Hall of Fame
2000-01 Women’s Hockey
OUA and CIAU champions
The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team cruised through the 2000-01 regular season to a perfect 22-0-0 record, outscoring their opponents 114-14 in the process. U of T earned the OUA banner in convincing fashion, bettering cross town rivals York Lions 4-1 in semi-final action before handily defeating the Laurier Golden Hawks 5-0 in the gold-medal game.
Toronto lived up to their No. 1 seeding at the 2001 CIS (then CIAU) championship in Calgary. The Blues opened the tournament with a dominant 12-1 victory over the host Calgary Dinos and went on to defeat the McGill Martlets 4-1 in the semi-final.
The Blues then gutted out a close 4-3 victory over the Regina Cougars to claim the University of Toronto’s first national championship in women’s hockey.
The win marked the end of a dream season in which the Varsity Blues beat every other top ranked team in the nation, including Regina, Concordia, Alberta, McGill and Saskatchewan. U of T ended the year with a perfect 35-0-0 overall record.
Team captain and all-Canadian Jen Rawson was named the 2001 CIS championship most valuable player, while head coach Karen Hughes earned both provincial and national coach of the year honours. Alison Houston was the top goaltender in the country that season, with a 0.400 GAA and nine shutouts in 15 regular season games played.
Team members (in alphabetical order): Vanessa Anderson, Amy Caldwell, Jacqueline Cherevaty (Asst.), Stephanie Drake, Erin Fraser, Alison Houston, Bree Kruklis, Susie Laska, Kim Malcher (Asst.), Urszula May, Nancy NcLean, Jenny McRae, Krissy Mitchell, Safiya Muharuma, Carla Pagniello, Donna Paul, Jen Rawson (Captain), Jillian Savin, Stephanie Summerhill (Asst.)
Coach: Karen Hughes
Assistant Coaches: Bridget Bates, Dan Church, Dave Wakabayashi
Therapy Staff: Julie Dickson, Rhonda Connell, Luba Slatkoviska
Team Manager: Deanna Merkley
Sport Psychologist: Leith Drury
Equipment Managers: Norm Calder, Alex Stein (Asst.)
