Red Wings Tournament | Teams & Club Information | Picture Archive | Contact | Home
 
 
About Red Wings
The Willowdale Red Wings are the girls' hockey portion of the Willowdale Sports Club - a community group run in the north central part of the City of Toronto since the early 1970s.

The Willowdale Red Wings strive to provide top level competitive teams to play in the LLFHL (Lower Lakes Female Hockey League) operating under Ontario Women's Hockey Association sanction (OWHA).
 
ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT 2013-14 REDWING SEASON
Given the myriad opportunities for young women to play competitive hockey offered by other organizations in the city and the GTA, it has been decided that the Redwings organization will not attempt to ice any teams in the coming season.

The next 8 months will be a period of reflection by the Willowdale Sports Club and those involved with the Redwings.  Should interest be shown by coaches and players, the Redwings will attempt to ice teams for the 2014-2015 season.  Interested parties should contact the Redwings through the
hockey@redwings.ca email address prior to November 15, 2013 so together with them the Redwings can assess future prospects.

In 1996 the Board of the Willowdale Sports Club approved the formation of a junior girls hockey division of the Club.  The Willowdale Redwings started with 4 teams: an Atom team, two Peewee teams and a Midget team.  Some players on those inaugural teams stayed with the Redwings and contributed as we expanded to having up to five teams playing competitive hockey.  Through the help of various volunteer coaches and managers 62 teams of young ladies have played under the Redwing banner since that opening season.  Some of those players have assisted with younger teams over the years.  Most recently players from the MA team have assisted Willowdale Sports Club with their Tyke program for new hockey players.

Female hockey, and hockey in general, has evolved since the mid-1990s.  Age categories have changed, and the Junior program has become an important opportunity for young women to play the game at the highest level before attending college or university.  Female hockey organizations in the GTA area have expanded since 1996 but there have also been changes in demographics in the region.  These changes have made it more and more difficult for the Redwings to ice younger teams to provide continuity to the program.  In April 2009 the Redwings were unable to find sufficient players to form an Atom age team.  The Peewee age teams disappeared in 2011, and this season there was no Bantam age team.  Without a core of players to fill the spots left as players move up to an older age team, the program becomes less and less able to maintain the standards all have valued with the Redwings.

Discussing the upcoming season with the current Midget Head Coaches I learned that neither intends to return to coaching next year.  Personally, I appreciate the efforts of Rick Maisonneuve and his staff, particularly as they persevered after Norm Maisonneuve, who was going to be the head coach of the MAA team, died last summer.  The long term association of Mike Du Maresq and his staff with the players on the MA team will come to an end as many of those players move on to college, university and even MAA teams.  These developments called for an evaluation of the future of the Redwings and, in the short term, it was decided not to ice any teams for the 2013-14 season.

I would like to thank all the coaches and managers who have assisted in running the 62 teams the Redwings have iced over the past 17 years.  I have appreciated the opportunity to oversee the organization and watch players grow, going on to bigger things.  It is particularly gratifying to see many of the players from the early years still enjoy playing the game.

I would be remiss to not thank several special individuals who provided support to both the Redwings and myself over the years.  The late Jim Dysart who acted as the General Manager of the Redwings in the early years was instrumental in developing the procedures and practices the organization has followed.  My thanks to  Rick Campbell who took over as General Manager from Jim and coached a number of teams.  Over the years the support of two long time Redwings coaches, Peter Manza and Dario Giancola, was important to the organization.  Peter, who joined the Redwings coaching staff as an assistant with Dario when his daughter was playing, rejuvenated the younger age teams, building an Atom team from a few inexperienced players into a team that challenged its opponents in every game.  Dario joined the Redwings in the 2001-02 season with a Bantam team, not recognizing that by the end of that season he would be doing double duty with both the Bantam and Midget program.  He went on to coach the Midget team until the end of the 2007-08 season when he left for a Junior team Head Coach position.  The following year he came back to the Redwings and assisted various Midget coaches until the end of the 2010-11 season.  He is still the Coach Emeritus for the Redwings, and someone I can talk to concerning coaching and other hockey related issues.
 
Thank you for your support!
   
Site Maintenance by AIS More Red Wing pics are in the Picture Archive