User:Kelsey lions18/sandbox

= York Lions Women's Ice Hockey  = The York Lion’s women’s ice hockey team is one of 13 teams that competes in the Ontario University Athletics conference (OUA) as well as 1 of 33 teams that are members of the U SPORTS division based out of Canada. As of last year, the U SPORTS division was known as the CIS division, founded in 1961. The York Lions are a Canadian hockey team based out of Toronto Ontario. The Lions are owned by the York and are represented by athletic director Jennifer Myers. The Lions women’s hockey team plays out of the Canlan Ice Sports Arena. The Lions have recently completed the 2017/2018 Year.

The Lions
York University's athletic department entered the Ontario University Athletics Conference and from there, York’s hockey program began in 1968. The York Lions were originally named the ‘Yeomen’ (for the men) and the ‘Yeowomen’ (for the women). After studies were taken by the university, they made an executive decision to rename the sports teams (both men and women) to the 'York Lions’. The York Lions women's ice hockey team have competed in two playoff runs but have not made it to a National Championship.

Women's Ice Hockey in Canada
Hockey evolved into a sport known and played around the world by both Men and Women for many years. Hockey was played by men since 1877. On December 15th, 1915; 38 years later the Eastern Ladies hockey league broke the barrier and played their first ever hockey game. Today, top women’s players such as Marie-Philip Poulin and Natalie Spooner are playing for the women's Olympic team that represents Canada and are professional athletes to the game of hockey. The CWHL (Canadians Women’s Hockey League) was founded in 2007. The league now has seven women’s hockey team’s that compete for the Clarkson Cup. This year’s Clarkson Cup went to the Markham Thunder. Kristen Barbara, alumni for York Lions women’s ice hockey is a current defenseman on the Markham Thunder. Barbara played 28 games in the 2017/18 season with the Thunder capping off the year with 4 goals and 8 assists.

Season's and Coaches'
Since 2004, Dan Church has been head coach of the Lions. During his seasons with the Lions he has been assisted by coaches Steve Dempsey, Stephanie Lockert, Teresa Hutchinson and goalie coach Rob Heholt. Church has a long history with not only the York Lions but with women’s hockey around the country. Dan Church was named the president of U SPORTS women’s hockey coaches association in 2007 and continues to hold the title to this day. He joined the Lions women’s ice hockey team in 2004 and has been head coach for 14 seasons. Church will be working towards his 15th season with the Lions next year. In 2009 Head coach Dan Church led the Lions to place 7th in the Nation and in 2012 the team advanced to the OUA semifinals. Church played an active role with Hockey Canada’s women’s program, in 2009 he coached the Canadian women's hockey team team at the 24th FISU Winter Universiade in Harbin, China. In 2010 he was head coach for the U18 Canadian Women’s National Hockey Team winning his first gold medal at the World Championships. Dan Church served as head coach for the 2012 and 2013 senior National women’s teams earning a gold medal and a silver medal. Steve Dempsey has been the assistant coach for the Lions women’s ice hockey team for the last nine years. Stephanie Lockert, an alumna goaltender for the University of Toronto Blues has been an assistant coach for 6 years. Teresa Hutchinson has been coaching provincial hockey teams since 1992, she started to assist the Lions in 2017. Rob Heholt, alumni for the Lions football team, became the goalie coach for the Lions women’s team in 2009.

Current 2017/2018 Players
Erin Locke led the Lions this season with 5 goals and 7 assists. Following behind was Taylor Davison with 4 goals and 7 assists and Kelsey McHolm 7 goals and 3 assists. The Lions Captain for the 2017/2018 season was fourth year defensemen Jenna Gray who finished the season with 3 goals and 2 assist. The Lions Women’s ice hockey team has currently wrapped up their 2017/2018 season playing 24 regular season games in the OUA. They finished this season with 8 wins and 16 loses. The Lions graduate sisters, defensemen Caitlin Lee and forward Erran Lee. The twins spent the last four years at York University, they both now will be graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology degree and will attend Law school in the fall. Head coach Dan Church has recruited five new players to suit up for the Lions in the 2018/19 season.

OUA 2017/18
The Ontario University Athletics Conference was won this season by the Western Mustangs. The Mustangs moved on to compete in the 2017/18 National Championship. They fell short to the Manitoba Bisons and received silver in all of U SPORTS.

Awards and Alumni
The OUA gives out awards such as player of the year, rookie of the year, coach of the year, top scorer as well as first team, second team and all-rookie team all-stars. The U SPORTS (formally known as the CIS) gives out the same awards every year. Each season these are awarded to the top players in the Ontario conference or in all of U SPORTS. In 2004-05 season York’s Melanie Quinn received first-team All-star as the goaltender. In 2005-06 Melanie Quinn won first-team all-star as well as first team CIS All-Canadian and teammate Mandy Cole received second-team all-star. In 2008-09 Mandy Cole received second-team all-star and in In 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 Kelsey Webster received first-team all-star and CIS second team All- Canadian. In 2011-12 and 2013-14 Kristen Barbara received second-team all-star as well as a spot on the all-rookie team in the 2011-12 season. Kristen Barbara had another successful season with the Lions receiving first-team all-star in the 2014-15 season alongside her was teammate Lisa Stathopulos who received first-team all-star, first-team CIS All-Canadian and the CIS women’s ice hockey ‘Player of the Year’ and ‘Top Scorer’. In the 2016-17 season defensemen Taylor Davison received a spot on the all-rookie team. Melanie Roach is a known alumna of the York University Women’s Ice hockey program. Roach played for York from 1998-2003, completing five memorable seasons with the Lions while setting the record of 108 points in 98 regular season games with York. She received a silver medal in the OUA conference in 1999 and in the same year received OUA rookie of the year. Melanie Roach made the OUA all-star teams for five years’ straight. Melanie was chosen in 2002 as York University’s female athlete of the year.

Community Service
The Lions have participated with an off campus foundation called ‘HEROS Hockey’. This foundation was created to get at risk youths skating on the ice. This foundation originated from Vancouver, British Columbia in the year 2000. The Lions have been lending a helping hand with HEROS for the past two years with hopes of getting more kids involved with the game of hockey.