2005 Esso Women's Nationals

After years of painstakingly slow growth of Female Hockey in NS. , we are on the verge of a new era for the game. The province now boasts of an eleven team N.S Women’s Hockey League which plays mostly out of the Halifax area. The league will be divided into A and B divisions this year as we have 6 very competitive teams comprised of players who have played a high caliber of hockey and 5 teams who although also competitive, may not have the experience or skill to compete with the top teams.

There are plans for two and possibly three new teams to join the league in the near future. With the cooperation of Hockey N.S. and the guidance of its Female Council, N.S is just now starting to welcome graduates of the Minor Hockey and University systems into the senior ranks as the growth of our league indicates.

This year’s Provincial Team began its identification process with ice sessions in Aug and Sept then one final session in Oct. We have 21 players from our Senior Teams, 9 University players (although we will not know their eligibility until the teams are set for the CIS Championships), and 14 very talented midget players who are hoping to play at this level. We are also very pleased to welcome back several players who are now eligible to represent their home province again for a total of 48 players who have been to our try outs. Seventeen of these hopefuls spent one final weekend of try-outs in Fredericton, NB. and Team NS was named following those two exhibition games.

As the growth in Female Hockey continues in our province so will the skill level of the teams we are able to send to the ESSO Nationals. We are expecting this to be the strongest N.S. team we have sent to this tournament and hope that the exposure our team will get at this level will motivate the players to a higher level of commitment.