Four teams from across Canada play for University gold
Field Hockey Canada is thrilled to host the 2024 University Championship in collaboration with York University and U SPORTS. The action begins Thursday, October 31 at the wonderful sport facilities at York University.
Officially dubbed the 2024 Field Hockey Canada U SPORTS Invitational Championship, the final-four event will take place October 31 – November 3, 2024. This will be the culmination of the university regular season and determine the champion of university hockey in Canada.
Competing in this year’s tournament are four teams:
- York University Lions
- University of Waterloo Warriors
- University of Victoria Vikes
- University of Prince Edward Island Panthers
The event will see a one-pool round-robin format determine medal-match positions, with each of the four teams playing each other once. The top two finishers will play for the gold medal, while the bottom two will play for bronze.
York University (Host School)
York University is a long-standing hockey powerhouse, with National Team alumni littering the archives. York finished third in the OUA Finals dropping their semifinal match vs Guelph in a shootout and winning the bronze against Toronto. They have wins against Waterloo, U of T and Guelph this season, demonstrating their high potential. They most recently made the U SPORTS finals in 2022, playing against the UVIC Vikes. The York Lions are led by head coach Zeeshan Minhas, a 12-year coach of the program. With many provincial and youth national athletes up and down this young roster, look for York to pop on home soil.
University of PEI Panthers (AUFHL Champion)
The Atlantic is so back! Because of the shift to the four-team tournament event, UPEI snagged the spot from the Atlantic provinces and is now representing for the first time in well over a decade. UPEI won the Atlantic University Field Hockey League Championship in dramatic fashion, defeating Dalhousie in a shootout finish, completing a three-peat of AUFHL titles. The team is coached by Panther alumni Lacey MacLauchlan. Over the past several years, PEI has sent junior provincial teams to U18 Nationals in the summertime. The university is benefiting from that additional experience and has a team that feels competitive with the top schools in the country.
University of Waterloo Warriors (OUA Champion)
Waterloo is peaking at the right time. They went 7-5 during the OUA regular season only to put up two fabulous performances in the OUA Championship, defeating the powerhouse Toronto and Guelph en route to their first OUA title in 21 years. The pesky Warriors were underdogs in both matches, but that didn’t bother them. Backstopped by Marielle Fernback, they didn’t allow a goal during the semis or finals. The team, led by coaches Maria Leahy, Steph Snyder and Alana Raymond, is balanced, poised and ready to compete at the top level.
University of Victoria Vikes (CW Champion)
The best of the west. The UVic Vikes are truly dynastic. They have won six consecutive Canada West titles and are looking to win another University Championship this weekend in Toronto. The team hasn’t missed a beat since Hall of Famer coach, Lynne Beecroft retired. Long-time assistant, now head coach Krista Thompson has the team cooking at the right time as they defeated arch-rivals UBC in the Canada West Finals 3-0. The Vikes are the favourites of the tournament, but anything can happen.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE TOURNAMENT
Click on our tournament event page to follow results and see game scores as well as tournament photo galleries. Live stream the matches on the Field Hockey Canada Youtube Channel as well as the CBC Youtube Channel. Links will be made live on Thursday.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
| DATE | TIME | ROUND | TEAM | TEAM | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday October 31 | 2:00pm EDT | Round Robin | UVIC | Waterloo | |
| Thursday October 31 | 4:30pm EDT | Round Robin | PEI | York | |
| Friday November 1 | 2:00pm EDT | Round Robin | UVIC | PEI | |
| Friday November 1 | 4:30pm EDT | Round Robin | Waterloo | York | |
| Saturday November 2 | 12:30pm EDT | Round Robin | UVIC | York | |
| Saturday November 2 | 3:00pm EDT | Round Robin | Waterloo | PEI | |
| Sunday November 3 | 10:30am EST* | Bronze Medal Match | Pool Finisher 3 | Pool Finisher 4 | |
| Sunday November 3 | 1:00pm EST* | Gold Medal Match | Pool Finisher 1 | Pool Finisher 2 |
MORE INFORMATION
This is an exciting new dawn for the women’s field hockey pathway in Canada. Since the inception of university field hockey, universities have played a key role in hockey development. University athletes go on to be the sport builders, athletes, officials and supporters of the sport throughout their life.
In this move, Field Hockey Canada has embraced the opportunity for a partnership with U SPORTS and participating universities with the vision to build the national championship into a strong asset for our sport and strong value proposition for athletes graduating high school.
Field Hockey Canada has developed an initial three-year hosting plan to ensure clarity in the planning and stability. Meanwhile, the committee’s work continues with the long-term growth and evolution of the championship the next focus.
