By Jonathan Greenan
The Fulcrum

OTTAWA (CUP) - Somewhere, the unknown graffiti artists who hit the campus of the University of Ottawa one chalk-filled night last October are smiling.

The words on the walls that greeted university administrators the next morning called for more opportunities for women to participate in sports at the University of Ottawa.

And, beginning this fall, at least one new opportunity does exist, thanks to the long overdue establishment of a competitive women's hockey team.

Ottawa will compete in the Quebec Student Sports Federation (QSSF) against McGill, Concordia and the University of Quebec ( Trois Rivieres).

The team will play a 20-game schedule, and the first puck will drop on Oct. 8 for an exhibition game against College St. Laurent.

The team's head coach is Normand Chouinard, a Human Kinetics professor at the U of O, who brings plenty of experience behind the bench.

In the 1980s, he coached the Ottawa U Gee-Gee men's team for three seasons and has worked as a consultant for the Ottawa Senators.

Already, Chouinard can see enthusiasm building among his potential players.

"I've been in touch with about 30 women over the summer, meeting some of them personally," said Chouinard.

"Girls already in their third or fourth years at the university have called looking for information, and so have new students from out of province. I'm expecting to hear from even more when people begin arriving on campus."

Chouinard was, along with one of his students, instrumental in bringing women's hockey to the U of O.

"In the fall I taught a course called 'the Coaching of Ice Hockey' in which 20 of my 37 students were female," explained Chouinard. "One of these students was Angela Martin."

Martin is a third-year Human Kinetics student at the U of O and the new hockey team's assistant coach.

Her more famous father is Ottawa Senators headman Jacques Martin. She spearheaded the drive that eventually yielded the new team.

In early 1999, Sports Services performed an internal audit on their competitive sports roster and invited proposals for potential new programs.

Martin went to Chouinard and the two drafted a proposal for the women's hockey team. Sports Services approved the application in June.

However, the team does not yet hold the coveted varsity - more heavily funded - status in the university's eyes.

Though they will compete against other schools, the lack of a full-time paid staff and a big budget relegate the women's hockey program to that of club status.

This means plenty of fundraising for the girls who will be the first to wear the Gee-Gee colours.

"We will be looking to the community as well as some alumni for support, in addition to that which Sports Services will give us," said Chouinard.

"The girls who make the team will have to contribute about $250 out of their own pockets to compete, a figure that is in line with other competitive women's leagues around."