About the CWHL

The Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) is a not-for-profit organization run by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Amateur Women’s Hockey (C.A.A.A.W.H.). The league depends upon valuable support from private donations and corporate sponsors. The CWHL is a centrally funded league meaning that all participating teams in the CWHL receive equal access to funding and are given the same opportunities to succeed. Every dollar goes towards building a league that is dedicated to raising the profile of women’s hockey while providing a place where the best female hockey players in Canada can come to train and compete.

The CAAAWH and the CWHL are governed by a board of directors. Six members of the board of directors come from the community at large and put in place to help steer the CWHL through financial and business matters. Each team then can elect a player representative and a team representative to represent their interests on the board.

The Board of Directors meet once every two months with an Annual General Meeting which occurs at the end of every season. Besides the Board of Directors, there are also five CWHL committees that discuss matters pertinent to the CWHL.

These committees include:

Finances Committee
Sponsorship Committee
Marketing Committee
Clarkson Cup Committee
Hockey Operations Committee

The committees within the CWHL are comprised of players, team reps as well as advisors from the community.

If you are interested or know of someone who is interested in becoming part of the Board of Directors of the CWHL or joining a committee please contact the executive director at: cwhled@owha.on.ca

The Canadian Women's Hockey League is the most premier, professionally run women's hockey league in the world. This league, gives Canada's elite level players a competitive environment to showcase their on ice skills.

These players are the future of our sport. We salute their dedication and sportsmanship.

History of the CWHL

How the League Was Formed
The CWHL was founded in May 2007 out of the ashes of the former National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). The NWHL had just recently folded and the NWHL’s elite female hockey players were left with no place play. The board of governors of the NWHL had decided to take a step back from the bargaining table and take a year off to figure out how to make the game of women’s hockey more profitable. Olympians and World Champions were suddenly left without a league to hone their skills. Given the circumstance, players from various different teams banded together to try to come up with a solution to finding a place to play.
A letter was sent to all players and interested parties on May 30, 2007 by Sami Jo Small

“All players having played or planning to play in the NWHL structure are invited to attend tonight’s meeting. Each team should nominate two players to speak on behalf of their team, however, the more players there the better. There will be some small group sessions will everyone will get to express their opinion. It is our chance as players to figure out what direction we want to go and ultimately how we are going to help each other get on the ice this season.

Where we stand right now...

There seems to be a lot of good happening behind the scenes to ensure that when this league does get up and running again, it will be stronger and more financially viable than previously. Certain groups, lead by Cassie Campbell and others not wished to be mentioned at this time are working feverously trying to get the league up and running this season with all its bells and whistles. Certain things they are working towards are, marketing the league as a whole, sponsorships for teams, setting up a framework for the hockey operations and finding corporate support. Now all this sounds great and I feel very positive it will all be put in place, however, I’m not sure Cassie and her group can work miracles and, therefore we as players to operate for this season as if there is no NWHL. They have a end of June date in order to get things up and running for this year, however, if that date comes and goes they will still continue to work towards next year’s season. We need to be prepared to ice as many teams as possible for this coming season without their support, however, if in the end they do manage to come on board then each team will already be in healthy financial shape and will have brought more people and sponsors into the women’s hockey mold.”

From those initial meetings a group of players ultimately took the lead. This group included Ally Fox, Kathleen Kauth, Jayna Hefford and Mandy Cronin of the Brampton Thunder, Sami Jo Small and Jennifer Botterill of the Mississauga Aeros, Joanne Eustace of the Etobicoke Dolphins, Kim McCullough of the Oakville Ice and Lisa Marie Breton of the Montreal Stars. Players met several times throughout the summer and tried to figure out how to ensure 7 strong teams; however, the bigger question was how to fund each team without owners and without many of the staff that previously helped with the individual teams?

Our answer came in the form of a street hockey game. Mandy Cronin, a goaltender with the Brampton Thunder and the American National Team program, had been asked to play in a charity ball hockey tournament with a group from Birch Hill Equity. She proved to be the ringer and helped Birch Hill to championship, however, more importantly she explained the plight of elite women’s hockey in North America and so inspired the gentlemen that they agreed to help.

That chance meeting proved to be instrumental in the development of the CWHL as Michael Salamon and Birch Hill equity not only provided a financial backing but provided us with the groundwork for a solid business model to ensure our sustainability. The CWHL started meeting at Birch Hill Equity once a week and established our first Board of Directors. Michael Salamon encouraged many of his friends to jump on board and to help out and thanks to great help from the OWHA gradually the CWHL was able to hammer out a constitution become a legitimate business entity.

The CWHL was up and running for the start of the 2007-2008 hockey season and fortunately North America’s elite female players the league formed just in time.