6 things you need to know about the Esso Cup

The Esso Cup is simply across the nook.

This yr, the host Thompson-Okanagan Lakers will welcome representatives from 5 areas (Atlantic, Pacific, Ontario, Quebec, West) to compete for Canada’s Women’s U18 National Club Championship, April 21-27 at Kal Tire Place in Vernon, B.C.

The occasion serves as a platform for showcasing a few of the prime U18 expertise and offers them with a possibility to compete on the nationwide stage.

Here are six issues you must know in regards to the Esso Cup.

The Esso Cup has been round for 15 years

The match is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this yr, however there hasn’t been a champion yearly; the 2020 and 2021 tournaments have been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The inaugural Esso Cup happened in Calgary in April 2009, with the Westman Wildcats from Manitoba claiming the primary nationwide title. Prior to the institution of the Esso Cup, there was the Esso Women’s Nationals, which served because the Canadian senior girls’s championship from 1982 till 2008.

British Columbia will play host for the second time

You should go all the best way again to 2013 to search out the final time the Esso Cup was held on the West Coast. That yr, the match happened in Burnaby with the Fraser Valley Phantom serving as host workforce and LHFDQ Nord successful the nationwide championship. Alberta has hosted the Esso Cup 4 occasions, essentially the most of any province in Canada. It has been held in Saskatchewan thrice and Ontario twice, whereas Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have every hosted as soon as.

Only one workforce has received a number of Esso Cups

The St. Albert Slash of the Alberta Female Hockey League (AFHL) have received the Esso Cup a report thrice (2017, 2018, 2019). In reality, it’s the solely workforce to win a number of and consecutive Esso Cups. The Slash additionally turned the primary workforce from Alberta to seize the Esso Cup in 2017 when Tyra Meropoulis scored 14:41 into extra time to defeat the Harfangs de Triolet. The Stoney Creek Sabres try to affix the Slash as back-to-back champions; nationwide champs in Prince Albert final spring, they went 14-3-5 within the OWHA U18 AA league this yr.

56 Esso Cup alumnae have gone on to put on the Maple Leaf

The Esso Cup has produced 56 gamers who’ve gone on to be a part of Canada’s National Women’s Program, together with two who’ve performed for the National Women’s Team (Brigette Lacquette and Sophie Shirley). Most just lately, two Esso Cup alumna (Jessie Pellerin and Stryker Zablocki) helped Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team win bronze on the 2024 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.

The Esso Cup advantages ladies’ hockey and the host communities

The 2024 Esso Cup host committee has prioritized the web earnings from the occasion for use to reinforce the native girls’s hockey group. As a outcome, 50 per cent of the proceeds will assist create a Thompson-Okanagan Lakers post-secondary scholarship fund. The remaining 50 per cent will likely be used to create a grassroots growth fund to assist ladies’ hockey within the Okanagan, which is able to assist take away boundaries to entry for aspiring younger athletes comparable to gear prices and registration charges.

Ticket packages are already on sale

Full-event packages are on sale for the 2024 Esso Cup! Watch all 19 video games for $60, plus charges. With a full-event package deal, you save extra on the worth per recreation and assure your tickets to the gold medal recreation. And, you may share video games with household and pals! To buy tickets, click on right here.