BIOGRAPHY OF

ANGELA JAMES

Angela James, who was dubbed the ‘Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey,’ was born 

December 22, 1964 in Toronto, Ontario. 

James grew up playing road hockey with the boys in her neighbourhood. During that 

era, it was impossible for Angela to find a women’s ice hockey team, so she played on 

boys’ teams, although struggled to get ice time. She played hockey at Seneca College, 

and led her team to several championships, eventually being honoured with having her 

number 8 retired by the school.

Beginning in the late-1970s, Angela played in the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, 

where she dominated. While leading her team to numerous OWHA league and provincial 

championships, she was the leading scorer in eight seasons and most valuable player 

in six. Her style was described as a combination of the aggressiveness of Mark Messier 

combined with the pure goal-scoring talent of Mike Bossy. 

In 1990, she was selected to join Canada’s team at the inaugural Women’s Championship, 

held in Ottawa, where she led the team to the gold medal with 11 goals in 5 games. She 

also led the Women’s Team to gold medals in 1992 in Tampere, Finland, 1994 in Lake 

Placid, United States and 1997 in Kitchener, Ontario. In 1996 and 1999, James led 

Canada to gold medals in the Three Nations Cup. Another gold medal was earned by 

the James-led Canadian team at the Pacific Rim International tournament.

In a controversial decision, Angela was excluded from Team Canada Women’s Team for 

the 1998 Winter Olympics. Pundits were shocked -- from 1987 until that time, James had 

been Canada’s perennial scoring threat no matter where and when she played.

In 2005, Hockey Canada honoured Angela with the Female Breakthrough Award, given 

for making significant contributions to the promotion and/or development of hockey for 

girls and women in Canada.

 

Angela was inducted into both the Black Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario 

Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2008, she was one of 

three women inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame, 

the first in the Federation’s history, joined by Cammi Granato and Geraldine Heaney. 

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame inducted James in 2009. 

Black Canadian Curriculum – ETFO – 2014