Esso women's hockey nationals

The Esso Women's Nationals was the Canadian women's senior ice hockey championship from 1982 to 2008. The winners of the event received the Abby Hoffman Cup. The second place team was awarded the Fran Rider Cup, while the third place was given the Maureen McTeer Trophy. Nine or ten teams (depending on the tournament) qualified for the event, with two from the province hosting the event. The event was sponsored by Esso.
== History ==
The split between the National Women's Hockey League and the Western Women's Hockey League in 2004, this is the only event in the professional women's hockey calendar that sees teams from the two leagues play against each other. Although an agreement between the NWHL and the WWHL was reached in 2006 to merge the two leagues (wherein the latter would be absorbed as a separate division of the former), difficulty in setting up the Nationals alongside an interlocking playoff format prevented the merger from taking place - the Nationals eventually would take place mere days after the WWHL playoffs and before the NWHL playoffs.
With the collapse of the NWHL soon after and the establishment of the Canadian Women's Hockey League in Eastern Canada, the Esso Nationals, which will also serve as a playoff of sorts between the WWHL and CWHL, received a format overhaul starting in 2008, in which the top two teams from the WWHL (representing British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan) and the top two teams from the CWHL (representing Ontario and Quebec) automatically qualifying for the event. Teams representing the provinces without teams in either league fill out the remainder of the field, due to Hockey Canada requirements that every province be represented. The Abby Hoffman Cup will be awarded to both the club pool and the team pool champions. Similarly, the Fran Rider Cup and the Maureen McTeer Trophy (the trophies awarded for the silver and bronze medalists at the Esso Nationals) will be awarded in both the club and team pool tournaments.
To level the playing field (which in recent years had been dominated by club teams) for 2008, the four club teams play in a separate tournament from the four all-star teams (and thus two championships will be awarded at the Esso Nationals), with the intent that the club pool (with the Clarkson Cup as its championship) will be splintered off into its own tournament at some point in the future. The 2008 tournament also saw the first American team to qualify, with the Minnesota Whitecaps joining the Calgary Oval X-Treme in representing the WWHL in the club pool. The format is the same for both the club and team tournaments: after the four teams play a single round robin pool, the four teams are seeded based on their standings and play a single-elimination tournament for the championship.
This arrangement had lasted for only one year; in 2009, the dispute between Clarkson and the Clarkson Cup's artists was settled, and a new championship, the National Canadian Women's Hockey Championship, was created for the professional teams, under the same format. However, this was not without cost: rumors were abound that the Esso Women's Nationals would be discontinued in favor of introducing a midget championship, which was realized with the Esso Cup.
== List of Champions ==
Year	Host 	Gold 	Silver 	Bronze
1982	Brantford, Ontario 	Agincourt Canadians (Ontario) 	Team Alberta 	Team Quebec
1983	Brantford, Ontario 	Burlington Ladies (Ontario) 	Team Alberta 	Team Saskatchewan
1984	Spruce Grove, Alberta 	Edmonton Chimos (Alberta) 	Team Quebec 	Team Ontario
1985	Summerside, Prince Edward Island 	Edmonton Chimos (Alberta) 	Team Ontario 	Team Quebec
1986	North Battleford, Saskatchewan 	Hamilton Hawks (Ontario) 	Team Saskatchewan 	Team Alberta
1987	Riverview, New Brunswick 	Hamilton Hawks (Ontario) 	Team Alberta 	Team Saskatchewan
1988	Burlington, Ontario 	Team Quebec 	Team Alberta 	Team Ontario
1989	Coquitlam, British Columbia 	Team Quebec 	Team Ontario 	Team Alberta
1990	Lloydminster, Saskatchewan 	Team Quebec 	Team Alberta 	Team Ontario
1991	Verdun, Quebec 	Toronto Aeros (Ontario) 	Team Quebec 	Team Alberta
1992	Edmonton, Alberta 	Edmonton Chimos (Alberta) 	Team Ontario 	Team Quebec
1993	Ottawa, Ontario 	Toronto Aeros (Ontario) 	Team Alberta 	Team Quebec
1994	Winnipeg, Manitoba 	Team Quebec 	Team Alberta 	Team Ontario
1995	Summerside, Prince Edward Island 	Team Quebec 	Team Ontario 	Team New Brunswick
1996	Moncton, New Brunswick 	Team Quebec 	North York Aeros (Ontario) 	Maritime Sports Blades (New Brunswick)
1997	Richmond, British Columbia 	Edmonton Chimos (Alberta) 	Team Quebec 	Team Ontario
1998	Calgary, Alberta 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)	North York Aeros (Ontario) 	Team Quebec
1999	Mississauga, Ontario 	Team Quebec 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)	Beatrice Aeros (Ontario)
2000	Sydney, Nova Scotia 	Beatrice Aeros (Ontario) 	Team Quebec 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)
2001	Summerside, Prince Edward Island 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)	Team Quebec 	Team British Columbia
2002	Arnprior, Ontario and Renfrew, Ontario 	Team Quebec 	Beatrice Aeros (Ontario) 	Brampton Thunder (Ontario)
2003	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)	Team Ontario 	Team Quebec
2004	Sherwood Park, Alberta 	Toronto Aeros (Ontario) 	Team Alberta 	Edmonton Chimos (Alberta)
2005	Sarnia, Ontario 	Toronto Aeros (Ontario) 	Brampton Thunder (Ontario) 	Team Quebec
2006	Sydney, Nova Scotia 	Brampton Thunder (Ontario) 	Montreal Axion (Quebec) 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)
2007	Salmon Arm, British Columbia 	Calgary Oval X-Treme (Alberta)	Etobicoke Dolphins (Ontario) 	Mississauga Aeros (Ontario)
2008	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Club)	Mississauga Chiefs 	Brampton Canadette-Thunder 	Calgary Oval X-Treme
2008	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Team)	Team Manitoba 	Team Prince Edward Island 	Team Nova Scotia
==References==
Category:Women's ice hockey tournaments
Category:Women's ice hockey in Canada