Esso Cup

The Esso Cup is the Canadian national women's U-18 (formerly midget) 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 St. Albert Slash, who won the 2018 Esso Cup in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.
==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.
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 championship more than once.
==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 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.
Each year's gold medal game is televised nationally on TSN and RDS. All other tournament games are streamed live on Hockey Canada's website.
The 2020 Esso Cup was to be held at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan hosted by the Prince Albert Bears.https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2020-esso-cup-esso-cup-heads-to-pa It would be cancelled when Hockey Canada announced on March 12th that all activity under its' jurisdiction were cancelled for the season. Prince Albert was re-awarded the 2021 tournament with Lloydminster, Alberta who were originally schedule to host the 2021 eventhttps://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2021-esso-cup-lloydminster-gets-esso-cup being awarded the 2022 event instead.
==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 	Pionnieeres le Lanaudiere 	Bridgewater, NS
2019	St. Albert Slash 	Sudbury Lady Wolves 	Stoney Creek Sabres 	Sudbury, ON
2020	Tournament cancelled by Hockey Canada due to COVID-19 pandemic 	Tournament cancelled by Hockey Canada due to COVID-19 pandemic 	Tournament cancelled by Hockey Canada due to COVID-19 pandemic 	Prince Albert, SKhttps://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2020-esso-cup-esso-cup-heads-to-pa
2021	Tournament cancelled February 5th by Hockey Canada due to COVID-19 pandemic	Tournament cancelled February 5th by Hockey Canada due to COVID-19 pandemic	Tournament cancelled February 5th by Hockey Canada due to COVID-19 pandemic	Prince Albert, SK re-awarded from 2020
2022	Durham West Jr. Lightning 	Fraser Valley Rush 	No Bronze Medal Game 	Prince Albert, SK re-awarded from 2021
2023	Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres 	Fraser Valley Rush 	Regina Rebels 	Prince Albert, SK
2024	Regina Rebels 	North York Storm 	Edmonton Jr. Oilers White 	Vernon, British Columbia
==All-Time Results by Region==
Medals by Region
Region 	Branches 	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Western 	HM, SHA 	5 	2 	2
Ontario 	OHF, HEO, HNWO 	5 	3 	4
Pacific 	BCAHA, HA 	2 	4 	4
Québec 	HQ 	1 	2 	1
Host 	 	0 	2 	1
Atlantic	HNB, HNS, HPEI, HNL	0 	0 	0
:As of 2022–23 season
:Note: The Quebec region has not participated every year. In such years, a second team from another region has qualified in their place.
==Regional Qualifiers==
*Esso Cup Atlantic Regional
*Esso Cup Central Regional
*Esso Cup Pacific Regional
*Esso Cup Quebec Regional
*Esso Cup West Regional
==Award Winners==
See: List of Esso Cup award winners
==See also==
*Telus Cup (Male U-18 championship)
*National Women's Under-18 Championship (teams representing the provincial/regional sanctioning body)
*Esso Women's Hockey Nationals
==External links==
*Esso Cup Website
==References==
Category:Women's ice hockey in Canada
Category:Ice hockey tournaments in Canada
Category:Women's ice hockey tournaments