Danielle Bourgeois (2017) - Sports Wall of Fame

Sports Wall of Fame

Danielle Bourgeois

Class
Induction

2017
Sport(s)

Pandas Hockey

• Member of the Pandas hockey team from 1999-2005, serving as the team captain from 2003-2005.
• Five-time Canada West all-star, five-time CIS All-Canadian, two-time CIS Women’s Hockey Player of the Year and the 2000 Canada West and CIAU Rookie of the Year
• Four-time CIS National Champion (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) and five-time Canada West Champion (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
• 2004 and 2005 Bakewell Trophy Award winner as the University of Alberta’s Female Athlete of the Year
• Upon her graduation, Bourgeois was the all-time CIS scoring leader, amassing 106 goals and 212 points in 85 conference games.
• First member of the Alberta Pandas hockey team to be inducted into the University of Alberta Sports Wall of Fame

When trying to picture the epitome of a University of Alberta Panda, one immediately is drawn to former Pandas Hockey player A. Danielle Bourgeois, B.A. (‘05), L.L.B. (‘09) – and the legacy she created over the past 17 years.

From the moment she first stepped on the ice with the Pandas Hockey team in 1999, through her work as an Assistant Coach with Pandas Hockey and the MacEwan University Griffins, and as a highly successful Edmonton lawyer, Bourgeois has been a passionate, devoted, and consummate leader and professional. A large part of her success is also attributed to Pandas head coach Howie Draper, who strived to develop his student-athletes on the ice, and in the classroom.

The Pandas Hockey team, led by Draper was in its infancy when Bourgeois joined for her rookie season in 1999 – 2000. Established in 1997, the program had already begun to emerge as a dominant force in University women’s hockey winning their first two CWUAA Titles, and a CIAU National silver medal. However, their true breakthrough came in Bourgeois’ rookie season, as the Pandas Hockey team captured their first of eight CIAU National Championships.

With a roster chalked full of veteran talent and leadership, few thought Bourgeois would have the immediate impact that she did. However, after her rookie season, she led the team with 29 goals in 29 games, including two in the CIAU National Championship tournament. Her stellar season earned her CWUAA and CIAU Rookie of the Year, the first of many accolades she would garner over her career.

In 2000 – 2001, Bourgeois was absent from the roster, however, the Pandas Hockey team still posted a 13-1-2 first place conference finish, dropping the conference crown match to rivals the Regina Cougars.

The following season (2001 -2002), the Pandas Hockey team began one of the most dominant stretches in University sport history, winning the first three of seven-consecutive Canada West Championships (2002 – 2009), three-straight National Championships (2002, 2003, and 2004), and an undefeated streak that extended to 110 games, ending in 2005 with the program’s second CIS National Silver in Bourgeois’ final game.

Throughout her tenure with the Pandas Hockey team, Bourgeois established herself as one of the best women’s hockey players in Canadian University history, being awarded consecutive CIS Women’s Hockey Player of the Year Awards (2004 & 2005), consecutive University of Alberta Bakewell Trophies as Female Athlete of the Year (2004 & 2005), and earning four straight Team MVP and three Team Leadership awards. Bourgeois finished her University career as the all-time CIS scoring leader, amassing 106 goals and 212 points in 85 conference games.

Not only was her resume on the ice unmatched, but so was her work in the classroom and community. Bourgeois earned Academic All-Canadian status three times (2003, 2004, 2005), and was a CIS Top Eight Academic All-Canadian in her final two seasons. She was also heavily involved with the University Athletics Board, the student-athlete run community-service program.

Bourgeois graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction from the University, and immediately began her journey towards earning a Law degree. During this time, she was also pulling triple duty, playing professional women’s hockey with the Edmonton Chimos of the Western Women’s Hockey League, and assistant coaching with the Pandas Hockey team.

In 2009, Bourgeois graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University, and commenced her career at Field Law as an Articling Student. After being called to the Alberta Bar in 2010, she continued at Field Law as an Associate.

Her ties to the Pandas Hockey team never ended. During her four-year stint as an Assistant Coach from 2007 – 2011, she added her fifth ring, when the Pandas Hockey team won their seventh national title in 2010. She also served on the Executive Board of the Pandas Hockey Alumni Society from 2005 – 2012.

Bourgeois continues to serve the community as an Assistant Coach with the MacEwan University Griffins women’s hockey team, working alongside former Pandas Lindsay McAlpine, Lara Ruppell, Lindsay Inglis, and Katie Stewart.

Since 2012, Bourgeois has transferred her athletic gifts from the ice to the pavement, becoming an avid marathon, ultra-marathon runner, and Ironman triathlete. She has finished over 25 marathons and triathlons, highlighted by competing in the Boston Marathon twice, completing four of six World Major Marathons, winning top female at the Edmonton and Okanagan Marathons in 2014, and placing third female soloist in the Canadian Death Race in 2016.

Bourgeois’ outstanding litigation skills and ongoing contribution to her firm and the Edmonton community, culminated in her recently becoming a Partner at Field Law, after just six years as an Associate.

Bourgeois’ induction will mark a historic milestone, as she becomes the first member of the University of Alberta Pandas Hockey program to be inducted into the Sports Wall of Fame.

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