PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Esso Cup
Current season, competition or edition:; 2022 Esso Cup
Sport	Ice hockey
First season	2008-09
Most recent; champion(s)	Durham West Lightning ; (2022)
Most titles	St. Albert Slash (3)
TV partner(s)	TSN (English); RDS (French);
Sponsor(s)	Hockey Canada; Esso;
Official website	Esso Cup Website

The Esso Cup is the Canadian national women's under-18 ice hockey club championship, sponsored by Esso. It is an annual event, sanctioned by Hockey Canada, that takes place each April. The current champions are the Durham West Lightning, who won the 2022 Esso Cup in Okotoks, Alberta.^[1]

History

The forerunner to the Esso Cup was the Esso Women's Hockey Nationals, which was the Canadian senior women's championship from 1982 to 2008. With the evolution of the Nationals into a professional tournament, Hockey Canada elected to discontinue it in 2008 and replace it with a national female midget championship known as the Esso Cup.^[2]^[3]

The inaugural Esso Cup was played in April 2009 in Calgary, Alberta. The Westman Wildcats from Souris, Manitoba, were the first gold medalists. The St. Albert Slash of Alberta are the only team to win the event multiple times.

Format

The Esso Cup follows Hockey Canada's standard six-team national championship format. Branch champions compete in regional playoffs; the regional winners and a predetermined host team then compete for the national championship. In years when not all regions have participated in the Esso Cup, another region has been allowed to send a second team to keep the field at six teams. The exception to this was in 2022 when regional playoffs were cancelled and all branch champions were promoted directly to the national championship.^[3]

The Esso Cup uses the IIHF points system for the round robin, which awards three points for a win in regulation time. If the game is decided in overtime or a shootout, the winning team receives two points and the losing team receives one. No points are awarded for losing a game in regulation time. After the round robin is complete, the top four teams (by points) qualify for the playoff round.^[2]

Each year's gold medal game is televised nationally on TSN and RDS.

Winners and hosts

**Esso Cup**
Year	Gold Medal	Silver Medal	Bronze Medal	Location
2009	Westman Wildcats	Scarborough Sharks	Calgary Flyers	Calgary, AB
2010	Thunder Bay Queens	Notre Dame Hounds	Edmonton Thunder	Regina, SK
2011	Notre Dame Hounds	Edmonton Thunder	Toronto Aeros	St. Albert, AB
2012	Pembina Valley Hawks	Thunder Bay Queens	Edmonton Thunder	Charlottetown, PE
2013	LHFDQ North	North Bay Ice Boltz	Edmonton Thunder	Burnaby, BC
2014	Weyburn Goldwings	Edmonton Thunder	Sudbury Lady Wolves	Hamilton, ON
2015	Sudbury Lady Wolves	Red Deer Chiefs	Saskatoon Stars	Red Deer, AB
2016	Brantford Ice Cats	Express du Richelieu	Rocky Mountain Raiders	Weyburn, SK
2017	St. Albert Slash	Harfangs de Triolet	Durham West Lightning	Morden, MB
2018	St. Albert Slash	Saskatoon Stars	Pionnières de Lanaudière	Bridgewater, NS
2019	St. Albert Slash	Sudbury Lady Wolves	Stony Creek Sabres	Sudbury, ON
2020	cancelled ^[a]			Prince Albert, SK
2021	cancelled ^[a]			Lloydminster, AB
2022	Durham West Lightning	Fraser Valley Rush		Okotoks, AB
2024				Vernon, BC

Notes

^ ^a ^b Hockey Canada cancelled the 2020 and 2021 Esso Cups in response to the COVID-19 pandemic^[4]^[5]

All-time results by region

**Medals by Region**
Region	Branches	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Ontario	Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Northwestern Ontario	4	3	4
Western	Manitoba, Saskatchewan	4	2	1
Pacific	British Columbia, Alberta	3	3	4
Québec	Quebec	1	2	1
Host		0	2	1
Atlantic	New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador	0	0	0