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Clarkson Cup

The Clarkson Cup is a wonderful realization of a dream that began while Adrienne Clarkson was at Rideau Hall as Governor General. The fact of having a challenge cup for women’s hockey will help to fuel the dreams of young girls and women who love our national game and want to play it. Adrienne Clarkson recalls that while growing up there was no opportunity for girls to get on a hockey rink and if you didn’t want to be a figure skater you couldn’t have your dreams fulfilled by playing Canada’s game. She wants this Cup to help every young girl in Canada know that she can participate in the best game on ice in the world.

The Clarkson Cup bears Adrienne Clarkson’s coat of arms on one side and on the other the image of the Inuit goddess Sedna who is the mother of all creatures of the sea and has dominion over all the creatures in the sea. Sedna is the most powerful spirit of the ocean with her home on the ocean floor. She has the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish. On the Cup Sedna is portrayed holding a hockey stick in one hand and a puck in the other, lending her strength to the power of women’s hockey.

She wanted this image of the North on our women’s hockey cup because without the North we would not have ice and snow and we would not have invented the game of hockey. The source of our strength in this game lies in our strength as a Northern nation and our ability to make ice the heart of our beloved national game.