Taylor Woods
Taylor Cassidy Woods (born September 26, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and strongwoman, currently playing in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Toronto Six. A defenceman who has also played as a two-way forward, she is both a Clarkson Cup champion and an Isobel Cup champion.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 26, 1994 Morden, Manitoba, Canada | |||||||||||||||||
| Education | Cornell University | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Strongwoman | |||||||||||||||||
| Weight class | Under-64 kg | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Playing career
Woods began playing in the Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League (SFU18AAAHL), the top minor ice hockey league in the province, as a high school freshman with the Notre Dame Hounds of Athol Murray College of Notre Dame. She was the team’s top point scorer in her first season, notching 23 points in 28 games, and was a top-three point scorer on the team in the following two seasons. With the Hounds, Woods won gold at the 2011 Esso Cup, Canada’s national women's midget hockey championship, in addition to setting a tournament record with 12 assists.[1][2]
During her senior year, 2011–12, she played in the Junior Women's Hockey League (JWHL) with the Balmoral Hall Blazers of Balmoral Hall School and set a team record for assists in a season, with 41 assists in 30 games.
NCAA
Woods joined the Cornell Big Red women's ice hockey program in 2012, beginning as a third-line centre and playoff specialist during her rookie NCAA season. She scored in her first game with the university, finishing her rookie year with 22 points, good for third on the team in goals, including a hat-trick in the ECAC Hockey Tournament Semifinal.[3] For her third year with the university, she switched positions to play as a defenceman, before moving back to forward for her senior season. She finished her time at Cornell with 81 points in 131 games and remains the sixth leading all-time short handed scorer for the team.[4]
Professional
Woods was drafted 23rd overall by the Brampton Thunder in the 2016 CWHL Draft and signed with the team ahead of the 2016–17 season.[5] The team moved from Brampton to Markham, Ontario and were renamed the Markham Thunder in 2017. Woods stuck with the team through the move and won the Clarkson Cup, the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) championship trophy, with the Thunder in 2018.
The 2018–19 season was her third with the Thunder. Though she didn’t know it at the time, she scored the last regular season goal in league history as the CWHL collapsed in May 2019.
In May 2019, she joined the newly formed Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), which emerged following the collapse of the CWHL. During the 2019–20 PWHPA Dream Gap Tour, she played for Team Johnston at the Unifor Women's Hockey Showcase in September 2019 and for Team Spooner at the Secret Women's Hockey Showcase in January 2020.[6]
She opted to part ways with the PWHPA in April 2020 and signed with the Toronto Six, the first Canadian expansion team of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; renamed Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) in 2021), as one of the original five players to join the team, and was named an alternate captain.[7][8] Her first NWHL goal was scored on January 24, 2021 versus the Minnesota Whitecaps and she scored a total of 4 goals in the six game regular season, shorted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
Woods resigned with the Six for the 2021–22 PHF season and had the most offensively productive season of her professional career, scoring 3 goals and 14 assists for 17 points in twenty games.
International
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada | ||
| Women's ice hockey | ||
| World U18 Championship | ||
.svg.png.webp){kind=icon} | 2012 Czech Republic | |
Woods competed as member of Team Canada at the 2012 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship.[10] She joined a roster filled with other future hockey stars, including Cayley Mercer, Laura Stacey, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, and future Toronto Six teammate Elaine Chuli.[11] Woods scored Canada’s opening goal of the tournament, in their match against Switzerland, and was named best player of the game by the team.[12] She finished the tournament with three goals and three assists and her performance helped Team Canada sweep the tournament and win gold that year.[13]
Strongwoman career
Woods placed first in the under-64 kg (141 lb) weight category of the 2023 Arnold Amateur Strongwoman World Championship at the Arnold Sports Festival.[14]
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2008-09 | Notre Dame Hounds | SFMAAAHL | 28 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |||
| 2009-10 | Notre Dame Hounds | SFMAAAHL | 28 | 19 | 25 | 44 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 8 | ||
| 2010-11 | Notre Dame Hounds | SFMAAAHL | 28 | 22 | 32 | 54 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 12 | ||
| 2011-12 | Balmoral Hall Blazers | JWHL | 30 | 21 | 41 | 62 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2012-13 | Cornell Big Red | NCAA | 33 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 32 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2013-14 | Cornell Big Red | NCAA | 34 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 27 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2014 -15 | Cornell Big Red | NCAA | 33 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 22 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2015-16 | Cornell Big Red | NCAA | 31 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 16 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2016-17 | Brampton Thunder | CWHL | 20 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2017-18 | Markham Thunder | CWHL | 28 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2018-19 | Markham Thunder | CWHL | 26 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2019-20 | GTA West | PWHPA | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2020-21 | Toronto Six | NWHL | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2021-22 | Toronto Six | PHF | 20 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2022-23 | Toronto Six | PHF | 22 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| NCAA totals | 131 | 33 | 48 | 81 | 97 | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| CWHL totals | 74 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| PHF totals | 48 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 30 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||||
Awards and honors
| Award | Year |
|---|---|
| Hockey Canada | |
| Esso Cup Gold Medal | 2011 |
| International | |
| World U18 Gold Medal | 2012 |
| Cornell Big Red | |
| ECAC Rookie of the Week | November 20, 2012[15] |
| ECAC All-Tournament Team | 2013 |
| All-Ivy Second Team | 2016[16] |
| CWHL | |
| Clarkson Cup Champion | 2018 |
| PHF | |
| Isobel Cup Champion | 2023 |
References
- Graves, Wendy (March 30, 2015). "Winning Esso: Notre Dame Hounds (2011)". Hockey Canada. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- "Coupe Esso Cup – 2017 Guide and Record Book / Guide et livre des records 2017" (PDF). Hockey Canada. 2017. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- Kantor, Jack (August 24, 2016). "Cassandra Poudrier '16 and Taylor Woods '16 Selected in CWHL Draft". The Cornell Daily Sun. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
- "2015–16 Women's Ice Hockey Roster: #6 Taylor Woods". Cornell University Athletics. Archived from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- Staffieri, Mark (December 15, 2017). "Markham Thunder Feature Versatile Talent in Taylor Woods". Women's Hockey Life. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- Staffieri, Mark (December 9, 2019). "PWHPA Spotlight: Dream Gap Tour | Toronto Unifor Showcase Recap". Women's Hockey Life. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- Murphy, Mike (May 22, 2020). "Toronto's offense already looks dangerous". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- Spencer, Donna (August 22, 2020). "NWHL confirms plans to expand into Toronto". Sportsnet. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- "Away Whitecaps vs Home Toronto Jan 24, 2021 at 1:00pm EST at: Herb Brooks Arena - 6 – 5 FINAL SO". March 3, 2021. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- Graves, Wendy (August 24, 2016). "In a league of their own". Hockey Canada. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- Book, Jared (March 7, 2019). "'You take away the gold medal and you have that forever': A look back at Canada's 2012 Women's Under-18 team". Eyes On The Prize. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- "IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship – Best Players per Game" (PDF). stats.iihf.com. International Ice Hockey Association. January 7, 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- Lipscombe, Kristen (April 27, 2012). "A Taylor Made Recipe for Success Notre Dame Alumnae Joins Exclusive Group As World and National Champion". Hockey Canada. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- Blechman, Phil (March 7, 2023). "2023 Arnold Amateur Strongman and Strongwoman Championships Results". BarBend. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
- "2012–13 ECAC Women's Weekly Awards" (PDF). ECAC Hockey. November 20, 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
- "Women's Ice Hockey All-Ivy, Postseason Awards Announced". The Ivy League. February 25, 2016. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
- Taylor Woods on Twitter