GUELPH, Ont. – The reigning OUA champion Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team will drop the puck on a new season on Friday night (Oct. 16) in Ottawa. The Gryphons take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the nation's capital on Friday night, in a
rematch of last season's McCaw Cup final which saw Guelph defeat Ottawa 2-1 for their 8th conference championship in program history. The Gryphons qualified for nationals last season, their first appearance at a national championship tournament since 2018-19, where they finished in fourth place. We get you set for the season ahead, with a look at the 2026-27 edition of the University of Guelph women's hockey team.
"We look forward to building off the momentum that was created last season," says Gryphons women's hockey head coach,
Katie Mora, who enters her fourth season in charge of the University of Guelph women's hockey program. "There is opportunity for players to step into different roles and we are excited to see our incoming athletes continue to push to make an impact. With the parody in our league, we know that every game is a challenge so preparation and execution will be critical."
The 26-game regular season schedule format remains unchanged from last season, with each team playing each other home-and-away. The 14 teams in the province are split into two divisions of 7 teams, with the Gryphons competing out of the OUA West division. The playoff format also remains unchanged, as the No. 4 and No. 5-seeds within each division will matchup in a single-elimination play-in game. Following the play-in game, the OUA quarterfinals will turn into a best-of-three series as both divisions will see a pair of matchups between the No. 1 seed & the play-in winner and the No. 2 & No. 3 seeds. The OUA semifinal round is also a best-of-three series with the winners crossing over and playing a team in the opposite division to determine the participants in the single-game McCaw Cup championship final, set to take place on Saturday, March 20, 2027, hosted by the team with the best regular season record. The national championship tournament will take place in Fredericton, New Brunswick from the Aitken University Centre (Mar. 25-28, 2027), with the University of New Brunswick serving as hosts of the 2027 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championships.
Forwards
The forward group sees the return of
Maeve Sutherland-Case, their leading goal scorer of last season. The fifth-year animal biology major led the team, scoring 13 goals and was second on the team with 19 points. Sutherland-Case had a phenomenal postseason for the Gryphs, scoring twice while also recording three assists. Sutherland-Case has broken double-digits in goals scored in back-to-back seasons and was named an OUA West Second Team All-Star last season.
Deija Houston is back for her third season in Guelph after breaking out last season, scoring 9 goals which was the second-most on the team.
Jadyn Calder is a consistent presence in the Gryphon forward group as a playmaker. The fourth-year criminal justice and public policy major from Baden, ON had the third-most assists a year ago with 10 and was fourth on the team with 13 points. Third-year forward
Myriam Parnell returns after a strong postseason which saw her record 4 points in 6 playoff games.
Katie Dance and
Alexie Olivier are also back for the Gryphons this season, each tallying 10 and 9 points respectively last season.
Tessa Burdett (Stratford, ON),
Anika Mahon (Mississauga, ON) and
Maggie Alcock (Komoka, ON) are incoming first-year student-athletes join the forward group for this season.
Defence
The Gryphon blueline is led by
Maddie Min and
Reese Coffey. Min took a major step forward in the 2025-26 season as she was second among Gryphon blueliners with 12 points. The third-year bio-medical science major shined during the postseason, scoring twice while adding two assists during her team's McCaw Cup run.
Reese Coffey led the defence last season with 4 goals scored as she provides plenty of offence from the blueline for the team. Coffey had 8 points last season and was named to the U SPORTS All-Rookie Team in 2023-24.
Avery Robinson is back for her third season as a key member of the blueline that only conceded 32 goals all last season. Joinng the Gryphon blueline this season is first-year student-athlete
Olivia Weiss (St. Jacobs, ON) and
Georgia Sambrano (Mississauga, ON), transferring in from Colgate in the NCAA ranks.
Goalies
Sophie Helfenstein returns in net for the Gryphons following an outstanding 2025-26 season that cemented her as one of the top goalies in the OUA. The fourth-year molecular biology and genetics major from Ajax started 20 of her team's games and won 15 of her starts (2nd in OUA) with a 1.20 GAA (3rd in OUA) and .944 save percentage (3rd in OUA). She led the conference with 8 shutouts last season earning her OUA Second Team All-Star status. Third-year goalie
Alysse Wilkinson will be pushing to make an impact this season as recorded a 25 save shutout against TMU last season.
Ella Gracey (St. Marys, ON) joins the Gryphon goalie room for her first season with the program.
The Gryphons women's hockey team will open their season with a pair of road games in Ottawa when they take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday (Oct. 16) and Carleton Ravens on Saturday (Oct. 17). The home opener for the reigning McCaw Cup champions is set to take place on October 23 when they host the Queen's Gaels from the Gryphon Centre Arena with puck drop scheduled for 7:30pm.
