The 2010–11 CWHL season is the fourth in the history of the Canadian Women's Hockey League but was considered a reboot for the league after a major restructuring as an organization. For the season, the league was to run on a budget of $500,000 and players will pay for their own equipment.[1][2]

As part of the restructuring, officially, all five CWHL teams in the 2010–11 season were referred to by the league as their locations without any monikers and were considered "new" teams.[3] However, since most of the locations had teams in the previous seasons, they were still commonly referenced as their monikers. The league returned to the team name usage for the following season.

Offseason

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Prior to the season, the league underwent a structural reorganization. The CWHL considered the restructure a relaunch of the league.[3] Among the changes included the Mississauga Chiefs, Ottawa Senators and Vaughan Flames teams ceasing operations,[4] adding a new team in Toronto, and expanding into the United States with a team in Boston.[5] The relaunch also branded the five teams after their respective locations, simply calling them Boston CWHL, Brampton CWHL, Burlington CWHL, Montreal CWHL, and Toronto CWHL. However, the CWHL teams that were playing in previous markets were commonly referred to as their former names, the Boston team called itself the Boston Blades, and the new Toronto team was sometimes called Toronto HC.[6]

The league held its first player draft on August 12, 2010, although it was only for the three Greater Toronto Area teams as the league decided that since they do not pay a salary, it would be unfair to force players to be based outside their hometown.[7] The event was held at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.[7]

On September 11, the Centre Etienne Desmarteau in Montreal, Quebec, named one of the rinks in the arena in Caroline Ouellette's honour.[8]

On September 17, former New Hampshire goaltender Erin Whitten was named head coach of the Boston expansion franchise.[9]

News and notes

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  • November 20–21: Montreal swept Brampton in a two-game series. The battle between the top two teams in the Canadian Women's Hockey League resulted in Montreal remaining undefeated. The November 20 game involved a pre-game salute. Montreal recognized Angela James, the head coach of Brampton for her historic induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and held a minute of silence for the passing of Pat Burns at the Étienne Desmarteau Arena.[10]
  • December 19: Boston came from behind to defeat Montreal. In doing so, they broke up Montreal's bid for an undefeated season. Boston goalie Mandy Cronin stopped 74 shots to lead Boston to victory. Montreal had an early 2-0 lead. In the second period, Blades' player Sam Faber scored on an assist by Jess Koizumi. In the third period, Koizumi would tie the game. With 3:24 to play in the game, Angela Ruggiero scored the game-winning goal. She was assisted by Sam Faber and Haley Moore.[11]
  • January 16: Gillian Apps scored her seventh goal of the season 2:42 into overtime as Brampton defeated Boston by a 4–3 tally. The win was the fifth in a row for Brampton and 11–6 on the season. The five game win streak was the best in the league. Brampton had yet to lose a game in 2011. In addition, they outscored their opponents 23–9 during the streak.[12]
  • January 18, 2011: Brampton competed against Montreal at the Invista Centre in Kingston, Ontario. This was team captain Jayna Hefford's hometown and her number 15 was raised to the rafters of the Invista Centre on behalf of the Kingston Area Minor Hockey Association. As of 2012, no sweaters bearing Hefford's number will be used in Kingston Minor Hockey.[13]
 
Montreal Stars played to beat breast cancer
  • January 21: Georgetown, Ontario, hosted a game between Brampton and Toronto. The game featured eight former Olympians (from Brampton, Gillian Apps, Jayna Hefford, Lori Depuis, Delaney Collins and Molly Engstrom, and from Toronto, Sami Jo Small, Tessa Bonhomme and Jennifer Botterill). Brampton prevailed by a 5–2 tally.[14]
  • January 29: Montreal raised awareness and funds for the Fondation du cancer du sein du Québec (FCSQ). The game featured the Montreal club in pink at Centre Etienne Desmarteau versus Boston. Montreal prevailed by a 3–0 score (goals scored by: Stephanie Denino, Sarah Vaillancourt and Tawnya Davis[15]). 800 persons came to support the cause.[16]
  • February 12: Brampton topped Boston for tenth straight victory,[17] Montreal and Toronto win one game each.[18]
  • February 19: at the Mastercard Centre, Toronto faced off against Montreal for a special event for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. There were over 500 people in attendance and many fun events for all those involved.[6]
  • February 27: For their last match of the regular season, Montreal ended up on the winning side, defeating Boston 4–1 solidifying their hold on first place in the league.[19]

Team captains

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Team Captain Alternates
Boston None None
Brampton Jayna Hefford Gillian Apps, Delaney Collins, Cherie Piper
Burlington None None
Montreal Lisa-Marie Breton Nathalie Dery, Caroline Ouellette
Toronto Jennifer Botterill Tessa Bonhomme

Board of directors

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  • January 25, 2011: The CWHL announced its board of directors for the upcoming season.[20]
Member Title
Nancy Drolet Past Chairperson
Chris Emanuel Chairperson, Community Director
Sami Jo Small Vice Chairperson, Player Representative
Cassie Campbell Treasurer, Community Director
Lori Digulla Secretary, Community Director
Colleen Coyne Community Director
Shannon Shakespeare Community Director
Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux Player Representative
Ted Dean Community Director
Fran Rider OWHA Delegate
Pat Nicholls OWHA Delegate
Brenda Andress Executive Director

Final standings

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Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points.

CWHL Division
No. Team GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA
1 Montreal 26 22 2 0 2 46 125 70
2 Brampton 26 19 5 1 1 40 111 69
3 Boston 26 10 15 1 0 21 73 101
4 Toronto 26 8 13 0 5 21 83 98
5 Burlington 26 6 18 1 1 14 54 108

[21]

Statistics

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Scoring leaders

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Rank Player, team GP Goals Assists Points PIM
1 Caroline Ouellette, Montreal 26 22 46 68 14
2 Jayna Hefford, Brampton 24 24 22 46 26
3 Jennifer Botterill, Toronto 22 13 25 38 12
4 Noemie Marin, Montreal 17 21 14 35 10
5 Emmanuelle Blais, Montreal 26 11 21 32 30
5 Julie Chu, Montreal 16 5 27 32 0
7 Annie Guay, Montreal 26 13 18 31 16
8 Sam Faber, Boston 21 15 14 29 28
9 Cherie Piper, Brampton 13 13 12 25 6
9 Angela Ruggiero, Boston 20 10 15 25 36
9 Sarah Vaillancourt, Montreal 12 10 15 25 8
9 Britni Smith, Toronto 26 7 18 25 18
13 Gillian Apps, Brampton 23 10 13 23 82
13 Brooke Beazer, Brampton 23 10 13 23 16

[22]

Goaltending leaders

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Rank Player, team GP W L SO GAA
1 Kim St-Pierre, Montreal 11 10 0 3 2.08
2 Laura Hosier, Brampton 19 12 5 3 2.98
3 Sami Jo Small, Toronto 16 5 7 2 3.13
4 Kendra Fisher, Toronto 11 3 6 0 3.63
5 Christina Kessler, Burlington 19 13 1 0 3.69
6 Mandy Cronin, Boston 18 8 9 1 3.84

[23]

Attendance

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As of February 28, 2011
Team Home games Total Average
Brampton 13 3424 263
Toronto 10 2197 219
Boston 16 3471 216
Montreal 14 2500 178
Burlington 10 1141 114

[24]

 
March 11 Playoff: Brampton - Montreal: 2 matches with fast rhythm

Awards and honors

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Source:[22]

CWHL Top Players

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CWHL All-Stars

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First Team All-Stars

Second Team All-Stars

CWHL All-Rookie Team

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CWHL Monthly Top Scorer

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Postseason

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Brampton travelled to Montreal[25] and Toronto went to Boston for the first round of the playoffs. Montreal and Toronto won each of their matches against their opponents to participate in the Clarkson Cup Championship.

Date Score Time Arena Attendance Notes
Friday, March 11 Toronto 4, Boston 2 7:00 PM Burbank Ice Arena 280
Friday, March 11 Montreal 2, Brampton 1 4:30 PM Ed Meagher Arena (Concordia University) 100 Montreal wins in shootout
Saturday, March 12 Toronto 3, Boston 1 4:00 PM Bright Hockey Center (Harvard University) 184 Toronto wins playoff series
Saturday, March 12 Montreal 4, Brampton 3 6:00 PM McConnell Arena
(McGill University)
200 Montreal wins playoff series[26]

Clarkson Cup

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The 2011 Clarkson Cup was held March 24–27, 2011. The four competing teams included three from the Canadian Women's Hockey League and the champion team of the Western Women's Hockey League, the Minnesota Whitecaps.

Date Time Teams Final Attendance
March 24 12:00 noon Toronto vs. Brampton Toronto 3–2 100
March 24 6:00 pm Minnesota vs. Montreal Montreal 5–1 240
March 25 12:00 noon Minnesota vs. Toronto Toronto 6–0 300
March 25 7:00 pm Brampton vs. Montreal Montreal 7–4 1,000
March 26 11:00 am Minnesota vs. Brampton Brampton 7–2 500
March 26 3:00 pm Toronto vs. Montreal Montreal 2–1 1,000
March 27 1:00 pm Championship Montreal 5–0 2,300

Championship game

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March 27: The final game concluded with the Montreal team defeating Toronto 5–0.[27] Montreal got off to a 2–0 lead in the first period with the first goal scored by Noemie Marin on a backhand shot as she converted a pass from Caroline Ouellette and the second goal scored off a face off in the Toronto end when Dominique Thibault took the draw and Vanessa Davidson put a shot behind goaltender Sami Jo Small. The lone goal of the second period was scored by Sabrina Harbec on an outside drive cutting by Annie Guay. Harbec drew the goalie across the crease and put the puck in the top corner. The shots at the end of the second period were 34 to 17 in favour of the Montreal.

Montreal added two more goals in the third period to win 5–0. At 5:33, Julie Chu passed to Caroline Ouellette and made a low shot for a goal. The final goal of the game was scored with 2:42 left as Sarah Vaillancourt picked up a pass from Ouellette and scored from about five feet out. Toronto goalie Sami Jo Small played well in defeat[28] as Montreal controlled the game outshooting Toronto 51 to 26. Toronto did threaten offensively early in the game and could have turned the contest around but Montreal goalie, Kim St-Pierre, came up with exceptional saves[29] to earn the shutout and ultimately crown Montreal Stars as the 2011 Clarkson Cup Champions.

Team Games won Games lost
Montreal 4 0
Toronto 2 2
Brampton 1 2
Minnesota 0 3

Awards and honors

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Award Winner
Top goaltender in the tournament
Player of the Game, Winning team, Clarkson Cup Final Dominique Thibault
Player of the Game, Losing team, Clarkson Cup Final Jennifer Botterill
Tournament Most Valuable Player Sarah Vaillancourt
Top forward in the tournament
Top defender in the tournament

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Women's pro league could help grow hockey". Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  2. ^ "Radio Canada: Avenir plus rose pour le hockey féminin" (in French). February 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Elite Women's Hockey Action Starts". CWHL.ca. October 21, 2010. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010.
  4. ^ "NEWS - The "NEW" Canadian Women's Hockey League" (Press release). Ottawa Senators. June 7, 2010. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  5. ^ "Boston lands CWHL expansion team; roster announced". Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  6. ^ a b "What it's all about..." CWHL.com. February 25, 2011. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011.
  7. ^ a b "Women's Elite Hockey "First Ever" Draft". CWHL.ca. August 12, 2010. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010.
  8. ^ "Rink named in honor of Caroline Ouellette". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  9. ^ "ERIN HAMLEN named coach of BOSTON". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  10. ^ "News - CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  11. ^ "News - CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  12. ^ "CWHL - Canada Women's Hockey: Leagues, Statistics, Awards, Schedules".
  13. ^ "News - CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  14. ^ "News - Montreal - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
  15. ^ "- CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
  16. ^ "Montreal players and fans give from the heart". CWHL.com. February 1, 2011.
  17. ^ "News - CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  18. ^ "CWHL - Canada Women's Hockey: Leagues, Statistics, Awards, Schedules".
  19. ^ "Montreal ends the season on a high". CWHL.com. February 28, 2011.
  20. ^ "CWHL Names All-Star Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
  21. ^ Angela James Bowl Scoring Champions, p. 24, hockeyMedia Richard Scott, Up North Productions, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9918671-0-3
  22. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2013-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ "- CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  24. ^ "- CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  25. ^ "Montreal confronts rivals Brampton". Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
  26. ^ Montreal reigns supreme in women's hockey, "News - CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  27. ^ "- CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  28. ^ "Montreal beats Toronto to win Clarkson Cup". The Globe and Mail. March 27, 2011.
  29. ^ "St-Pierre backstops Montreal to Clarkson Cup title". CBCsport.ca. March 27, 2011.
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External news story

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