The Rundown - Week 9
I can tell you that the minimum number of players that Canada West requires to play games is 15 skates including goaltenders. From sources, it sounds like the UBC Thunderbirds are being cautious as they had several players test positive for COVID-19 with contract tracing reducing their numbers even further. The result was that they ultimately couldn't field a team safely with the required number of players, so Mount Royal remained home in Calgary while UBC works to get back on the ice.
I don't fault UBC for making this decision, and I commend them for taking the safest route forward which meant cancelling the games this weekend. If nothing else changes for either team, I'd expect Mount Royal and UBC to meet on January 28 and 29 during what was supposed to be a conference bye as it makes most sense with the least disruption to schedules. We already know the Spartans are travelling to Winnipeg to meet the Bisons that weekend after some scheduling issues, so perhaps we'll have two series played that weekend where it was originally supposed to be a break!
We'll see where Canada West slots these games in, but this would make the most sense. For now, the most important thing is that the UBC players and staff get healthy after battling the virus. My thoughts are with the T-Birds, and I hope they're ready to roll next weekend against Calgary. Mount Royal, we'll see you in Regina next week. Enjoy the extra week of rest!
The first period saw the ice tilted in one direction as Saskatchewan was all over Regina. It didn't seem to faze Kliewer in the Regina net, though, as she turned aside everything thrown her way. Drever had a much more quiet period, but she was perfect as well as this game went into the first intermission tied at 0-0, but with Saskatchewan leading 13-3 in shots. So far, 13 skaters were surviving.
Things would change midway through the second period, though, as former Pronghorns defender Meg Dyer wired home a wrist shot past Kliewer off a face-off win that put the Huskies up 1-0 on her first goal in the green-and-white at 11:38! That lead would only last 2:33, though, as Lauren Focht chipped home a puck off a blocked shot for her fourth goal of the year!
The teams would play out the final five minutes with no additional goals, so we'd head to the third period tied at 1-1 with Saskatchewan holding a 25-11 margin in shots. Somehow, the Cougars were keeping their head above the rising waters.
The stalemate continued until just before the midway point of the final frame when Regina's most lethal player struck while shorthanded which is a reference to killing a penalty and not their overall lack of players.
That's a silky smooth goal from Lilla Carpenter-Boesch, and the shorthanded marker was her fifth goal of the season as Regina went up 2-1 at 9:40! We'd see that lead get a little bigger 6:17 later too.
Olivia Leggett's shot from the point found room past everyone as it hit the twine behind Drever for the power-play goal, and her second goal of the season made it 3-1 at 15:57! We weren't done with the scoring there, though, as we had time for one more goal!
Jordyn Blais scores her very first Canada West goal by hitting the open net from center ice, and, to add another accolade, the shorthanded marker came at 18:23 to ice the game for the Cougars as they earned a huge 4-1 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies with just 15 players dressed! Perhaps the most important of the players on this evening was Arden Kliewer as the Regina netminder made 34 saves for her fourth win of the season while Camryn Drever suffered the loss on a night where she made 13 saves.
Highlights are... well, you saw them already. I will leave you with this image of the Cougars' bench in this game, though. I know there are capacity restrictions in place in Saskatchewan right now, but the Cougars took it to a whole new level!
If you've been a regular reader of The Rundown, you know this article will not celebrate blowouts out of respect for the team that had a rough night, so this is the foreshadowing of what comes next. One team had a night to remember while the other had a night to forget.
I normally don't post highlights of individual goals in these types of recaps, but this first goal might be pretty special for the player who scored it so I'm willing to break that rule because she deserves to have it immortalized.
Sara Kendall deflects home the Meg Dyer shot past Kliewer while on the power-play for her first Canada West goal of her career, and her marker put Saskatchewan up 1-0 at 2:14! Eleven minutes later, Mallory Dyer scored her second goal at 13:34 to put Saskatchewan up 2-0 as they began to pile up the goals. Through one period, they held the lead and an 8-6 advantage in shots.
Kendra Zuchotzki hammered home a slapshot at 3:52 to make it a 3-0 game early in the second period, and Abby Shirley added her fifth goal ten minutes later at 13:07 to make it a 4-0 game for the Huskies as they dominated the second period to the tune of a 12-2 margin in shots. Would we see a Herculean effort from the Cougars in the third?
Sara Kendall showed some great hands in scoring her second of the game and second of her career at 12:51 to make it 5-0, and Bailee Bourassa would chip in with a power-play goal at the 15:00 mark to cap off the scoring in this one as the Saskatchewan Huskies dispatched the Regina Cougars with a 6-0 victory. Colby Wilson earned her second victory and second shutout with a 12-shot blanking of the Cougars while Arden Kliewer made 24 stops in the loss.
No one produces proper highlight packages anymore, so should I even be asking? Regina hasn't posted women's hockey highlights since January 25, 2020 - nearly two full calendar years ago! Here's the deal for this game since Regina's not interested in highlighting any sort of women's hockey: Saskatchewan won. Regina lost. That's that.
Calgary had their snipers ready to go as they got this game going. Just past the midway point, Elizabeth Lang forced the scorekeepers to break out their pens as she fired her seventh goal past Kastning at 11:52 as the Dinos grabbed the lead. In news that pleased me after seeing her injured in the first half, Holly Reuther was back in the lineup and she was doing what she does best in scoring for the Dinos!
Reuther redirects the puck past Kastning for the power-play goal after Alli Borrow does some great work to get a scoring chance, and the Dinos were up 2-0 at the 18:15 on Reuther's sixth goal of the season. That score would hold into the intermission with the Dinos up 9-8 in shots as well.
The lone goal of the second period came early as Trinity Western got themselves on the scoreboard while cutting the deficit to one goal. Olivia Leier went shelf on Durante for her third goal of the season at the 1:44 mark, and the Spartans were down 2-1. Despite each side having a power-play in the period, neither could find the twine beyond Leier's goal, so we'd move to the third period at that 2-1 count with Calgary holding a 20-15 edge in shots.
The third period featured goals! We'll start with Annaliese Meier who restored the two-goal lead for the Dinos as she found twine.
Meier swept the puck into the net after a great setup by Emily Hill for her first of the season at 3:03, and the Dinos led 3-1. Trinity Western would come roaring back, though, as Ashlee Wolfe found just enough room past Durante while on the power-play to score her second of campaign, and Trinity Western was back to a one-goal deficit. And then Alli Borrow took over.
Borrow chips the rebound past Kastning while on the power-play for her sixth goal of the season at 7:40 to make it 4-2, but she wasn't done just yet as she'd more power-play success.
Borrow finds room near the far post past Kastning from a tough angle on the power-play, and her seventh goal of the season at 11:34 would round out the scoring in this game as the Calgary Dinos earn a 5-2 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans! Gabriella Durante had a solid night as she made 20 stops for her fifth win of the season while Jadeyn Kastning took the loss after a 38-save effort.
Highlights are quite one-sided in TWU's highlight package. Here are the goals scored by the Spartans - and only the Spartans - that Trinity Western posted on their YouTube page from this game. I'm not sure this even qualifies as a highlight package if you only show one team's highlights, but it's better than nothing, I guess?
SATURDAY:After losing on Friday night, the mathematics for Trinity Western making any sort of run at a playoff spot became a little bleaker. Not all hope was lost, though, as a win against Calgary would allow them to keep pace with the teams they had to catch. The Dinos, though, were looking to close the gap between themselves and the teams they're chasing. Saturday's game was big for both teams when it came to points! Gabriella Durante was back in the Calgary net while Mabel Maltais got the nod for the Spartans in this game!
Let me preface this game by saying the physicality was at an all-time high between these two teams. If there's a rivalry developing between Calgary and Trinity Western, it seems pretty clear that both teams are willing to engage in the physical side of the game to allow the dislike to grow. 20 minor penalties were called and 18 power-plays were awarded in this game that saw roughing and bodychecking as the two most common infractions called. With that knowledge, let's look at what happened in this one!
The Calgary Dinos opened the scoring in this game near the halfway mark of the first period, and it wasn't a power-play goal.
Sage Desjardins finds the rebound in the slot, and she goes high on the glove-side on Maltais for her third goal of the season at 9:21 for the 1-0 Calgary lead. And then the aforementioned parade to the penalty box began as six minor penalties were called in the final ten minutes of the period. With teams having to shuffle lines thanks to the rotating power-plays, that 1-0 score would hold into the intermission as we moved to the second period with Calgary leading in shots by 12-3 margin.
A couple of early penalties slowed the Dinos down when it came to peppering the Spartans' net with shots, but they'd find another goal after being awarded a power-play.
Rachel Paul was in the right spot to fire the rebound off the end boards past Maltais for her fourth goal of the season, and the power-play goal made it a 2-0 lead at the 6:52 mark. Another power-play later in the period would see the lead increase again.
Holly Reuther wins the face-off and goes to the net, and she gets rewarded with the tap-in goal on the power-play for her seventh marker of the campaign while pushing the score to a 3-0 advantage in favour of the Dinos at 11:03. With nine minor penalties in the period, there was a lot of 5-on-4 and 5-on-3 play in this frame, but those were the only goals scored as the Dinos took the 3-0 lead and the 23-13 lead in shots to the third period.
Just 1:21 into the period, it seemed Trinity Western was mounting the comeback on the power-play. Ashlee Wolfe's initial shot was stopped by Durante, but the rebound popped out to Brooklyn Anderson who buried it past Durante's glove for the power-play marker and her second goal of the season to make it a 3-1 game! That comeback, however, would be snuffed out 2:02 later as the Dinos found twine.
Rachel Paul's wrist shot from the high slot gets through Maltais on a shot I'm sure she wants back, but it counts regardless as Paul's second of the game and fifth of the season made it 4-1 for the Dinos. Four more penalties were handed out after these goals were scored, but the scoring was done for this night as the Calgary Dinos wrapped up a second win over the Trinity Western Spartans with a 4-1 victory! Gabriella Durante earned her sixth win of the season on a 25-save night while Mabel Maltais suffered the loss despite stopping 25 shots.
The one-sided highlights continue from this game. Is there some unwritten rule that you only post the highlights from your own team that I don't know about? Be better, TWU. We're all in this together.
If the layoff for six weeks wasn't apparent before this game, it sure felt like it in this game as neither team looked particularly sharp through the majority of the first period. A late turnover in the period allowed Julia Bird to break in on Sank alone and find the back of the net was the lone highlight as this one was a bit of a sleeper to that point. However, that Bird breakaway goal was her second of the season as she gave the Bisons the lead with 11 seconds left, and they'd take that lead into the room after outshooting the Griffins 10-5 in the frame.
Five minutes into the second period, the Bisons would double their lead when Kylie Lesuk flew down the wing and went high with the backhand that found room over Sank's shoulder for her fourth goal of the season, and the Bisons were up 2-0 at the 5:39 mark! The sloppy play seen in the first would continue, though, as the teams struggled to string together passes and looked disjointed in their systems at times. That 2-0 lead would hold into the intermission, and the Bisons held the lead in shots at 19-14.
The Bisons would make it a three-goal lead early in third period when Brianna Sank got caught out of the net after misplaying the puck behind her cage, and Sarah Dennehy would benefit by depositing the puck into the unguarded goal for her second of the season at 6:42. There's no doubt that MacEwan had chances throughout this game, but Davidson was looking like she came to play in this game as she made key saves for the Bisons all game, notably down the stretch in the third period. In saying that, she had more than enough support on this night as she backstopped the Bisons to a 3-0 win in their first-ever meeting with the MacEwan Griffins! Kimmy Davidson stopped all 22 shots she faced for her third win and first Canada West shutout on this night while Brianna Sank stopped 23 shots in the loss.
Highlights for this game are never happening. MacEwan hasn't posted anything to their YouTube site since February 9, 2014. They don't play again after this weekend until February. That's eight years with zero video of any of their athletes doing what they were recruited to do. Eight years of showing off some of the talent MacEwan brought in. Eight years of absolutely nothing. And counting.
SATURDAY: There was hope that both teams could snap out of the stupors they seemed to be in one night earlier as they reconvened at Downtown Community Arena. Based on other Friday results, the Griffins found themselves outside the playoff picture in Canada West so they needed a bounce-back game in a big way. Manitoba, having levelled with UBC in points, had a chance to pull ahead and match Mount Royal in points with a win. Needless to say, it was another important game for both teams. Meagan Relf got the start for Manitoba in this one while Brianna Sank was back between the pipes for the Griffins.
The Griffins showed some renewed life in the first period, but the Bisons were equal to the task. It was still a sloppy period of play overall, but there were better sequences of play. Both goalies were good once again, though, so we'd hit the break still tied at 0-0 with the Griffins outshooting the Bisons 10-5 after three-straight penalties late in the period basically gave the Griffins an extended power-play for half the period.
The second period saw the Bisons bounce back as the more aggressive team when it came to hitting the net with shots, but Sank was equal to the task. Part of that aggressiveness was due to MacEwan earning all three minor penalties called in the frame, but the MacEwan defence and penalty kill wasn't willing to let the Bisons grab a lead. We'd hit the second pause with this game still tied 0-0, but Manitoba leading in shots 24-17.
The third period was different than the first two, though, as we found some goal-scoring! Just past the midway point of the period, Sydney Hughson took a pace from Jayme Doyle and roofed the puck past Relf for her first Canada West goal of her career at the 11:00 mark, and the Griffins had their first lead of 2022 at 1-0! That lead was short-lived, though, as Manitoba repsonded 2:39 later when a turnover allowed Madison Cole an opportunity and she slide the puck five-hole on Sank for her first of the season at 13:39 for the 1-1 equalizer!
The Griffins weren't going away, though, as Hailey Maurice put the Griffins back up with her rebound goal off a Rebecca Thiessen shot, and Maurice's third marker of the year at 15:16 made it a 2-1 game! I'll credit Brianna Sank for putting up a wall in the final five minutes as well as she made a couple of key saves on what appeared to be well-executed plays by the Bisons to deny the Manitoba squad the tying goal. When the final horn had sounded, the Griffins claimed the 2-1 victory over the Bisons! Brianna Sank was superb in stopping 31 shots for her third win of the season while Meagan Relf deserved a better fate on this night after making 22 stops.
You came for highlights, right?
| School | Record | Points | GF | GA | Streak | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal | 8-1-1-2 | 20 | 37 | 15 | W2 | @ REG |
| UBC | 9-3-0-0 | 18 | 49 | 18 | W3 | @ CAL |
| Manitoba | 7-5-2-0 | 18 | 34 | 28 | L1 | BYE |
| Saskatchewan | 7-5-0-2 | 16 | 28 | 19 | W1 | @ ALB |
| Alberta | 4-4-3-1 | 15 | 28 | 21 | W3 | vs SAS |
| Calgary | 6-8-0-0 | 12 | 35 | 43 | W3 | vs UBC |
| MacEwan | 6-8-0-0 | 12 | 18 | 36 | W1 | BYE |
| Regina | 5-7-0-2 | 12 | 26 | 34 | L1 | vs MRU |
| Trinity Western | 1-12-1-0 | 4 | 16 | 56 | L6 | BYE |
This Could Be Ugly
Three teams are battling for the final playoff spot with Calgary, MacEwan, and Regina all sitting with 12 points at this juncture in the campaign. This would be a good time to remind everyone of the tie-breaking procedure if more than two teams are involved. Let me just say that there could be a significant problem if those three teams end up tied with the same number of points at the end of the season.
If I'm Canada West, I'm praying these three teams aren't tied at the end of the season because Sarah Hodges and the Regina Cougars would have an excellent argument to make if they missed the playoffs due to this tie-breaking quirk. They didn't make the schedule, so why are they being punished for this?
They should have the same opportunity as MacEwan and Calgary to make the playoffs, but they currently don't because of how the rules are written in Canada West. The "Note" that reads, "Once a team is ranked so that it is no longer tied with any other team(s) at any one of these three steps, that team shall be ranked accordingly in the final standings" eliminates both MacEwan and Regina, assuming all three are still tied when the dust settles, from the playoffs without any other considerations other than Calgary beat MacEwan twice in three games. Regina never even had a chance at a third game against either team.
This needs to be resolved sooner than later for all the involved parties because if this is left to the end of the season, we could have an ugly situation on our hands where two teams who, through no fault of their own, are eliminated from playoff contention simply because Calgary beat MacEwan two out of three times they played.
More Schedule Quirks
If you are looking at the schedule for next week, it should be noted that Manitoba and Trinity Western will not play as scheduled thanks to Manitoba's students writing exams. Because of the faculty strike that took place earlier in the year, the exam period has shifted somewhat which forced Manitoba to ask Trinity Western to play the following week on January 28 and 29. Trinity Western was good about it, so the games will be played on the final weekend in January instead.Because of bye weeks, both MacEwan and Alberta will play two games total in January. Alberta was on the bye week this past weekend while MacEwan jumps into one next weekend. Following that, there's a scheduled conference bye week with play resuming in February. If you're doing the math at home, that means both MacEwan and Alberta will have played two regular season games in just under two months. We already know that school, life, and the pandemic have been hard on these women and the teams, and now we're asking them to ramp up the intensity for one weekend in two months. Did anyone at Canada West use their brains when coming up with this schedule?
The Last Word
Let me be the first to apologize AGAIN about the length of this article. If teams would post proper highlight packages, I wouldn't have to cherry-pick individual goals to show off the amazing talent in this league. I know I complain about this every week, but it would really make things better for all in terms of the amount of time it takes to compose this whole thing as well as for you reading it. C'est la vie, I guess, but I need to take a few minutes and point something out.If there's anyone who deserves special mention after this weekend, the Regina Cougars earned it with their efforts. Playing with 15 players on Friday and winning before showing up, completely gassed, at home with 17 players and taking one on the chin shouldn't be discounted as a "1-and-1 weekend". What the Cougars did this weekend was more than just 15 players showing up and playing a scheduled game. This is about sacrifice and effort and determination and a will to do the impossible when it seems hopeless.
What the Cougars did this weekend was put everyone on notice that they're going to embrace any and all challenges. They dug deep, played their butts off on Friday night, and pulled off a win on the road that no one believed was possible. They make movies about that kind of effort - Miracle, for example - and we had a prime example of it happen right in our own backyard here in Canada on Friday. Yet no one in the mainstream media is talking about it.
The Regina Cougars are getting full marks from me, though. I don't care if they lost by 1000 goals on Saturday; this weekend was still a winning weekend for them in my view because they showed so much more than just what the scoreboard showed. I don't know if their season will end with them making the playoffs or not as I don't have a crystal ball nor do I believe in that kind of thing, but they reinforced the deep respect I have for them and I'm pulling for them to make the playoffs.
If the playoffs are about the best versus the best to determine a champion, the Cougars showed that they're one of the six best teams in Canada West with their effort this weekend. If nothing else, they showed that they may have the most heart, and that counts for a lot in my book as they flipped the bird to the odds and took it to the Huskies. That's gotta count for something in the end.
Well done, Regina, on making this weekend fun despite the lack of players you had. Stories like yours are why I love covering this game and conference, so thanks for the jolt of inspiration this weekend! For everyone reading, please get out and support these women if possible because efforts like these shouldn't go unnoticed!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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