A lasting legacy: Howie Draper wraps up extraordinary tenure with Pandas Hockey

The winningest coach in U SPORTS women’s hockey history has called it a career, as the 2025/26 season is the last behind the Pandas bench for Howie Draper. 

Draper has coached the Pandas Hockey program for all but one season of their existence, winning a record 15 Canada West titles, eight U SPORTS national championships, and 715 games. He was hired in the summer of 1997 as the first coach in team history, and spent nearly three decades establishing the Pandas as the most successful team in the history of U SPORTS women’s hockey.

Draper’s Hall of Fame career includes being an eight-time Canada West Coach of the Year, a four-time U SPORTS Coach of the Year, along with 465 conference wins, the most of any coach in University of Alberta history. He was the inaugural coach of the PWHL’s New York franchise in 2023/24. 

He has also been inducted in the Alberta Hockey and City of Edmonton Sports Hall of Fames, with the 2002-2007 Pandas Hockey dynasty, which won five national championships and six-straight Canada West championships, being inducted onto the U of A Sports Wall of Fame in 2020. In 2025, he was given the Hockey Canada Gordon Jukes Award for outstanding contribution to the development of amateur hockey in Canada at the national level, and in 2007 earned the University of Alberta Alumni Excellence Award.

“The best coaches don’t just change what happens on the ice, they change what people believe is possible in themselves and in each other. That’s what Howie has done here. He has been a builder of excellence, but also of culture, trust, and belief,” said U of A Director of Athletics, Leah Pezer. “His imprint on Pandas Hockey is lasting, and we are better because of it.”

Outside of his U of A resume, Draper also has extensive international coaching experience, most recently guiding Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2022 World Under-18 Championship in Wisconsin. He has also spent time as an assistant coach with the Women's National Team, and was the head coach of the 2013 Canadian FISU Team in Trentino, Italy.

“I'll be forever grateful to Ian Reade and the University of Alberta for providing me the opportunity to play a significant part in bringing the Pandas Hockey program to life. I am proud of having had the chance to coach among an outstanding stable of sport leaders at the U of A, and proud to do my part to contribute in my own way to the tradition of excellence that our Athletics department has become known for.”

Prior to his coaching career, Draper was a standout on the Golden Bears Hockey team, patrolling the blue-line from 1985-1990 under head coaches Clare Drake and Billy Moores. As a student-athlete, he helped lead the Bears to a 1986 University Cup title, and 1989 Canada West Championship. 

A national-wide search to find the next head coach of the Pandas Hockey program will begin later this spring.