Michigan Wolverines women's ice hockey
| University of Michigan Women's Ice Hockey | |
|---|---|
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| University | University of Michigan |
| Conference | Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association |
| Governing Body | ACHA Women's Division 1 |
| Head coach | Joe Kolet 1st season, 11–11–0 |
| Assistant coaches | Kalli Bates, Ned Glysson, Gary Quitiquit, Molly McGaan (manager) |
| Arena |
Yost Ice Arena Capacity: 5,800 |
| Location | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Colors | Maize and Blue |
| ACHA Tournament appearances | |
| 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 | |
| Conference Tournament championships | |
| CCWHA: 2000, 2001 | |
| Current uniform | |
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The University of Michigan Women's Ice Hockey team represents the University of Michigan (U-M) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association (CCWHA). The team was founded in 1994 and has been consistently strong throughout its existence, winning a pair of CCWHA playoff titles (in a total of ten appearances in the league championship game) and qualifying for 13 of the 18 ACHA National Tournaments held for women's teams, a number that ranks third all-time behind Massachusetts and Michigan State.
Joe Kolet was hired as the Wolverines' head coach for the 2016–17 season after coaching in a variety of noted girls programs around the state, including Victory Honda, Little Caesars and the USA Hockey Club of Michigan.
The Wolverines were co-founded in 1994 by Sue McDowell, who has remained involved with the team in various capacities throughout its existence (although, emphasizing the difficulty of assembling early club hockey records, Michigan State has claimed that its 1995 founding makes it the oldest women's club hockey team in the state of Michigan). McDowell, a Massachusetts native, moved to Michigan in 1985 and took a job in U-M's IT department as a faculty liaison. She was dismayed at the lack of girls hockey in her new home state, leading to her starting the Wolverines' team and becoming heavily involved in local youth programs.
In 1996–97, the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association was formed (notably pre-dating the women's hockey championships of both the ACHA and NCAA, as well as nearly every other women's college hockey conference), featuring Michigan as one of its charter members and the only team that has participated in each league season to date. The CCWHA provided an unprecedented level of organization and structure to an era when teams often filled out hodgepodge schedules with amateur adult teams and often did not have any sort of championship competition at the end of each season. The Wolverines, along with archrival Ohio State, were among the most immediately successful teams in the CCWHA. At the inaugural 1997 CCWHA tournament, U-M swept a pool including Western Michigan, Bowling Green and Illinois, then beat Michigan State in the semi-finals, before losing to OSU for the championship. The Buckeyes would go on to win the first three CCWHA titles before moving to NCAA Division I in 1999 and becoming a varsity program.
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