Anything But Predictable

In a year where we've already seen the top-seeded team virtually all season be denied an invitation to the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship after failing to make the final in its respective conference, another newly-named top-seeded team is on the verge of missing out on Nationals after dropping Game One in the AUS Final last night. With the victory, the St. Francis Xavier X-Women sit one win away from eliminating the top-seeded team in the nation in the Saint Mary's Huskies after winning last night's Game One match by a 4-2 score.

There probably shouldn't be a surprise about the "upset" that we saw last night, though, as the Huskies and X-Women finished this season with identical 22-5-1 records in the regular season. StFX rattled off 12-straight wins to close out the regular season in a share for first-place in the AUS, but due to their head-to-head record Saint Mary's got the nod as the first-place team in the conference. It should also be noted that the 12-game winning streak included a double-overtime win and a regulation over SMU, so one could argue that StFX might have been the best team going into the playoffs.

With the Huskies and the X-Women earning byes through the opening round of the playoffs, they awaited their semifinal opponents as four teams looked to move on. After some great series in the quarterfinals, the fourth-place UNB Varsity Reds downed the St. Thomas Tommies while the third-place UPEI Panthers ousted the Moncton Aigles Bleues. As it stood, SMU would face UNB while StFX squared off against UPEI. In a couple of short semifinal series, bot SMU and StFX needed just two games to end the playoff runs of their opponents.

With Concordia having lost to Montreal in the RSEQ semifinal, the Saint Mary's Huskies were moved into the top spot on the national poll as the #1-ranked team in the country on Tuesday as published by U SPORTS. Concordia, who had been the top-ranked team in the nation since October 22, 2019, were out as of last week, and that allowed the Huskies to ascend to the top of the rankings as their season was still alive.

StFX started the season slow, but in the rankings for a few weeks. They were 7th and 9th through the first two weeks of the season before not being ranked for a long time. They finally gained some attention on January 28 where they were voted into the top-ten once again at 10th. Since then, they've moved up the rankings each week as they ripped through the AUS on that 12-game win streak, showing up at 9th, 7th, 7th, 6th, and 5th over that period. If we include the playoffs, they're now on a 15-game win streak with last night's victory over the Huskies, and could be the scariest team heading into Nationals if they can secure the series win on either Thursday or Saturday.

If StFX wins the series, this might be the most unpredictable year in women's hockey in recent memory. For a team such as Concordia to be ranked all season long as the top team in the nation and not go to Nationals is one thing, but to have a Saint Mary's team that has been in the top-ten mix all season with a season-low ranking of 7th on October 22 and not being ranked lower than #2 in the nation since November 19 also possibly not go to Nationals? That's never happened in the history of U SPORTS women's hockey as far as I can tell.

If StFX were to win on Thursday, arguably the second-best team in the nation all season long could join the top-ranked team in the nation all season long on the sidelines as they'll watch the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship from their respective homes. You can make an argument that the best teams won't be playing in Charlottetown and how this championship tournament will be sullied by that, but the unpredictable outcomes have made this year's action entirely more exciting as there potentially will be an Alberta team there with all its weapons healthy and some unfinished business from last year, a McGill team who was last year's silver medalists, a Montreal team who was last year's bronze medalists, a Toronto team who want to rectify not getting off to a good start last year, and potentially a StFX team who would enter the tournament on a 16-game win streak if they close out the series tomorrow.

Factor in a UPEI team who won 20 games this season, a York team who is young and hungry to show what kind of damage they can do, and a Mount Royal team who simply is living for the moment, and you have yourself a heckuva field in Charlottetown this season. There is one spot remaining, though, and it will go to the victors of the AUS Final. As it stands, StFX has a leg up on SMU, but it's a best-of-three series for a reason, and the top-seeded team in the nation likely isn't done yet.

Don't tell me that women's hockey isn't exciting.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!