The UPEI Panthers are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent the

University of Prince Edward Island The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is a public university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the only university in the province. Founded in 1969, the enabling legislation is the ''University Act, R.S.P.E.I 2000.'' H ...

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlott ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, Canada. The UPEI Panthers have teams playing in the

Atlantic University Sport Atlantic University Sport (AUS; ) is a regional membership association for universities in Atlantic Canada which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, re ...

(AUS) conference of the U Sports, including men's and women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

as well as women's

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

. The women's

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

team competes in an Atlantic league where the winner is then allowed to compete in the

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. UPEI also offers a club-level men's

team.

Varsity sports

Men's Basketball

The Panthers have the fifth-most Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference Championships (five) their most recent being the 2024-25 season. The AUS conference is a competitive Canadian league that has produced Canadian national champions, a Canadian Olympics player, several NBA draftees, and one NBA player.

Notable players

* Jim Fitzgerald - on the Saint Dunstan's University teams of 1967-68 and 1968–69 and then played on the first UPEI teams for two years. Graduated from Springfield, Massachusetts Cathedral High School and one post-high school year at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia, USA. The 6'5" center averaged 32.5 points per game his first year and above 25 points per year over the next three years. He was UPEI Male Athlete of the Year in 1971. * David "Hermie" MacNeill - on the Saint Dunstan's University basketball team in 1967–68. Following his first year, MacNeill joined the university's athletic staff as an athletic trainer. Through 2013 MacNeill spent every year involved in different positions in Prince Edward Island athletics and spent 12 years coaching the UPEI Women's Varsity Basketball Team. MacNeill earned many distinctions and honors as the UPEI Women's Coach with the highest distinction in taking the women's team to the U Sports championship game in 1989, winning the Silver Medal after losing to the undefeated University of Calgary team. He was five-time Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Coach of the Year.

Women's Basketball

The women's team have the fourth-most Atlantic Conference Championships (six), with their most recent for the 2019–20 season. The 2019–20 team also won the bronze medal at the

2020 U Sports Women's Basketball Championship The 2020 U Sports Women's Basketball Championship was held March 5–8, 2020, in Ottawa, Ontario, to determine a national champion for the 2019–20 U Sports women's basketball season. The Saskatchewan Huskies defeated the Brock Badgers to win ...

. Jenna Mae Ellsworth would win the 2020 Nan Copp Award, recognizing U Sports Player of the Year. During the same month, Ellsworth was also named to the list of the Top 100 U Sports Women’s Basketball Players of the Century (2011–2020).

Field Hockey

Halfback Kathie McNally was featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd segment in the issue dated November 7, 1994. Following her final season with the program, McNally captured the James Bayer Award for her athleticism, leadership and sportsmanship. Earning a pair of second-team CIAU All-Canadian All-Star awards (1992–93 and 1993–94), she was inducted into the PEI Panthers Hall of Fame in 2006. In 1997-98, Tracy McGee captured the Gail Wilson Award, given to the U Sports Field Hockey Player of the Year. Moore would also win the 1998 Sport P.E.I. top senior female athlete award.

Men's ice hockey

The Panthers are tied with the

Mount Allison Mounties The Mount Allison Mounties are the varsity athletic teams that represent Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. The Mounties sports teams play their matches at Alumni Field which seats 2,500. Athletics and recreations Th ...

for the sixth-most Atlantic Conference Championships (six), their last being the 1990–91 season. The Panthers have never won the

University Cup with only one appearance in the final in 1965 as their previous incarnation; the St. Dunstan's Saints. UPEI was the host venue for the championship once in 1970.

Joel Ward Joel Ward may refer to: * Joel Ward (footballer) (born 1989), English footballer * Joel Ward (ice hockey) Joel Randal Ward (born December 2, 1980) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player who played in the National Hockey ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

played four seasons with the UPEI Panthers men's ice hockey team.

Women's ice hockey

The UPEI Panthers women's ice hockey team won their first Atlantic University Sports Conference Championship in the 2011-12 season. The program would also serve as the host team in consecutive years for the 2019 U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Championship and 2022 U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Championship (The school was originally awarded the 2020 tournament, but it was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...

). Keirsten Visser would play for Canada in women's ice hockey at the

2015 Winter Universiade The 2015 Winter Universiade, the XXVII Winter Universiade, was a multi-sport winter event with the host ducties were shared by Granada, Spain and Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia. On 14 March 2009, FISU announced that the host would be Granada because t ...

, capturing a silver medal. Goaltender Marie-Soleil Deschenes would win the 2016-17 UPEI Female Athlete of the Year Award. Another goaltender, Camille Scherger, would earn a place on the 2019-20 USports All-Canadian Second Team, The 2020 U Sports women’s hockey championship, hosted by UPEI, was named the SCORE! Event of the Year by PEI Amateur Sport.

Women's Rugby

Since rugby became a fully sanctioned Atlantic University Sport in 2002, the Panthers have finished runner up three times (2004, 2005 and 2006) to the ever-dominant St. Francis Xavier X-Women.

Men's Soccer

The men's team has the sixth-most Atlantic Conference Championships (five), their last title being in 2002. The men have never reached the

U Sports Men's Soccer Championship The U Sports Men's Soccer Championship is a Canadian university soccer tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the men's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The S ...

final. UPEI was the host venue for the championship in 2005 and 2014. UPEI Men's Soccer made history in 2014 as the first Panther soccer team to win a medal at the U Sports Men's Soccer Championship. The Panthers won bronze at home defeating the Canada West Champions, University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the quarter-finals, before defeating the Quebec Champions, UQAM Citadens, in the Bronze medal game.

Women's Soccer

In all five of her seasons (2001–02 to 2005–06), Amy Connolly was named to the AUS All-Star Team. As a rookie, she was named Team MVP and would captain the team to its first ever appearance at the CIS Nationals, as the women's team won the Atlantic Conference Championship in 2004. The following year, Connolly was recognized as the CIS Women's Soccer Player of the Year, complemented by the UPEI Female Athlete of the Year Award. UPEI was the host venue for the 2010

U Sports women's soccer championship The U Sports Women's Soccer Championship is a Canadian university soccer tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. ...

. During that year, Tessa Roche would capture her second consecutive AUS Most Valuable Player Award. In 2017, Alanna Taylor was the first female soccer player inducted into the PEI Panthers Hall of Fame. The following year (2018), Connolly also gained induction.

Awards and honours

*2019–20

Female Athlete of the Year: Jenna Mae Ellsworth - UPEI Basketball

Athletes of the Year

Notes

:Two of the Panthers' six conference championships were won by their previous incarnation; the St. Dunstan's Saints.

References

External links

*
Panther Television
{{U Sports soccer U Sports teams Sport in Charlottetown University of Prince Edward Island