The Edmonton WAM! is a ringette team in the

National Ringette League The National Ringette League (NRL), ''(french: Ligue Nationale de Ringuette, LNR)'', is the premier sports league for the sport of ringette in North America and Canada's national league for elite ringette players aged 18+. All of the NRL's eli ...

's (NRL) Western Conference. The team is one of two NRL teams based in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

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 ...

, with the other being the Edmonton Black Gold Rush. Their other provincial rival is the

Calgary RATH The National Ringette League (NRL), ''(french: Ligue Nationale de Ringuette, LNR)'', is the premier sports league for the sport of ringette in North America and Canada's national league for elite ringette players aged 18+. All of the NRL's el ...

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 The Ringette Canada Hall of Fame (RCHoF) was established in 1988 by Ringette Canada, Canada's governing body for ringette, to honor notable individuals and groups associated with the sport. The RCHoF includes six categories: Founder, Builder, Off ...

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 The Cambridge Turbos is a ringette team in Canada's National Ringette League (NRL) competing in the Eastern Conference in the Red division. Founded in 2003, the is team based in Cambridge, Ontario. The Turbos home arena is the Hespeler Memorial ...

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. Defender Jenna Debaji was named to

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

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 Helsink ...

, where the team won silver. After the 2022 season, veteran Emily Lubbers retired from playing and became the head coach of the WAM! She had played with 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 the Alberta junior team in February ahead of the

Canada Winter Games 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 total ...

. The team was a favourite ahead of the 2023 Canadian Championships in Regina. 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. 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 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.

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