ELMIRA, Ont. - On Sunday, March 22, the Montreal Carabins capped off an incredible week of hockey by completing the ultimate underdog story, winning the 2026 Miller Waster U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship after coming in as the #8 seed. They defeated their provincial rivals the #2-seeded Concordia Stingers 5-2 in the gold medal game, their first win against the Stingers in 11 contests this season.
The Carabins began their tournament with an upset over #1-seeded UBC in a 4-3 shootout thriller on Friday. The other game that night was an all-time goaltender duel between Ottawa's Clara Genier (44 saves, 1 GA), and UNB's Cassie McCallum (29 saves, 1 GA), with UNB coming out on top, 2-1 in a shootout. The REDS would go on to win bronze, their first ever U SPORTS medal.
On the other side of the bracket, Thursday night saw 1,120 fans pack into Woolwich Memorial Centre for a playoff rematch between the host Waterloo Warriors and McCaw Cup champion Guelph Gryphons, with Guelph playing spoiler for the hosts with a 2-0 win. Saturday's semifinal between the Stingers and Gryphons was perhaps the game of the tournament, as Emilie Lussier's game-winner ended a wild overtime period with great chances at both ends.
The tournament produced memorable moments on and off the ice, including the Healy sisters facing off to start UBC and Ottawa's consolation semifinal, or Thunderbirds captain Annalise Wong sprinting into the arena in full gear to join her team for the third period of the consolation final after taking a medical school interview that morning.
While the tournament provided great hockey for the 5,700 total fans in attendance, the University of Waterloo's Department of Athletics and Recreation is even more pleased with the positive impact on local hockey and the Elmira, Woolwich, and Waterloo Region communities as a whole.
In the lead up to the tournament, 26 participants attended two coaches clinics while 14 participants began their path to becoming new hockey officials thanks to the officials clinic.
Building on the tournament theme – See Them, be Them – 33 participants from local hockey leagues were selected to take part in the flag bearers program sponsored by Tri-Mach Group and led teams and officials out onto the ice before each game, while five local teams participated in Intermission Scrimmages, sponsored by Farm Mutual Re.
The Hockey Association Fundraising Program, also sponsored by Farm Mutual Re, raised $6,638 to be distributed among the 11 youth hockey associations who participated.
"Warriors Athletics and Recreation would like to thank Miller Waste and all of the sponsors who made hosting the tournament in 2025 and 2026 possible, the township of Woolwich and the Elmira community for embracing both events, as well as all of the volunteers without whom the championship would not have been possible," said Ari Grossman, Tournament Chair.
"Bringing the championship back to Elmira for a second consecutive year amplified the impact we aimed to achieve, and we are very thankful for the support we received from all of our partners."
