In 22 seasons, inaugural University of Alberta Pandas Hockey Head Coach Howie Draper has amassed an impressive list of accomplishments, including eight U SPORTS National Championships, two silver medals, 13 Canada West titles and four U SPORTS Coach of the Year awards.

Draper was named Head Coach of the women’s hockey program at this, his alma mater, on Sept. 1, 1997.

Howie Draper first came to the U of A as a Physical Education student in the fall of 1985 after a season with the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders, where he was named the team’s Defenceman of the Year and Rookie of the Year.

Draper went on to play five seasons with the Golden Bears, including their CIS National Championship season of 1985-86. He was named to the 1988-89 CIS All-Tournament team and in 1989-90, as team captain, won the President’s Trophy for leadership and sportsmanship.

After graduating from Alberta with a Physical Education degree in 1990, Draper became Instructor and Director of the U of A Hockey Camp, and that same year he got his start in coaching when he joined the Midget AAA Maple Leaf Athletic Club as an Assistant. After just one season, he headed to Australia where joined the MacQuarie Bears of the New South Wales Super League. Not only did he coach the team, he was named league MVP in 1992.

While Draper continued to coach in the years which followed, 1997 turned out to be Howie’s big year. He was he asked to head up the new U of A Pandas and became Director and Owner of the Excel Hockey Camps.

With such coaching influences as the legendary Clare Drake, Bill Moores and current Golden Bears Assistant Coach Dan Bouwmeester, it is easy to see why Coach Draper has been so successful at building and maintaining the most successful female university hockey team in Canada.

Adding to his accolades in 2015, Draper was selected to be an assistant coach for the Canadian National Women’s Hockey team. Draper most recently joined Team Canada for the Four Nations Cup in Sundsvall, Sweden, helping Canada to a silver medal.