Elmira looks to national hockey tournament to boost local economy

The Waterloo Warriors will soon be playing more than just hockey - they'll be playing host to the elites of the league.

The university women’s hockey national championships will be coming to town in 2025.

“It almost kind of puts the University of Waterloo on the map, especially with our women’s hockey program,” said Shaun Reagan, Waterloo Warriors Women's Hockey head coach. “It’s a young program. We're just really excited for our student-athletes.

Eight teams from across the country will take part in the tournament.

“Obviously, Columbia Icefield is their home facility, but they don’t have the seating capacity that they require,” said Jennifer Horndl, Woolwich recreation manager.

The championships will instead be hosted at the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira.

“We have actual seats for 1,305 seats with additional capacity for 200,” said Horndl.

It’s not just hockey fans who will benefit from this tournament as the local community can expect to see a boost in the economy from tourists.

“It does a lot for the hotel business, restaurants, hospitality sector, so it's a nice thing to look forward to even though it’s a few years down the road,” said Allister Scorgie, Explore Waterloo Region sport hosting director:

According to Explore Waterloo Region, events of this size could bring in millions of tourism dollars.

“We’re still very much recovering from the pandemic, the financial realities of how the hospitality sector is doing are improving, but it's going to be a slow recovery,” said Scorgie.

And for the warriors, it means recruiting power.

“The host team automatically goes to nationals, so that’s the other carrot for our program, especially when you are talking to recruits,” said Shaun Reagan, Waterloo Warriors Women's Hockey head coach.

Though the team, which finished first in the west last year, is pretty confident they'll make it to the tournament on their own sweat.

“It's just come together for us recruiting wise. We have an excellent group,” said Reagan. “We are a pretty young group of well, so moving forward over the next couple of years we hope to win some championships here.”