York Lions women's ice hockey
The York Lions women's ice hockey team represents York University in Toronto, Ontario in the sport of ice hockey in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports. The York Lions have won three OUA championships in their program history while making one appearance in the U Sports women's ice hockey championship tournament since its inception in 1998. History On February 11, 2000, the Ontario University Athletics women's ice hockey program saw its longest game take place. The University of Toronto's Rhonda Mitchell scored on a 35-foot slap shot. It was the 5:07 mark of the eighth period and the Varsity Blues defeated York University. Although the victory allowed the U of T to advance to the OUA gold medal game, it was the longest in the history of Canadian women's hockey (since broken). The game lasted over five hours and ten minutes. York's player of the game was goaltender Debra Ferguson, as she valiantly made 63 saves over 125 minutes. On February 5, 2011, two Lions players, forward Courtney Unruh and defender Kelsey Webster (and assistant coach Stacey Colarossi) were part of the Team Canada roster that captured gold at the 2011 Winter Universiade title as Canada defeated Finland 4–1 in the gold-medal final. Autumn Mills was the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) nominee for the 2011 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Marion Hillard Award. After seven years of finishing out of the playoffs, the 2019-20 Lions team finished with a record and a third-place finish in the OUA. The Lions swept both the Waterloo Warriors and Nipissing Lakers in the OUA playoffs before losing the McCaw Cup championship to the Toronto Varsity Blues in a sudden death 1–3 loss. Because the Lions were an OUA finalist, the team qualified for the U Sports women's ice hockey championship for the first time in program history in 2020. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the tournament was cancelled on the day that the Lions were scheduled to play against the McGill Martlets in the opening round game. The 2020–21 season was cancelled due to the pandemic and the Lions finished last in their division following their return to play in 2021–22. Recent results International contests Lions in pro hockey Lions selected in the CWHL Draft Lions selected in the NWHL Draft Taylor Davison made U Sports history, becoming the highest drafted player from a U Sports team to be taken in the NWHL Draft. As a side note, Davison's selection was announced by Angela James. Awards and honours Team MVP This is an incomplete list 2009-10: Kelsey Webster 2010-11: Courtney Unruh 2011-12: Lisa Stathopulos 2012-13: Lisa Stathopulos 2013-14: Megan Lee 2014-15: Lisa Stathopulos 2015-16: Megan Lee 2016-17: Erin Locke 2017-18: Erin Locke 2018-19: Erin Locke 2019-20: School honours Autumn Mills, York University female athlete of the week for the period ending Jan. 30, 2011. 2011 York Lions Athletics Bryce M. Taylor Award: Autumn Mills 2012 York Lions Athletics Female Rookie of the Year, Kristen Barbara 2015 Charles Saundercook Memorial Trophy: