The first traces of women's hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it is played at the university level. The University of Toronto and Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario were two of the first Canadian universities to field women's hockey teams.
History
Elizabeth Graham would play hockey for Queen's University and is credited as being the first goaltender ever to wear a mask for protection. She used the mask in 1927, and the use of the mask was in the Montreal Daily Star. She actually wore a fencing mask and the speculation is that she had used the mask as a means of protecting dental work that was recently performed. During the 1960s, Cookie Cartwright and a group of dedicated students revived the women's ice hockey program at Queen's University. Cartwright and the Golden Gaels would go on to capture the first women's university championship. After 32 long years, the Queen's women's hockey team captured their first OUA Championship in 2010-11. The team won all five of their playoff games in overtime, knocking off nationally ranked opponents Windsor in the Quarter-final, Wilfrid Laurier in the Semifinal and Guelph in the Final. Game 1 of the OUA Championship series was historic in its own right for the Gaels as the team won the longest collegiate hockey game in history, a six-overtime marathon. The game finally game to an end after 107 minutes and 14 seconds of overtime when Morgan McHaffie banged home a rebound past Guelph goaltender Danielle Skoufranis. Queen's goaltender Mel Dodd-Moher made 66 saves for the win. The team moved on to their first CIS Championship following the OUA playoffs where the Gaels defeated the defending champion Alberta Pandas and the hostWilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks to win the bronze medal. Morgan McHaffie was recognized as the 2012 OUA women's hockey Player of the Year. She led the OUA league scoring race with 38 points. She ranked fourth overall in CIS scoring. She was the first Gael to earn Player of the Year honors since the 2003-04 campaign. She was also recognized as an OUA First-Team All-Star. Freshman Taryn Pilon was named to the 2012 OUA All-Rookie team. She appeared in every Queen's contest, while recording 21 points and taking only one penalty. Defender Katie Duncan was making her first appearances on an all-star team as she was named to the 2012 OUA Second Team All-Stars. Duncan finished the 2011-12 campaign tied for fourth among OUA defenders with 15 points. In addition, Duncan led all blueliners with six goals on the season.
Notable games
March 3, 2011: A postseason match between the Queen's Golden Gaels and the Guelph Gryphons became the longest collegiate hockey game, male or female, Canadian or American — on record. The match began on Wednesday and it only ended on Thursday. The duration of the match was 167 minutes and 14 seconds when Queen's forward Morgan McHaffie placed a rebound past Gryphons goalie Danielle Skoufranis in the sixth overtime period. With the win, Mel Dodd-Moher won her fourth consecutive playoff game.
Season by season results
Awards and honors
Allison Bagg, 2010 OUA First Team All-Star
Rebecca Conroy, 2010 All-CIS Second Team selection
Mel Dodd-Moher, 2010 CIS All-Rookie team
Mel Dodd-Moher, 2010 OUA All-Rookie Team
Mel Dodd-Moher, Queen's player of the game: CIS Round Robin match versus Alberta Pandas
Morgan McHaffie, 2010 OUA All-Rookie Team Morgan McHaffie's selection to the 2010 OUA All-Rookie team signified the fifth time in five years that a Queens player was selected for the honour. She tied for the OUA rookie scoring lead with 24 points.
