CALGARY – A group of University of Calgary alumni and supporters has teamed up to recognize the Hockey Hall of Fame induction of University of Calgary Dinos women's hockey head coach Danielle Goyette with the creation of a new financial award for student-athletes.

The anonymous group has fully endowed the funds to create the Danielle Goyette Women's Hockey Scholarship, which will provide funding to two student-athletes on the Dinos women's hockey team each year. The scholarship value will be $2,017, in honour of Danielle's year of induction, and the awards will be available in perpetuity beginning this fall.

"The creativity and thoughtfulness of these UCalgary alumni and supporters is inspirational and exemplifies the true philanthropic spirit of many residents in the City of Calgary," said Alex Molotsky, associate director of development for Dinos Athletics.

"I am truly honoured by the creation of a scholarship in my name," said Goyette, who became just the fifth women enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 18. "It's humbling to know that this scholarship will benefit players long after my time with the Dinos is done, and I'm thankful to this group for providing the funds to support our student-athletes."

Goyette was one of the early stars for Canada in women's hockey. After taking up the game later in life, she spent 15 seasons on the national team finishing her career with 113 goals, 105 assists while appearing in 171 games.  Goyette lead team Canada to two golds and one silver medal in the Olympics and eight medals, seven of them gold, in World Championships.

At age 41, Danielle retired from the national team in 2007 and became the fifth head coach in the Dinos program's history that fall. In just five years, she led a team that was competing in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference back to U SPORTS competition and won the program's first national championship in 2012.

Goyette was an assistant coach with Canada's gold medal-winning women's hockey team at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and is now in her 10th season behind the bench with the Dinos.

The announcement comes days before the Dinos take on the Mount Royal University Cougars at Thursday night's Crowchild Classic at the Scotiabank Saddledome, hosted by the Flames Foundation. Women's action gets underway at 4 p.m., with the men to follow at 6:45 p.m.

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