Girls Hockey

We began our women’s' hockey program in October 1998. What started out as a recreational team competing at the Tier Two Level of the National Capital Athletic Association, has achieved a series of notable accomplishments in just eleven years. We have taken the team to Scandinavia, once in the spring of 2000 for a series of games and tours in Sweden and Finland, and again in the spring of 2004 and 2008 for matches in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  The team had successful games, and enjoyed many historical tours and skiing/snowboarding in the Alps.  We look forward to our next overseas tour in March 2012.  Proposed tours include France, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.

The team won the NCSSAA Tier Two Championship final in 2003, and after being a Tier 1 AA finalist in 2004 and 05, the Panthers won the NCSSAA AA championship in March 2006 and 2007 and represented NCSSAA in the Ontario High School championships at OFSAA.

The players on the team come from a number of successful community programs in Metcalfe, Russell, Greely, Osgoode, Gloucester, and Kanata. The Panther’s Hockey Club owes a great deal of its success to quick skating, fore-checking and a solid team defense.

Coach: Gary Theoret
  Coach: Richard Houle
Community Coach: Bruce Macdonald
Manager/Trainer: Michele Quaglia 

Girls Hockey 2009 - 2010

Left to right; Mr. Theoret (Coach), Anne-Marie Voisine, Olivia Monahan,
Jenna Van Koppen, Taylor Sullivan, Carly Patterson, Anna Uberig, Kelsey Houle, Brittany Macdonald, Sara Myers, Mr. Houle (Coach) Front; Lauryn Vandekemp, Kelsey Curtis, Emma Wallace, Katharine Adamson, Alison Sullivan, Brittany Bekkers

Kelsey Houle

Emma Wallace

Katharine Adamson

Sara Myers

Jenna Van Koppen

Kelsey Curtis

Anna Uberig

Carly Patterson

Brittany Macdonald

Anne-Marie Voisine

Alison Sullivan

Olivia Monahan

Coach Houle and Kelsey Houle

Lauryn Vandekemp & Kelsey Houle

Click photo to enlarge

Girls Hockey 2008
Europe

Osgoode Township girls' European hockey tour
"trip of a lifetime"

The “trip of a lifetime” is over for the Osgoode Township Panthers girls’ hockey team, but it’s certainly not forgotten.

Teacher/head coach Gary Theoret, the organizer of the once-every-four-year March Break European hockey tour, was busy Tuesday filling a school display case with souvenirs from the 11-day, five-country sport and educational trip.

And there was plenty to put on display from the tour, which included five hockey games, mainly against older teams except the finale against the Swiss under-18 national team.

There were plenty of team photos on the ice and in front of the bus, teams banners, game sheets, and an autographed Swiss team jersey. On the educational side, there’s information about the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany.

The players, many of whom travelled with a parent, returned to Metcalfe last week with hundreds of photos each and a wealth of memories. The food and accommodation were rated first class. The sites, architecture and geographic features left the girls totally in awe.

In the near future, the team and parents will gather again over a pot-luck dinner to reflect on their European adventure and possibly receive DVDs of photos and a movie from the trip.

Like any trip, there can be disappointments. The major one for the Panthers was the cancellation of the half day of skiing at Garmisch Partenkirchen in Germany. The winds were so strong that day that only the lower of three gondolas was operating for safety reasons.

Even though the Panthers won only two of the five hockey matches, the girls were fine with that. They considered the games as friendly exhibitions, while some of their older opponents took the games quite seriously. Then, again, the host team were playing Canada, the world’s hotbed for hockey.

Three days into the trip, the Osgoode Panthers played their first game against the Ingolstadt Panthers in Germany.

Ingolstadt used an abrasive style and won 2-1 on the strength of one power-play goal and one short-handed goal. Kelsey Houle scored for Osgoode.

“They were more physical and there was a lot of contact. In their eyes, they were playing Canada and not a high school team,” Theoret said.

“They were going full out. It was our first game. We should have won. We outshot them.”

The second game was one of those games.

The Panthers were humiliated 14-0 by ESC Wurmtal-Planegg, a division 1 team in Germany.

“They used the ice well,” Theoret added. “It was the worst game we’ve played. We had no zip, no legs.”

Then came victory.

Kristen MacDonald scored three goals as Osgoode recorded a 7-1 win over ESV Kaufbeuren, who were champions in their German league in 2006-07. Before the game, colour posters were hung in Kaufbeuren advertising the game as Canada versus Germany.

Unfortunately, the two referees, who were in the arena, decided not to officiate the game because it wasn’t a sanctioned league game. They were concerned about insurance issues if a player got hurt. When that happened, the Kaufbeuren coach, who also was an accredited referee, dashed home to get his striped shirt and whistle and officiated the game.

The Panthers evened their touring record at 2-2, after an 8-5 victory over Lady Wings Schwenningen in Germany. MacDonald had another three-goal game, while Allie White and Laura Vizena had two goals each and Kaitlin Deavey added one.

On the final night of the Panthers tour, they travelled to Zuchwil, Switzerland, to play the Swiss women’s under-18 team. This team played for keeps as the coach had a full roster of 23 players, who were in the final stage of tryouts for the national team.

Switzerland won 6-1, but Osgoode didn’t allow a goal in the second half of the game. Marin Burton scored the lone Osgoode marker.

To make it more memorable, two of the games were played in arenas that had a roof covering the ice and stands, but was open to the outside at both ends of the building.

Once Theoret finishes his showcase display, he can take a break, figure out how to replace seven graduating players for the 2008-09 high school season and think ahead to the 2012 March Break European tour.

from the Ottawa Citizen website.