The National Women's Under-18 Championship is a

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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 h ...

tournament held by Hockey Canada for provincial and regional teams organized by its member branches. It is one of two national championships for female

minor hockey Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from c ...

in Canada, the other being the

Esso Cup The Esso Cup is the Canadian national women's under-18 ice hockey club championship, sponsored by Esso. It is an annual event, sanctioned by Hockey Canada, that takes place each April. The current champions are the Durham West Lightning, who w ...

, which is a competition for midget 'AAA' clubs.

History

During its early years, the tournament was known as the ''Women's Under-18 Hockey Challenge'' and was not an annual event. The inaugural tournament was held in February 2001 in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

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 ...

. It was a six team tournament that featured regional teams: West (

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Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

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, Pacific (

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Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

), and split squads from Ontario (Red and Blue). The second Under-18 Challenge took place in January 2005 at

Salmon Arm Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 17,706 (2016). Salmon Arm was incorporated as a municipal district on May 15, 1905. The ...

. This time the four western provinces entered separate teams, but the Atlantic provinces remained together. In 2005, Hockey Canada restructured the Under-18 Challenge, moving to November and renaming it the ''National Women's Under-18 Championship''. The first was held in November 2005, the same calendar year as the previous tournament. Both 2005 championships were won by the Ontario Red team. The tournament is now held each year in November, but is skipped every fourth season when the women's hockey competition at the

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takes its place. Ontario teams have won every gold medal at this event. Notable alumni of this tournament are Canadian national team veterans

Meghan Agosta Meghan Christina Agosta (born February 12, 1987) is a Canadian women's ice hockey forward, who last played for the Montreal Stars of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. Agosta plays for the Canada women's national ice hockey team and is a gol ...

Gillian Apps Gillian Mary Apps (born November 2, 1983) is a women's ice hockey player. Apps was a member of the Canadian National Hockey Team that won back to back Gold Medals in three consecutive Olympic Games. As a psychology major at Dartmouth College in ...

, and

Sarah Vaillancourt Sarah Marie Vaillancourt (born May 8, 1985) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player. She is a member of the Canada women's national team and a member of Montreal Stars (CWHL). 2-time Olympic Gold Medallist / World Championships Gold / 4-time Wo ...

Results

Notes
''1. The 2004-05 and 2005-06 tournaments were held in the same calendar year as a result of Hockey Canada rescheduling the event from February to November.''

Most Valuable Player

External links

National Women's U-18 Championship Website

Hockey Canada National Women's U-18 Championship Guide and Record Book

References

{{Hockey Canada Hockey Canada Ice hockey tournaments in Canada Women's ice hockey competitions in Canada Youth ice hockey in Canada

History

Results

Most Valuable Player

See also

External links

References