Top-ranked UBC looks to turn dominant season into 1st women's hockey championship

Graham Thomas sees a calm confidence and a deep hunger in his team.

Four straight trips to the U Sports women's hockey championships haven't yielded a Golden Path Trophy for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

But this year's veteran squad is determined to come home with the program's first title. Plenty of players on this team have felt the pain of losing at nationals over the past four years, including three first-round exits.

This year's team broke records on its way to nationals, and might just be the strongest UBC team yet.

"They’ve seen teams win it that we beat or teams win it that we should have beat or could have beat," said Thomas, who has been this team's head coach since the 2012-13 season. "It just kind of adds fuel to the fire for those players and coaches who’ve been there."

UBC heads into the 2026 Miller Waste U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship as the top seed among eight qualifying teams.

The tournament begins Thursday at the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, Ont., where the University of Waterloo Warriors will play host for the second season in a row.

You can stream all of the tournament's games on CBC Sports and CBC Gem. The gold-medal game on Sunday at 3 p.m. will also air on CBC TV.

The tournament arrives when women's hockey is more popular than ever, with the PWHL continuing to break attendance and sales records after the Olympics.

For U Sports, it's a chance to shine a spotlight on Canadian university hockey. More than 20 former U Sports athletes have either played in the PWHL, been drafted or served as a reserve player in the league.

"It’s impressive to watch the skill level, the trajectory of girls’ hockey, really, and then for our females who arrive at university level, it’s hopefully that pathway to the next step," said Roly Webster, the director of athletics and recreation at the University of Waterloo.

Here's a preview of the tournament's four opening games.

The Concordia Stingers are looking to capture a fifth Golden Path Trophy, and the team's third in the last five seasons.

Led by four-time U.S. Olympian and two-time U Sports coach of the year, Julie Chu, the Stingers boast the top two scorers in the country in Jessymaude Drapeau and Émilie Lussier.