There is no such thing as total domination in sports, but three schools have combined to come pretty darn close to that in CIS women's field hockey.
The UBC Thunderbirds, with 13 titles, and the University of Victoria Vikes and Toronto Varsity Blues with 11 each, have combined to win 35 of the 37 CIS national championships and produce several Olympians for Canada.
The only outliers to crash the party have been the 1976 Dalhousie Tigers and 2005 Alberta Pandas.
Don't look for anything different this year as the Thunderbirds (8-0) and Varsity Blues (12-0) are ranked first and second, respectively, for the 2012 CIS tournament, which begins today in Toronto.
The UVic Vikes, in the midst of rebuilding with a roster dominated by 12 freshmen and sophomores, are ranked No. 4 and return to the national tournament after having missed it last year for only the second time in the 29-year head coaching tenure of 1984 Los Angeles Olympian Lynne Beecroft.
"We're very young, and underdogs, no doubt. But I'm excited by this group," Beecroft said.
The Vikes, who last won the national title in 2008, are led by CIS and Canada West first-team all-star Kyla Kirby, CIS second-team and Canada West all-star Carly Krestanovich and Canada West all-star Annie Wal-ters-Shumka.
Kirby, out of Lambrick Park Secondary, and Krestanovich, from Fleetwood Park of Surrey, are fourth-year players, while Walters-Shumka is a rookie out of Claremont Secondary. All are defenders, so UVic will be looking for that back-end depth to keep the scores low and win tight games in the national tournament.
UVic (3-4-1) opens today against the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons (8-3-1), led by 2012 CIS MVP Brittany Seidler. The Vikes close out the day with a game against UBC, led by national team standout Kate Gillis, who will be key during this quadrennial in Olympic qualifying play for Rio 2016.
The national championship tournament runs through Sunday.
UBC is the defending champion with a 2011 squad that was led by Vic High-grad and national-teamer Robyn Pendleton. [email protected]
