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. The CWHL ceased operations in 2019 and no further statements or actions were taken with the franchise.
Team history
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).
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.
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. 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. In the second period of said contest, Scanzano scored the game-winning goal as the Thunder defeated the Lakers 3–1.
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, 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 east, to Markham, Ontario, 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. 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.
Season-by-season 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 24 10 12 2 71 83 22 3rd Eliminated 2013 Clarkson Cup round-robin 2013–14 24 5 16 3 43 99 13 5th Did not qualify 2014–15 24 6 16 2 46 98 14 5th Did not qualify 2015–16 24 16 7 1 91 67 33 3rd Lost 2016 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 0–2 vs. Calgary Inferno 2016–17 24 13 10 1 76 63 26 3rd Lost 2017 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 0–2 vs. Les Canadiennes de Montreal 2017–18 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 Date NCAA school Score Goal scorers Oct. 25, 2011 Cornell Big Red women's ice hockey Cornell, 6–0 None Nov. 2, 2011 Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey Brampton, 3–1 Jayna Hefford, Jesse Scanzano, Vicki Bendus Sept. 22, 2018 Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey Markham, 3–1 Jamie Lee Rattray, Ella Matteucci, Nicole Kosta
CWHL draft picks The following is a listing of their top draft picks. For full draft information, please see the respective draft pages. Draft PickPlayer Former team2010 5 Delaney Collins Alberta Pandas women's ice hockey2011 4 Vicki Bendus Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey20116 Courtney Birchard New Hampshire Wildcats women's ice hockey20151 Sarah Edney Harvard University2016 3Laura Stacey Dartmouth College20173 Nicole Kosta Quinnipiac University20183Victoria BachBoston University
Team captains Year(s) Captain2011–13 Jayna Hefford2013–14 Tara Gray2014–19Jocelyne Larocque
Scoring leaders Year-by-year Season Leader (F)GPGAPts Leader (D)GPGAPtsPPGSHGGWG2008–09 Jayna Hefford 27 26 32 58 Molly Engstrom 28 9 11 20 Engstrom (7) Lori Dupuis (2) Hefford (6)2010–11 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 Gillian Apps 27 19 20 39 Molly Engstrom 27 4 23 27 Jayna Hefford (8) Cherie Piper (1) Apps (4)2012–13 Jayna Hefford 21 15 12 27 Courtney Birchard 24 0 9 9 Gillian Apps (5) Three tied with 1 Apps (3)2013–14 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 12015–16 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)NoneJones (3)2017-18Jamie Lee Rattray28221739Kristen Barbara284812Kristen Richards (4)Rattray (1)Rattray, Jenna McParland, Kristen Richards, Taylor Woods (2)2018-19Victoria Bach26191332Laura Fortino2651318
All-time leaders
Awards winners Lori Dupuis, Top forward in the 2010 Clarkson Cup Molly Engstrom, Top defender in the 2010 Clarkson Cup Bobbi-Jo Slusar, Player of the Game, 2010 Clarkson Cup Final Courtney Birchard, Outstanding Rookie of the Year, 2011 Liz Knox, Top Goaltender of the Clarkson Cup, 2012 Laura Fortino, Defensemen of the Year, 2015–16 Tyler Fines, Coach of the Year, 2015–16 Jess Jones, Co-winner, 2017 Angela James Bowl Laura Stacey, Rookie of the Year, 2016–17 Jamie Lee Rattray, 2018 Jayna Hefford Trophy Erica Howe, Most Valuable Player, 2018 Clarkson Cup Victoria Bach, Rookie of the Year, 2018–19 Jim Jackson, Coach of the Year, 2018–19
Notable players Gillian Apps Victoria Bach Megan Bozek Delaney Collins Lori Dupuis Molly Engstrom Laura Fortino Jayna Hefford Erica Howe Jocelyne Larocque Cherie Piper Jamie Lee Rattray Laura Stacey Vicky Sunohara
Honours
As the Brampton Thunder The Abby Hoffman Cup (Canadian champions): 2005-06 NWHL Cup (playoff champion): 1998-99 NWHL Central Division (regular season): 2004-05, 2006-07 Ontario Women's Hockey Association (Ontario AAA champions): 2002-03, 2004-05, 2005-06
As the Brampton Canadette-Thunder CWHL Championship (playoff champion): 2007-08 Central Division (regular season): 2007-08
As the Markham Thunder Clarkson Cup (Canadian champions): 2017-18
References
External links