On Saturday, February 5, the Varsity Blues women’s hockey program celebrates the 18 players and eight staff who completed the perfect season, going 35-0-0 and earning the 2000-01 OUA and CIS championship titles.

Prior to their final regular season home game versus the York Lions, the current Blues will honour the 2000-01 squad in a pre-game ceremony at 4 p.m. Those unable to make the trip can catch all the action live on SSN Canada through varsityblues.ca.

The Blues cruised through the 2000-01 regular season to a perfect 22-0-0 record, outscoring their opponents 114-14 in the process. U of T earned the OUA banner in convincing fashion, bettering cross town rivals York Lions 4-1 in semi-final action before handily defeating the Laurier Golden Hawks 5-0 in the gold-medal game.

Toronto lived up to their No. 1 seeding at the 2001 CIS (then CIAU) championship in Calgary. The Blues opened the tournament with a dominant 12-1 victory over the host Calgary Dinos and went on to defeat the McGill Martlets 4-1 in the semifinal.

The Blues then gutted out a close 4-3 victory over the Regina Cougars to claim the University of Toronto’s first national championship in women’s hockey.

The win marked the end of a dream season in which the Varsity Blues beat every other top ranked team in the nation, including Regina, Concordia, Alberta, McGill and Saskatchewan.

Team captain and all-Canadian Jen Rawson was named the 2000-01 CIS championship most valuable player, while head coach Karen Hughes earned both provincial and national coach of the year honours. Alison Houston was the top goaltender in the country that season, with a 0.400 GAA and nine shutouts in 15 regular season games played.

TICKETS are $10 for adults, $5 for youth and non-U of T students, U of T students and children 12 and under are free. Advance sales are available through http://www.ticketbreak.com or by calling 1.866.9.GET TIX (943-8849).

For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite U of T athletes and teams, please visit www.varsityblues.ca. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest and greatest in Varsity Blues intercollegiate athletics.