the canadian women's hockey league (cwhl) announced on april 19, 2011, that it would merge with the western women's hockey league for the 2011–12 season. the merger featured one team based in edmonton and calgary as a combination of the former wwhl franchises the edmonton chimos and strathmore rockies. the team would play their games in various locations around alberta. strathmore rockies founder, samantha holmes-domagala, joined the sponsorship division of the cwhl to look after the requirements of the expansion team. on july 21, 2011, philanthropist joan snyder donated $2 million to winsport canada with the goal is to ensure priority rink access to female hockey players at all levels and help expand the cwhl with the creation of team alberta. part of the donation covered the new addition to the athletic and ice complex at canada olympic park in calgary and serve as the future home to hockey canada. it also included four hockey rinks, one of which was called the joan snyder rink. team alberta would benefit with the allocation of free practice time, a dressing room exclusive to the club. the joan snyder rink give priority to women's hockey bookings, but it also served as the team alberta's home rink.