The 2016 University Challenge Cup was played at the Markin MacPhail centre at Winsport over the Christmas and New Year's break.  This year's championship featured University ringette teams from across Canada including: Dalhousie University, Carleton University, University of Ottawa, Western Ontario University and from Alberta the University of Lethbridge, University of Northern Alberta (defending champions) and the host University of Calgary Dinos. This was the second year that Calgary had hosted the championship and the Dinos came into the championship as seven time champions since the tournament was started in 1999. Despite their overall success it has been four years since the Dinos lifted the UCC trophy.  The tournament is a four day round robin and single playoff format.

Dinos started day 1 of the tournament by sweeping their competition in a strong team showing.  Offense, defense and goaltending was on display on day 1 as the Dinos shut-out their opposition in both games, defeating Carleton University and provincial rivals University of Lethbridge by scores of 5 - 0 and 6 - 0.  Several Dinos stood out on the first day including forward Cassie Berryman, with a hat trick against Carleton and center Holleigh Ward who scored a pair of goals in both games.  The defense was led by veteran Ashley Miller and goaltender Justina Lem recorded the two shutouts.

Day 2 saw the Dinos looking to continue their winning ways, but the competition proved to be more challenging. Dinos lost both games on day 2 to the University of Ottawa and defending champions University of Alberta by scores of 7 - 5 and 4 - 3.  Dinos were in tough for both games, but failed to see the end result.  In the first game the Dinos were reeling as Ottawa came out fast and strong, however it was the Dinos who were first on the scoreboard. Kristen Jensen scored the games first goal off a feed from Delanie Thorlakson.  The Dinos lead was short lived as Ottawa reeled off five straight goals at the intermission.  Dinos played hard in the second period, but were unable to recover from the first period and final score was 7 - 5 for the University of Ottawa. In a tight second game the Dinos lost to Alberta by a score of 4 - 3 to finish with a record of 2 - 2 after day 2.

With their losses from the second day of the tournament the Dinos needed to win their remaining two games in order to have a chance of moving on to the gold medal game.  Even with two wins on day 3 the Dinos would probably need some help from their competition to move on.  Day 3 saw the Dinos take on Dalhousie Univesity in their first game. Under pressure to win Dinos played a complete game as Justina Lem shut out Dalhousie and the Dinos were victorious by a score of 6 - 0. Dinos forward Morgan Keane was a force in front of the Dalhousie net all game.  Last game of the round robin found the Dinos facing Ontario powerhouse Western University Mustangs. Final score Dinos 6 Mustangs 1.  Dinos had goals scored by six different players, including one from captain and defenseman Rosemary Grover.

Standings at the end of the round robin found Ottawa in first place and advancing to the gold medal final.  Three teams, including Calgary, were tied for second place.  UCC format calls for tie breaker "mini" games to determine the final positions.  Calgary, based on their superior goals for and against earned the bye to the second mini game and the University of Alberta and Western Ontario played off in the first mini game. Alberta came out on top in dramatic fashion as they forced the game into sudden death overtime and scored the game winner on a breakaway just seconds into the overtime period.  Alberta and Calgary would now play to determine the second team in the gold medal final.  With their momentum from the first mini game Alberta pushed hard, but the Dinos fended their opponents off and managed to weather the storm.  Alberta finally broke through the Dinos defense and scored a goal with 4:42 remaining to lead 1 - 0.  Dinos pushed for the equalizer and forward Claire Hinse was able to land the ring from traffic in front of the net to tie the game up with 2:55 left.  Feeling the momentum Dinos continued to push and centre Kristen Jensen was able to grab a rebound off a shot by Amber Zittlau to score the game winning goal, sending the Dinos to the gold medal game and relegating the reigning champions to the bronze.

Gold medal game saw the Dinos facing the University of Ottawa who the Dinos had previously lost to in the round robin play, but the Dinos did not let the previous loss affect them as they scored only 1:27 into the game and after 10 minutes of play the Dinos had found the back of the net an additional four times to take a commanding 5 - 0 lead.  Ottawa was forced to change goalies in an effort to stem the Dinos scoring run and the change in netminders seemed to give Ottawa a boost as they pressured the Dinos defense and goal.  However Justina Lem stood tall and the Dinos ended the first period leading by a score of 6 - 2 with Stephanie Balerud scoring twice in the first period to lead the Dinos scorers. Dinos came out strong in the beginning of the final period with defenseman Jasper Greysson-Wong popping the ring over the Ottawa goalie's shoulder.  Amber Zittlau scored her 4th goal of the game on an assist from Becca Fuller and the Dinos were victorious by a final score of 10 - 3.  After four years of frustration at the UCC the Dinos were back on top and had captured their 8th championship since 1999.

Congratulations to Dinos ringette on winning the 2016 University Challenge Cup.