreal Axion become famous in the new

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 ...

, among others Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux,

Kim St-Pierre Kim St-Pierre (born December 14, 1978 in Châteauguay, Quebec) is a Canadian ice hockey player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time IIHF world champion. She was announced as a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee on June 24, 2020. ...

, Nathalie Déry,

, Dominique Thibault,

Emmanuelle Blais Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the main character in the novel ''Emmanuelle'' (1959), created by Emmanuelle Arsan. Character history Emmanuelle appeared as the pen name of Marayat Rollet-Andrian ...

, Sabrina Harbec, Jesse Scanzano, Kelly Sudia and Jenny Lavigne * Therese Brisson Defender * Charline Labonte Goalie *

Forward * Gina Kingsbury Forward *

(2005–2006) * Jesse Scanzano Forward (2005–06 and 2006–07) * France St-Louis Forward (1998–99 and 1999–2000) *

Goalie (2006–2007)

Coaching staff

* ''General Manager:'' Sylvain Dutil * ''Head Coach:'' Yanick Evola, Julie Healy (for Montreal Wingstar, season 2000–01) * ''Assistant Coach:'' Alain Hénault * ''Assistant Coach:'' Patrick Larivière ReferenceL'équipe de direction
/ref>

References

External links

The official site of Montreal Axion

NWHL website

Meg Hewings, Women got game Not just another pretty face-off
in Hour.ca, 9 December 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Montreal Axion National Women's Hockey League (1999–2007) teams Axion Women's ice hockey teams in Canada Ice hockey clubs established in 1998 1998 establishments in Quebec Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2007 2007 disestablishments in Quebec Women in Montreal