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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 league expanded into Alberta (2011) and internationally in the United States (2010) and China (2017) throughout its tenure. The league discontinued operations on May 1, 2019, after 12 seasons.
For most of its existence, the CWHL was registered as an amateur association but was considered the top women's hockey league in North America. The National Women's Hockey League, later re-branded the Premier Hockey Federation, launched in the US in 2015 and was the first women's league to pay salaries. The CWHL began paying players a stipend during its last two seasons before it folded, citing financial difficulties. The collapse of the league resulted in the establishment of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to the professionalization of women's hockey.
The CWHL was an initiative spearheaded by players including Jennifer Botterill, Lisa-Marie Breton, Allyson Fox, Kathleen Kauth, Kim McCullough, and Sami Jo Small, all of whom played in the original National Women's Hockey League, which disbanded in 2007. The players worked with a group of volunteer business people to form the CWHL. The league, which would operate as a non-profit business, would be responsible for all travel, ice rentals, uniforms, and some equipment costs, but would not pay salaries. Unlike the NWHL, in which teams were independently owned and operated, the CWHL was to be centrally run, and teams formed affiliations with local youth hockey associations. In addition to top Canadian players, the league ultimately attracted American and international players.
In 2007, Hockey Canada announced that it would revamp the Esso Women's Nationals, with the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) finalists meeting the CWHL finalists in a playoff. Beginning in 2009, teams from the two leagues competed for the Clarkson Cup at the end of the season.
The Brampton Thunder won the first CWHL championship in 2008, winning 4–3 over the Mississauga Chiefs in the final. In 2008–09, the Montreal Stars won 25 of 30 games and the CWHL championship, before going on to win the first Clarkson Cup over the Minnesota Whitecaps. The Stars would take a third straight regular season championship the following season. The CWHL did not have an individual playoff champion in 2010 but instead had a Clarkson Cup qualifying playoff. The Stars and Chiefs qualified for the Cup tournament from their regular season records and the Thunder qualified through the playoff. The Thunder then played into the Clarkson Cup final but lost to the Whitecaps.
Prior to the 2010–11 season, the league underwent a structural reorganization, which it considered a relaunch. Changes included the Chiefs, Ottawa Senators, and Vaughan Flames ceasing operations; the addition of a new Toronto team; and expansion into the United States with a team in Boston. This left the league with five teams: Montreal, Brampton, and the Burlington Barracudas, along with the Boston Blades and the Toronto Furies (who were referred to simply as Toronto CWHL during their inaugural season). The league also held its first draft in 2010, although it was limited the three Greater Toronto Area teams as the league decided that without paying salaries, it was infeasible to force players to relocate.
The league announced on April 19, 2011, that it would expand to Alberta ahead of the 2011–12 season, welcoming a single team combining the former Edmonton Chimos and Strathmore Rockies of the WWHL. The move effectively marked the end of the WWHL, and controversially left its remaining teams—the Whitecaps and the Manitoba Maple Leafs—as independent teams without a league to play in. The new CWHL team was initially called Team Alberta; it adopted the unofficial Alberta Honeybadgers moniker for its second season, before settling on becoming the Calgary Inferno in 2013. These developments also led to the Clarkson Cup becoming the playoff championship trophy solely for the CWHL.
Changes continued in 2012 with Burlington folding and the league creating a new draft system whereby players in Boston, Alberta, and Montreal could choose which team they would play on, while players in the GTA could be drafted to play for either of the two GTA teams—Brampton or Toronto. A player's pre-draft declaration of the regional area in which they wished to play could be altered after the draft. As a result of these rules, players wishing to leave GTA teams to play in Boston, Alberta, or Montreal could do so as desired, without compensation to the GTA team that they left. Players who wished to leave one GTA team to go to the other GTA team could only be moved upon a trade between the teams.
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Canadian Women's Hockey League AI simulator
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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 league expanded into Alberta (2011) and internationally in the United States (2010) and China (2017) throughout its tenure. The league discontinued operations on May 1, 2019, after 12 seasons.
For most of its existence, the CWHL was registered as an amateur association but was considered the top women's hockey league in North America. The National Women's Hockey League, later re-branded the Premier Hockey Federation, launched in the US in 2015 and was the first women's league to pay salaries. The CWHL began paying players a stipend during its last two seasons before it folded, citing financial difficulties. The collapse of the league resulted in the establishment of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to the professionalization of women's hockey.
The CWHL was an initiative spearheaded by players including Jennifer Botterill, Lisa-Marie Breton, Allyson Fox, Kathleen Kauth, Kim McCullough, and Sami Jo Small, all of whom played in the original National Women's Hockey League, which disbanded in 2007. The players worked with a group of volunteer business people to form the CWHL. The league, which would operate as a non-profit business, would be responsible for all travel, ice rentals, uniforms, and some equipment costs, but would not pay salaries. Unlike the NWHL, in which teams were independently owned and operated, the CWHL was to be centrally run, and teams formed affiliations with local youth hockey associations. In addition to top Canadian players, the league ultimately attracted American and international players.
In 2007, Hockey Canada announced that it would revamp the Esso Women's Nationals, with the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) finalists meeting the CWHL finalists in a playoff. Beginning in 2009, teams from the two leagues competed for the Clarkson Cup at the end of the season.
The Brampton Thunder won the first CWHL championship in 2008, winning 4–3 over the Mississauga Chiefs in the final. In 2008–09, the Montreal Stars won 25 of 30 games and the CWHL championship, before going on to win the first Clarkson Cup over the Minnesota Whitecaps. The Stars would take a third straight regular season championship the following season. The CWHL did not have an individual playoff champion in 2010 but instead had a Clarkson Cup qualifying playoff. The Stars and Chiefs qualified for the Cup tournament from their regular season records and the Thunder qualified through the playoff. The Thunder then played into the Clarkson Cup final but lost to the Whitecaps.
Prior to the 2010–11 season, the league underwent a structural reorganization, which it considered a relaunch. Changes included the Chiefs, Ottawa Senators, and Vaughan Flames ceasing operations; the addition of a new Toronto team; and expansion into the United States with a team in Boston. This left the league with five teams: Montreal, Brampton, and the Burlington Barracudas, along with the Boston Blades and the Toronto Furies (who were referred to simply as Toronto CWHL during their inaugural season). The league also held its first draft in 2010, although it was limited the three Greater Toronto Area teams as the league decided that without paying salaries, it was infeasible to force players to relocate.
The league announced on April 19, 2011, that it would expand to Alberta ahead of the 2011–12 season, welcoming a single team combining the former Edmonton Chimos and Strathmore Rockies of the WWHL. The move effectively marked the end of the WWHL, and controversially left its remaining teams—the Whitecaps and the Manitoba Maple Leafs—as independent teams without a league to play in. The new CWHL team was initially called Team Alberta; it adopted the unofficial Alberta Honeybadgers moniker for its second season, before settling on becoming the Calgary Inferno in 2013. These developments also led to the Clarkson Cup becoming the playoff championship trophy solely for the CWHL.
Changes continued in 2012 with Burlington folding and the league creating a new draft system whereby players in Boston, Alberta, and Montreal could choose which team they would play on, while players in the GTA could be drafted to play for either of the two GTA teams—Brampton or Toronto. A player's pre-draft declaration of the regional area in which they wished to play could be altered after the draft. As a result of these rules, players wishing to leave GTA teams to play in Boston, Alberta, or Montreal could do so as desired, without compensation to the GTA team that they left. Players who wished to leave one GTA team to go to the other GTA team could only be moved upon a trade between the teams.