This is a reposting (with permission) from rec.sports.hockey ...
 
>From: [log in to unmask] (Andria L. Hunter)
>Subject: Womens' Hockey in USA and Canada
>Date: 13 Jan 91 18:35:55 GMT
>
>I recently posted an article about womens' hockey to this news-
>group and got quite a positive response.  I received a reply
>from [log in to unmask] but experienced difficulty when trying to
>return the mail, so I have decided to post my reply to these
>questions here as they may be of interest to other people too.
>
>>I was reading through the articles in rec.sport.hockey
>>and came across yours about womens hockey.
>>I had noooooooo clue that womens hockey was fairly
>>organized within the college system.
>
>Yes, it is quite organized, but unfortunately it is not very well
>publicized.  Scholarships are even given in the United States for
>Womens' hockey as I mentioned in the rec.hockey article I posted.
>Here is a list of the teams who are active in the United States...
>
>COLLEGE VARSITY PROGRAMS             COLLEGE CLUB PROGRAMS
>
>Bowdoin College                      Babson
>Brown University                     Boston College
>Colby College                        Boston University
>Cornell University                   Colgate
>Dartmouth College                    Colorago College
>Harvard University                   Connecticut College
>Middlebury College                   Hamilton
>Univ. of New Hampshire               Maine
>Northeastern University              Minnesota
>Princeton University                 Minnesota-Duluth
>Providence College                   MIT
>Rochester Inst. of Tech              RPI
>Skidmore College                     University of Connecticut
>St. Lawrence University              University of Penn.
>Wesleyan University                  Vermont
>Williams                             Wisconsin
>Yale University
>
>There are three divisions.  I played for the University of New Hampshire
>which was a division I team.  The most competive teams are Providence
>College, Northeastern University and the University of New Hampshire.
>The teams compete for the ECAC title.  There is no NCAA in this
>sport because the teams are only concentrated on the east side of
>the Country.
>
>>Did you play in college competitively, or was this intramural??
>
>As mentioned above, it was quite competive.  The University of
>New Hampshire gave me a full scholarship to play for them.  They
>paid for my tuition, room, board, books, equipment, and of course
>all travel, meal and hotel expences for "away" games.
>
>Currently I am playing for the University of Toronto (I am a Canadian
>from Peterborough, Ontario) (I graduated from the University of New
>Hampshire and am currently working on my Master's in Computer Science
>at U of T).  We play against other Universities within Ontario ...
>the teams in our league are ...
>
>Guelph University
>McMaster University
>Queen's University
>University of Toronto
>York University
>
>I am also aware that there are organized university teams in Eastern
>Canada, but I am not sure which Universities have teams.  I know for
>sure that the following teams exist.
>
>Concordia University
>John Abbott College
>McGill University
>University of New Brunswick
>
>Within Ontario there is an organization called OWHA (Ontario Womens'
>Hockey Association).  There are numerous age divisions and levels
>ranging from "atom" all the way up to "senior", which is an open age
>category.  The majority of the players who played on the Canadian
>National team in the world tournament last spring are from Ontario
>and play on teams in the Senior "AA" division.  As well as playing
>for the Universtiy of Toronto I am currently playing on a team in
>this league called the Scarborough FireFighters.  Teams in the OWHA
>represent various cities and towns within Ontario.  Within Ontario
>each division and category competes for the Ontario Championship.
>At the Senior "AA" level, there is also a National Tournament where
>the best team from each province competes for the Canadian National
>title.
>
>>Out here in Calif. we have
>>some Co-ed college hockey teams but I haven't heard of
>>teams exclusively for women.
>>I currently play on a Co-ed hockey team.
>
>In Ontario especially, there is such an interest in womens' hockey
>that there are enough females to make up all-female teams.  It
>is common to have Co-ed pickup hockey teams, but you will no
>longer find organized Co-ed teams in Ontario.
>
>>Are the women playing full contact hockey in these games.
>
>Just two years ago body contact was removed from ALL levels and
>divisions of Womens' hockey in Ontario.  In both the Canadian
>and American University hockey programs, there is no body
>contact.  However, there was body contact in the International
>tournament which was held last spring in Ottawa.
>
>To give you an idea about how serious womens' hockey is taken
>at the University level ...
>When I played for the University of New Hampshire we practiced
>every day of the week (occasionally with the excepion of Sunday)
>(for 2 hours) which we did not already have a game on.  At the
>Unversity of Toronto, our budget isn't quite as large, but we
>still practice three times a week (2 hour practices).
>
>>I presumed that Canada had a team because I read a while ago
>>that Team Canada won the womens championship.
>
>Yes, this is true.  The other countries which also had teams
>participating in this tournament are ...
>
>Canada (gold)
>United States (silver)
>Finland (bronze)
>Sweden (4th place)
>Japan
>W.Germany
>Norway
>Switzerland
>
>I am aware that there are countries other than these which
>also have womens' hockey teams.
>
>I did try out for the Canadian National team, and made it
>to the final cuts.  Two of my former team-mates from the
>University of New Hampshire were members of team USA.
>The majority of players on team USA were from American
>college teams, whereas the majority of players on team
>Canada were from the Ontario Senior AA league.  The
>Canadian team was older on average than the Americans
>... this experience may have given them an edge.
>
>>I would love to hear more news about womens hockey
>>around the country. I don't know much about it so you'd be
>>informing a beginner, but I'd be grateful to learn about the
>>teams.
>
>I will do what I can about keeping people in this newsgroup informed
>about womens hockey.
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
>|                         |                                               |
>|  Andria L. Hunter       |    mail:   [log in to unmask]      |
>|_________________________|_______________________________________________|