A new women's hockey league in the west will begin play in October.
The reigning champion Oval X-Treme of Calgary have quit the National Women's Hockey League along with the Edmonton Chimos and the two clubs will form a new league which will also have teams in Vancouver, Regina and Minneapolis.
A news conference has been called for Sunday in Calgary to introduce a board of governors and announce a league name, logo and schedule.
Some of the best female hockey players in Canada, including Olympic champions Hayley Wickenheiser and Cassie Campbell of the X-Treme, will skate in the new league.
``The NWHL has lost two teams but women's hockey in Canada has gained three,'' Kathy Berg, the director of high performance female hockey at the Olympic Oval who helped set up the new league, said from Calgary in an interview Wednesday. ``This is a great development for women's hockey in Canada.
``We needed a league to grow women's hockey in the west and it wasn't happening within the NWHL.''
Wickenheiser, who quit men's hockey in Finland last season, will attend Sunday's news conference along with Campbell.
Calgary and Edmonton joined the NWHL three years ago because they were the only two triple-A teams in Alberta and playing each other all the time became boring and monotonous. But they were limited to exhibition games against Ontario and Quebec teams during the winter, and an annual national tournament to decide a NWHL champion.
``The western teams weren't incorporated into an interlocking (regular-season) schedule, which is what we wanted,'' said Berg. ``So we looked around and realized that there are quite a few good players in the western provinces.
``We sat down and said, `We can't afford to keep flying to the east for exhibition games that don't mean anything.' So we've put a league together out here with more games. It'll be great for the development of women's hockey in the west.''
The new league will be looking to add two more teams next year, said Berg, and the X-Treme and the Chimos still hope to stage exhibition games against teams in the east.
``This all just made common sense to us,'' said Berg.
The NWHL's teams for 2004-2005 are the Toronto Aeros, Brampton Thunder, Oakville Ice, Telus Lightning (Ajax, Ont.), Ottawa Raiders, Montreal Axion and Quebec Avalanche.
A three-year freeze on NWHL expansion was recently lifted. The plan is to grow to 18 teams across North America during the next 10 years.
Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell has been a driving force in the success of the NWHL. The new league will have ``zero impact'' on the established league, which has on its teams the majority of the players on Canada's national team as well as international stars from the United States and Europe.
``The NWHL is stronger every year and continues to be strong,'' she said Wednesday. ``We're the best women's league in the world and we'll continue to attract the most competitive players in the world in showcasing the sport.''
The withdrawal of the Oval X-Treme opens the door for a new NWHL team in Calgary, she said.
``We expect to have a presence in Alberta,'' she said.
Teams in the new league won't be invited to play for the championship trophy of women's hockey in Canada, said Fennell, who added it was unfortunate members of the X-Treme and Chinos no longer will be interacting with the teams in the NWHL.
``We wish them well,'' she added.