U Sports women's ice hockey

U Sports women's ice hockey
FormerlyCIAU women's ice hockey, CIS women's ice hockey
SportIce hockey
Founded1997
No. of teams35, in four conferences
CountryCanada
Most recent
champion(s)
Mount Royal Cougars
Most titlesAlberta Pandas (8)
Official websiteU Sports women's ice hockey
U Sports encourages competition with a sense of fair-play

U Sports women's ice hockey is the highest level of play of women's ice hockey at the university level under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Women's ice hockey has been played in U Sports since the 1997-98 season, when the governing body was known as the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union, following a long stint of teams only competing in the OUA. There are 35 teams, all of which are based in Canada, that are divided into four conferences that are eligible to compete for the year-end championship. As these players compete at the university level, they are obligated to follow the rule of standard eligibility of five years.