Sommer West (born April 24, 1978 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and raised in

Bowmanville Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along Highway 2. Bowmanville was first incorporated as a to ...

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 ...

) was a Canadian Olympic softball player at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. In addition, she was a former member of the Canadian national women's hockey team. She was also an ice hockey player in the

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 ...

(CWHL). West has competed for the

Mississauga Chiefs The Mississauga Chiefs were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in the Canadian National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They played in Mississauga, Ontario at the Hershey Centre and the ...

and

Burlington Barracudas The Burlington Barracudas were a professional women's ice hockey team based in Burlington, Ontario. They were one of the founding teams of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) from its inaugural season in 2007 until 2012. The Barracudas� ...

in the CWHL. Currently, she is the head coach of the

Toronto Furies The Toronto Furies were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto, Ontario, as members of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The Toronto Furies played their home games at the Mastercard Centre in Toronto. The team was esta ...

of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. As head coach of the

, she led the squad to the 2014 Clarkson Cup championship.

Athletic career

West was a prominent softball player. She was an All-Star shortstop at both the 1997 and 1998 Canadian women's Nationals. She helped earn a silver medal for Canada in softball at the Pan Am Games in 1999. In addition, West was a member of Team Canada at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, competing at first base. One of her teammates was Olympic ice hockey player

Hayley Wickenheiser Hayley Wickenheiser (born August 12, 1978) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, resident physician and assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She was the first woman to play full-time professional men’s hockey in a positi ...

. West also played first base on the 2002 National softball team.

Hockey

In ice hockey, West was a member of the U18 Canadian national champions, and a member of the Canadian Under 22 National Team in 1999. West also participated with the Senior National women's team in two Four Nations Cup tournaments (1998 and 1999, respectively). She also played for Canada in a series vs. Sweden in January 2001 and the TSN Challenge vs. USA in January 2001. Five years later, West attended the Canadian National Women's Team Fall Festival in

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (french: Portage-aux-Rats), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The hi ...

, Ontario. At the age of eighteen, West competed in the

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 h ...

. She was part of four NWHL championships four consecutive years. In 2005-06, she led the league in points and was voted NWHL Offensive Player of the Year. With the

of the NWHL, West also served as team captain during 2007-08. Her teammates on the Chiefs have included Olympic gold medallists

Jennifer Botterill Jennifer Botterill, (born May 1, 1979) is a Canadian former women's hockey player and current hockey broadcast television analyst who played for Harvard University, the Canadian national team, the Mississauga Chiefs, and the Toronto Aeros. She ...

and

Sami Jo Small Sami Jo Small (born March 25, 1976) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the Canadian national team, she was a three-time Olympic medallist and four-time World Championship medallist. One of the founders of the now defu ...

. As a member of the Mississauga Chiefs, she competed in the Esso Women's Nationals in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

CWHL

In the

2011 CWHL Draft The 2011 CWHL Draft was held on July 21, 2011 in Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipalit ...

, she was selected by the

. West retired after the 2011-12 CWHL season, leaving the five-year-old league as the CWHL's fifth-best scorer with 149 points (125 games played from 2007-08 to 2011-12). She scored a goal in her final CWHL game. Currently, she is the head coach of the

Career stats

Hockey Canada

Esso Women’s Nationals

Awards and honours

* Clarington Sports Hall of Fame inductee (2008) *

NWHL NWHL may refer to: * National Women's Hockey League, the original name of the Premier Hockey Federation, a professional women's hockey league established in 2015 *National Women's Hockey League (1999–2007), a defunct professional women's hockey l ...

Most Valuable Player, 2005 * 2014 CWHL Coach of the Year

Personal

Her father is Steve West, who played professional hockey in the 1970s for the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

and the Houston Aeros of the WHA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Sommer 1978 births American expatriates in Canada Canadian softball players Canadian women's ice hockey forwards Clarkson Cup champions Ice hockey people from Texas Living people Olympic softball players for Canada Softball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Houston Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Clarington American women's ice hockey forwards