About Us - History

From its beginning in 1996, the League has prospered with more female athletes playing high school hockey.  Over the years, the more teams have entered the League, and the caliber of hockey skills and the level of competition have also significantly increased.

In the early years, the League’s championship team could be determined by round-robin tournament. However as teams increased, the League established two divisions in order to provide for greater parity for competing teams, and with two divisions, division playoffs were also introduced. When Division 2 was established, for the first two seasons the championship was awarded to the team that finished in first place. Beginning with the 2004-2005 season, however, a similar format was used in both Divisions with a best of three playoff series including a qualifying round (as needed), quarter-final, semi-final and final series rounds.In the 2016-17 season, a third division was established to accommodate growth as well as competitive and developmental programs.

Over the seasons, teams were placed in divisions by a variety of means from using the teams’ previous season’s performance to allowing teams to declare their division prior to season start. Our current practice is to hold a mandatory Pre-Season Division Alignment Tournament, which in addition to the coaches declaration, provides the League an opportunity to review rosters and performance and better establish the best team placement within each division.

As both the interest in and support for women’s high school hockey continues to grow, we look forward to an even larger League as schools chose to provide another opportunity for their female athletes to compete in a sport they have come to love and to do so at a level where there is parity for all teams in the League.

In its 26th season, the League changed its name from the Winnipeg Women's High School Hockey League to the Manitoba Women's High School Hockey League to reflect the growing geo diversity of teams in the League.  High schools from towns including Lorette, Portage La Prairie, Sanford, Springfield and Steinbach have hosted teams.  

Notes:

• Number of teams indicated reflects the # in the League in that year, not just the Division.
• Awarded Championship based on regular season first place finish in the division. 
• 2019-2020 no playoffs, and 2020-21 no season, due to COVID-19

Division 1 & League Championship Team & Finalist - Wayne Thompson Cup

Division 2 Championship & Finalist Teams - Nancy Gillies Cup

Division 3 Championship & Finalist Teams - Karen Taraska-Alcock Cup