Waterloo Warriors aim to make history at U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship

The University of Waterloo women’s hockey team are provincial champions for the very first time.

The Warriors clinched the OUA title in a 2-1 overtime win over the host University of Toronto on Saturday. The Varsity Blues were exiting the zone when Carly Orth stripped Juliette Blais-Savoie of the puck at the blue line.

“That kind of allowed me to step in, lift her stick, and grab it,” Orth described to CTV News.

Waterloo went on a 2-on-1, when Orth threw a cross-crease pass to Paige Rynne, who buried the game-winner.

“I saw Paige open right there so I kind of set it across the crease,” Rynne said. “I just was able to pop it in.”

The win gave the Warriors their first McCaw Cup in the program’s 22-year history and fans, wearing their yellow jerseys, hopped over the boards of Varsity Arena to celebrate.

“At first I just thought it was another goal,” Orth said. “Our team was getting off the bench and I’m like: ‘Oh my gosh, our team just won the whole thing.’”

The celebration was short-lived as the Waterloo Warriors sets their sights on a national title. The team hopped a plane for Saskatoon on Monday to compete in their first-ever U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship. 

“First time here, everything’s new,” head coach Shaun Reagan said during a Wednesday morning video call. “It’s exciting, but we’re dialed in. We feel we can win the championship.”

The University of Waterloo enters the tournament as the 4-seed. The Warriors open the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Thursday against Nova Scotia’s St. Francis Xavier University.

Complete tournament seeding is as follows:

• Concordia Stingers (RSEQ champions, 25-0 regular season, 4-2 playoffs)
• UBC Thunderbirds (CW champions, 24-4 regular season, 4-2 playoffs)
• UNB Reds (AUS champions: 21-7 regular season, 5-1 playoffs)
• Waterloo Warriors (OUA champions, 18-10 regular season, 5-1 playoffs)
• STFX X-Women (AUS finalists, 21-7regular season, 3-4 playoffs)
• Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA finalists, 19-9 regular season, 4-3 playoffs)
• Montréal Carabins (RSEQ finalists, 13-12 regular season, 3-3 playoffs)
• Saskatchewan Huskies (hosts, 19-9 regular season, 1-2 playoffs)

Waterloo also has a shot at becoming just the fourth team to hold both the OUA and U SPORTS titles in the same year.

With the U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship coming to Elmira’s Woolwich Memorial Centre in 2025, the Warriors could return to next years championship as host and the defending champs.

“You have to return the trophy 30 days after winning it and it goes to the host city,” Reagan said. “It would be cool to bring it back and not even have to return it.”

You can follow all of this year’s U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship on the U SPORTS website.