5155 Spectrum Way
Building # 3
Mississauga, Ontario
L4W 5A1
Tel: (905) 282-9980
Fax: (905) 282-9982

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 23, 2006

ANNOUNCING:

OWHA SENIOR “AAA”, INTERMEDIATE “AA”, “A”, “BB”, “B” and “C” PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Ontario Women’s Hockey Association is pleased to announce details of the 2006 OWHA Senior AAA and Intermediate Provincial Championships. Sixty-eight teams (68) have qualified to compete in this prestigious event, which takes place February 24-26 in Brampton, Mississauga and Vaughan. Women from all parts of Ontario will vie for gold in the provincial championship. Over 1,500 participants will take part. The Senior division is “open age” and in the Intermediate division, players are 21 & under as of December 31, 2005.

The winner of the Senior AAA division will move on to represent the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association at the 2006 Esso Women’s National Championship to be held March 8^th to 12^th in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This is a unique season for these teams as many Team Canada and some Team USA players are still in Italy. At this time, they are not expected to be returning to Canada for this provincial championship but, if their team is victorious, those players will likely join their team for the Esso Nationals.

In the Intermediate B Division, we welcome back the Windsor Wildcats. They continue to recover from the bus accident of January 2005 as they move forward in support of each other and in memory of the late Rick and Brian Edwards and Cathy Roach. We are pleased to report that Courtney Cowan will be on the Windsor Wildcat Intermediate B bench this weekend as Assistant Coach. Janna Desmarais is also a staff member with the team. Goaltender Kelly Edwards and her Mom Sheila, the team’s Manager, are back with the team. Jason Mailloux continues to coach the team in his Uncle Rick’s memory. Other returning players are Carly Labadie, Carrie Long, Jessica Newton, Jenna Underwood, Tory Gault and trainer Kelly Cowan. Goalie Erin Roach will be suiting up with the Chatham Outlaws Intermediate AA team. We thank Courtney for her inspirational essay that can be viewed at http://www.owha.on.ca/womenInHockey.asp

NUMBER OF COMPETING TEAMS BY DIVISION AND CATEGORY

TIME AND PLACE

SENIOR AAA SCHEDULE

The Senior AAA gold medalist advances to represent Ontario at the 2006 Esso Women’s National Championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia, March 8 – 12^th. The Brampton Thunder are the defending provincial champions and the Toronto Aeros are 2005 national champions.

Many participants in the Intermediate and Senior Divisions have played for the

FREE ADMISSION TO ALL ARENAS

Participating Teams

SENIOR AAA

Intermediate AA

Intermediate A

Intermediate BB  

Intermediate B

Intermediate C  

On-Ice officials are all members of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association and have been selected from a pool of over 800 officials. They will work under the direction of OWHA Referee-in-Chief, Laurie Taylor Bolton who selected to referee at many national and international events including Nagano in 1998.

The 2005 Senior AAA and Intermediate Provincial Championship Medal Winners:

Scores will be updated during the Championship 

For further information:

OWHA VALUES
Fair Play, Fun, Excellence, Good Citizenship,
Integrity & honesty, Equity.

OWHA MISSION
Through a provincially unified, collective voice, the OWHA promotes, provides and develops opportunities for girls and women to play female hockey in Ontario.