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Markham Thunder

The Markham Thunder was a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from Brampton, Ontario, to Markham, Ontario, for the 2017–18 season.[1] The CWHL ceased operations in 2019 and no further statements or actions were taken with the franchise.

Markham Thunder
CityMarkham, Ontario
LeagueCanadian Women's Hockey League
Founded1998
Folded2019
Home arenaThornhill Community Centre
ColoursBlack, green, white
     
General managerChelsea Purcell
Head coachJim Jackson
CaptainJocelyne Larocque
Websitemarkham.thecwhl.com
Franchise history
1998–2017Brampton Thunder/Canadettes-Thunder
2017–2019Markham Thunder
Championships
Playoff championshipsNWHL: 1998–99, 2006–07
CWHL: 2007–08, 2017–18
Current season

Team history

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Brampton Thunder logo, used from 2014 to 2017

The city of Brampton had a long history of women's ice hockey, starting with the creation of the Brampton Canadettes in 1963, whose management created the Dominion Ladies Hockey Tournament in 1967 (operating today as the Canadettes Easter Tournament).[2]

In 1998, after local athlete Cassie Campbell returned home from her silver-medal victory with Team Canada in the successful introduction of women's ice hockey at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, she commiserated with Brampton acting mayor Sue Fennell about the lack of a top level women's team in Brampton. Fennell purchased a franchise, which she named the Brampton Thunder, in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL), a league which had operated since 1980. From its first 1998–99 COWHL season, the Thunder played its home games in the Brampton Centre for Sports & Entertainment (renamed the Powerade Centre in 2005), which also started operation in 1998.

On 15 February 1999, during the 1998–99 COWHL season, Fennell was instrumental in turning the COWHL into the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), becoming its first President.[2][3]

The Brampton Thunder won the first NWHL Championship Cup, in 1998–99. The Thunder would also win the final NWHL Championship Cup, in 2006–07. In between, the Thunder appeared in three other NWHL Championship Cup finals, but were defeated by the Beatrice Aeros in 2002, the Calgary Oval X-Treme in 2004, and the Montreal Axion in 2006. They also played in the Esso Women's Nationals and were victorious in 2006, defeating the Montreal Axion to claim the national title. The Thunder also had the distinction of having their home arena serve as the site of all NWHL Championship Cup games.

The Brampton Thunder was a significant contributor to the roster of the Canadian national women's hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics, with three players (Vicky Sunohara, Jayna Hefford, and Gillian Ferrari) contributing to Canada's gold medal win. Brampton Thunder player Kathleen Kauth also participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics, playing for the bronze medal-winning American national women's hockey team. A fifth Brampton Thunder player, goaltender Cindy Eadie, also participated in the Olympics, in 2004, with the Canadian softball team.

In 2007, the NWHL suspended operations. Players from the seven disbanded NWHL teams joined seven corresponding teams in the new Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). Players from the NWHL Brampton Thunder joined the new CWHL franchise Brampton Canadettes-Thunder (generally called the Brampton Thunder), continuing the legacy of Brampton's women's ice hockey teams, starting with the 1963 Canadettes team and the 1998 Thunders team.

On January 18, 2011, the Thunder competed against the Montreal Stars at the Invista Centre in Kingston, Ontario - team captain Jayna Hefford’s hometown. Her number 15 was raised to the rafters of the Invista Centre on behalf of the Kingston Area Minor Hockey Association. As of 2012, no sweaters bearing Hefford’s number will be used in Kingston Minor Hockey.[4] On November 2, 2011, Jesse Scanzano appeared in one game for the Brampton Thunder, on loan from the Toronto Aeros. The game was an exhibition contest versus her alma mater, the Mercyhurst Lakers.[5] In the second period of said contest, Scanzano scored the game-winning goal as the Thunder defeated the Lakers 3–1.[6]

In the CWHL championship game of the 2012 Clarkson Cup, Brampton fell to the Montreal Stars 4–2. Two Thunder players earned awards for their play in the 2012 Clarkson Cup, with the Outstanding Defender award going to Molly Engstrom, while netminder Liz Knox earned the Outstanding Goaltender award.

At the 3rd CWHL All-Star Game, Jess Jones of the Thunder, along with Jillian Saulnier both scored a hat trick,[7] becoming the first competitors in CWHL All-Star Game history to achieve the feat.

Before the start of the 2017–18 CWHL season, the Brampton Thunder relocated 36 km (22 miles) east, to Markham, Ontario,[1] with home games at the Thornhill Community Centre, in Markham's Thornhill neighbourhood. The renamed Markham Thunder won the 2018 Clarkson Cup as CWHL Playoffs Champions.[1] Against the Kunlun Red Star for the Clarkson Cup championship game, Markham's Laura Stacey scored with 2:11 left in the 4-on-4 overtime for a 2–1 victory and its first Cup win.[8]

Season-by-season

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Year GP W L T/OTL GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
1998–99 40 30 7 3 203 76 63 2nd, Western Won NWHL Championship
1999–00 40 29 5 6 208 64 64 2nd, Western Lost Western Division Final
2000–01 40 30 7 3 223 82 63 2nd, Western Eliminated in first round
2001–02 30 8 14 8 223 82 63 3rd, Western Did not qualify
2002–03 36 27 9 0 152 71 54 2nd, Central Lost first round
2003–04 36 28 6 2 190 72 58 2nd, Central Lost first round
2004–05 36 30 4 2 165 70 63 1st, Central Lost first round
2005–06 36 19 12 5 113 97 43 3rd Lost in final game
2006–07 16 8 8 0 71 66 16 3rd Won NWHL championship
2007–08 30 22 7 1 111 59 45 1st, Central Won CWHL championship, 4–3 (OT) vs. Mississauga Chiefs
2008–09 26 19 6 1 n/a n/a 39 2nd Lost first round vs. Mississauga Chiefs
2009–10 29 9 19 1 n/a n/a 27 4th Lost semifinals, 2–3 vs. Montreal Stars
2010–11 26 19 6 1 111 69 39 2nd Lost first round
2011–12 27 18 7 2 102 80 40 3rd Lost 2012 Clarkson Cup, 2–4 vs. Montreal Stars
2012–13[9] 24 10 12 2 71 83 22 3rd Eliminated 2013 Clarkson Cup round-robin
2013–14[9] 24 5 16 3 43 99 13 5th Did not qualify
2014–15[9] 24 6 16 2 46 98 14 5th Did not qualify
2015–16[9] 24 16 7 1 91 67 33 3rd Lost 2016 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 0–2 vs. Calgary Inferno
2016–17[9] 24 13 10 1 76 63 26 3rd Lost 2017 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 0–2 vs. Les Canadiennes de Montreal
2017–18[9] 28 14 7 7 80 68 35 4th Won 2018 Clarkson Cup championship game, 2–1 (OT) vs. Kunlun Red Star WIH
2018–19 28 13 11 4 85 80 30 3rd Lost 2019 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 1–2 vs. Les Canadiennes

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points.

NCAA exhibitions

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Date NCAA school Score Goal scorers
Oct. 25, 2011 Cornell Big Red women's ice hockey Cornell, 6–0[10] None
Nov. 2, 2011 Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey Brampton, 3–1 Jayna Hefford, Jesse Scanzano, Vicki Bendus[11]
Sept. 22, 2018 Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey Markham, 3–1[12] Jamie Lee Rattray, Ella Matteucci, Nicole Kosta

CWHL draft picks

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  • The following is a listing of their top draft picks. For full draft information, please see the respective draft pages.
Draft Pick Player Former team
2010[13] 5 Delaney Collins Alberta Pandas women's ice hockey
2011[13] 4 Vicki Bendus Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey
2011 6 Courtney Birchard New Hampshire Wildcats women's ice hockey
2015 1 Sarah Edney Harvard University
2016 3 Laura Stacey Dartmouth College
2017 3 Nicole Kosta Quinnipiac University
2018 3 Victoria Bach Boston University

Team captains

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Year(s) Captain
2011–13 Jayna Hefford
2013–14 Tara Gray
2014–19 Jocelyne Larocque

Scoring leaders

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Year-by-year

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Season Leader (F) GP G A Pts Leader (D) GP G A Pts PPG SHG GWG
2008–09[14] Jayna Hefford 27 26 32 58 Molly Engstrom 28 9 11 20 Engstrom (7) Lori Dupuis (2) Hefford (6)
2010–11[15] Jayna Hefford 27 25 23 48 Molly Engstrom 28 2 20 22 Hefford (9) Jayna Hefford and Andrea Ironside (1) Jayna Hefford and Gillian Apps (4)
2011–12[16] Gillian Apps 27 19 20 39 Molly Engstrom 27 4 23 27 Jayna Hefford (8) Cherie Piper (1) Apps (4)
2012–13[17] Jayna Hefford 21 15 12 27 Courtney Birchard 24 0 9 9 Gillian Apps (5) Three tied with 1 Apps (3)
2013–14[18] Danielle Skirrow 24 5 10 15 Ashley Pendleton 22 1 9 10 Two tied with 2 None Sasha Nanji (2)
2014–15 Jess Jones 24 7 9 16 Laura Fortino 24 5 10 15 Jones, Carly Mercer (3) Jones, Fielding Montgomery (1) Three tied with 1
2015–16 Jamie Lee Rattray 22 13 16 29 Laura Fortino 24 8 20 28 Rattray (5) Rebecca Vint (2)
Fielding Montgomery (2)		 Jess Jones (5)
2016–17 Jess Jones 24 17 20 37 Laura Fortino 20 6 13 19 Jones (5) None Jones (3)
2017-18 Jamie Lee Rattray 28 22 17 39 Kristen Barbara 28 4 8 12 Kristen Richards (4) Rattray (1) Rattray, Jenna McParland, Kristen Richards, Taylor Woods (2)
2018-19 Victoria Bach 26 19 13 32 Laura Fortino 26 5 13 18

All-time leaders

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Awards winners

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Notable players

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Honours

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As the Brampton Thunder

As the Brampton Canadette-Thunder

As the Markham Thunder

References

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  1. ^ a b c Canadian Press (2017-07-11). "CWHL's Thunder moves from Brampton to Markham". Sportsnet. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  2. ^ a b Carlsson, Gunnar (2017-07-12). "The history of the Brampton Thunder". SB Nation. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  3. ^ "1999-2000 NWHL Season Under Way". National Women's Hockey League official website. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  4. ^ "www.cwhl.ca/news.asp?id=50". cwhl.ca. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  5. ^ "Mercyhurst Athletics - Women's Hockey Falls Short As Bendus And Scanzano Return". hurstathletics.com. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  6. ^ "Mercyhurst Athletics - mc-bram.htm". hurstathletics.com. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  7. ^ "Jones shines in CWHL All-Star Game". Mississauga.com. 2017-02-13. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  8. ^ Kevin McGran (25 March 2018). "Laura Stacey's overtime winner gives Markham its first Clarkson Cup". Toronto Star. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Markham Thunder Elite Prospects 2012–13". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  10. ^ http://cornellbigred.com/documents/2011/10/14/final_stats.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  11. ^ "Mercyhurst Athletics - Women's Hockey Falls Short As Bendus And Scanzano Return". hurstathletics.com. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  12. ^ "Mercyhurst Drops Exhibition Game to CWHL's Markham Thunder". CHAWomensHockey.com. 22 September 2018.
  13. ^ a b "News - CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Archived from the original on 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2014-11-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "CWHL: Boston Blades | Pointstreak Stats". cwhlboston_hockey.stats.pointstreak.com. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  16. ^ "CWHL: Boston Blades | Pointstreak Stats". cwhlboston_hockey.stats.pointstreak.com. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  17. ^ "Active Players". cwhl_site.stats.pointstreak.com. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  18. ^ "Active Players". cwhl_site.stats.pointstreak.com. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  19. ^ "Brampton Claims Inaugural CWHL Title". Brampton News. Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
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