The Rundown - Week 6

The Rundown is back as Canada West women's hockey kicks off the first full weekend of games, and that also means we're four weeks from the December break. Some teams are doing well to start this 2025-26 season while others need to start making changes now if they hope to salvage any chances for a playoff spot in the second half of the season. The Trinity Western Spartans were resting and practicing this week with the bye, but eight teams were in action this weekend as they looked earn points for playoff spots on The Rundown!

FRIDAY: We'll go east to west as we start in Saskatoon where the Huskies were hosting the Calgary Dinos. The Dinos might be surprising everyone with their solid goaltending and good offensive work, and their 4-2-1 record on the road certainly has helped them in the standings. The Huskies returned home after a pair of wins in Winnipeg, and they wanted to keep that winning feeling going by beating their East Division rivals with their first win on home ice.

Dinos goals: Brooklyn Anderson (1), Evelyn Lawrence (3), Bree Kennedy (1), Jada Johns (1), Sophia Zuck (2), Brooklyn Anderson (1), Eden Carius (1)
Dinos assists: Alex Spence (5), Alex Spence (6), Jess Martens (2), Josie McLeod (1), Josie McLeod (2), Bridget Rezansoff (1), Brette Kerley (2), Jess Martens (3), Josie McLeod (3)
Dinos netminder: Amelia Awad (21/23)

Huskies goals: Kahlen Wisener (1), Bronwyn Boucher (3)
Huskies assists: Paris Oleksyn (1), Avery Gottselig (1), Jayde Cadieux (6)
Huskies netminders: Colby Wilson (13/19) in 40:00 and Clara Juca (5/6) in 20:00

Result: 7-2 victory for Calgary over Saskatchewan.

SATURDAY: No one likes being blown out, especially on home ice, so I expect Saturday's affair to be much more tightly-contested between Saskatchewan and Calgary. Mistakes were made defensively the night before, and Saskatchewan would want to correct those mistakes. Calgary was looking for the same team effort from Friday night as these two teams closed out their two-game weekend set.

Dinos goals: Sydney Mercier (4)
Dinos assists: Brooklyn Anderson (1)
Dinos netminder: Maisie Cope (22/24) in 63:03

Huskies goals: Bronwyn Boucher (4), Peppi Virtanen (3)
Huskies assists: Peppi Virtanen (1), Kendra Zuchotzki (3), Kendra Zuchotzki (4)
Huskies netminders: Clara Juca (24/25) in 63:03

Result: 2-1 overtime victory for Saskatchewan over Calgary.

FRIDAY: Regina made their way northwest this weekend to square off in Edmonton against the MacEwan Griffins. The Cougars came into the contest having dropped both games to UBC, so they were looking to find their way back into the win column. MacEwan had been playing some solid defensive hockey over the last few weeks while jumping on opportunities as they were earning points in any fashion they could. Would either team take home four points this weekend?

Cougars goals: Tessa Stewart (4), Julianne Girardin (1)
Cougars assists: Meg Farmer (1), Julianne Girardin (1), Makena Kushniruk (2), Tessa Stewart (1)
Cougars netminder: Natalie Williamson (26/27) in 60:46 of action

Griffins goals: Jordan Brown (1)
Griffins assists: Claire Hobbs (2), Sydney Jack (2)
Griffins netminder: Taya Currie (19/21) in 60:46 of action

Result: 2-1 overtime victory for Regina over MacEwan.

SATURDAY: Both teams picked up points in their Friday night meeting, and both were looking for the same on Saturday. MacEwan came into the second game looking for a split while Regina was looking for all four points they could earn. Would we see another game extend into overtime between these two teams? Would one side win in regulation, denying the other of valuable points?

Cougars goals: Brooke Fofonoff (1)
Cougars assists: Bailey McMaster (1), Maggie Kate Fitzpatrick (1)
Cougars netminder: Amy Swayze (28/28)

Griffins goals: none
Griffins assists: none
Griffins netminder: Lindsey Johnson (29/30)

Result: 1-0 victory for Regina over MacEwan.

FRIDAY: The only home-and-home this weekend in Canada West women's hockey featured the Alberta Pandas heading south to Calgary where the Mount Royal Cougars were waiting. Alberta seemingly has yet to put it all together to resemble their usual well-oiled machine while the Cougars were coming in rested after their bye week. Two perennial powerhouse Canada West squads took to the ice on Friday!

Pandas goals: Natalie Kieser (1), Abby Soyko (4), Abby Soyko (5)
Pandas assists: Abby Soyko (4), Raegan Yewdall (1), Natalie Kieser (3), Holly Magnus (7)
Pandas shootout scorers: none
Pandas netminder: Grace Glover (18/21) in 65:00 plus 2/3 in the shootout

Cougars goals: Sydney Benko (5), Keyana Bert (3), Allee Gerrard (3)
Cougars assists: Isa MacPhee (4), Keyana Bert (2), Sydney Benko (3), Summer Fomradas (4), Kaia Borbandy (1)
Cougars shootout scorers: Keyana Bert
Cougars netminder: Scout Anderson (13/16) in 65:00 plus 3/3 in the shootout

Result: 4-3 shootout victory for Mount Royal over Alberta.

SATURDAY: It's clear these two teams still have a solid rivalry despite being in two different divisions, and both were seeking two points on Saturday after the skills competition determined who got the two points on Friday. A big push with the goalie pulled salvaged a point for the Pandas, and they wanted to earn the split at Clare Drake Arena. Mount Royal came to Edmonton looking for the sweep!

Pandas goals: Natalie Kieser (2), Holly Magnus (2)
Pandas assists: Annie King (1)
Pandas netminder: Mackenzie Dojahn (19/22) in 61:15 of action

Cougars goals: Allee Gerrard (4), Gabby Lindsay (1), Allee Gerrard (5)
Cougars assists: Sydney Benko (4), Jordyn Hutt (1), Jori Hansen-Young (4), Ava Metzger (2)
Cougars netminder: Katherine Holan (23/25) in 61:15 of action

Result: 3-2 overtime victory for Mount Royal over Alberta.

FRIDAY: Normally, one would want to see a spirited game between UBC and Manitoba when these teams meet, but the Bisons have struggled this season so they'd need to be good. With UBC undefeated so far, they knew what had to be done, and they had multiple players chasing history this weekend. More on that below, but let's get to the action between the Thunderbirds and Bisons!

Bisons goals: none
Bisons assists: none
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (24/26)

Thunderbirds goals: Grace Elliott (9), Hannah Perrier (1)
Thunderbirds assists: Vanessa Schaefer (5), Annalise Wong (9)
Thunderbirds netminder: Elise Hugens (11/11)

Result: 2-0 victory for UBC over Manitoba.

SATURDAY: With Manitoba still seeking their first regulation win of the season, it probably isn't a good time to note that UBC is 12-1-0 in the last five years against the Bisons. That kind of dominance should grate on the pride of Manitoba while the Thunderbirds simply needed to remain sharp against the wounded Bisons. History could be made on Saturday for a few UBC players, so let's see if that happened!

Bisons goals: Aimee Patrick (2), Dana Goertzen (2)
Bisons assists: Louise Fergusson (3), Dana Goertzen (3), Sara Harbus (2), Julia Bird (1)
Bisons shootout scorers: none
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (22/24) in 65:00 plus 4/5 in the shootout

Thunderbirds goals: Mia Bierd (1), Grace Elliott (10)
Thunderbirds assists: Meadow Carman (1), Annalise Wong (10)
Thunderbirds shootout scorers: Cassidy Rhodes
Thunderbirds netminder: Mya Lucifora (24/26) in 65:00 plus 5/5 in the shootout

Result: 3-2 shootout victory for UBC over Manitoba.

Don't even ask about divisions. I'm not interested in that setup. It's one conference, nine teams, and we'll see who is best in the west.

CANADA WEST WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
UBC	9-0-1-0	20	29	8	W10	vs MAC
Mount Royal	4-2-4-0	16	23	15	W7	@ REG
Calgary	7-3-0-2	16	25	18	L1	vs TWU
Trinity Western	3-3-4-0	14	28	18	W2	@ CAL
Regina	3-3-2-2	12	16	16	W2	vs MRU
Saskatchewan	2-3-3-2	12	16	23	W1	BYE
Alberta	3-5-0-4	10	23	31	L4	BYE/td>
MacEwan	1-8-1-2	6	10	26	L2	@ UBC
Manitoba	0-5-1-4	6	13	28	L9	BYE

Honour Roll

Each week on The Rundown, I highlight the best performances from the weekend's games. It won't always be the top scorer or the best goalie, but I'll have a reason for who gets picked each week. This week's Honour Roll candidate is a player who seems to be heating up as she has goals in four consecutive games as her team went 4-0-0 including three this weekend in helping her team win both games. One of those three goals was the overtime winner over the Pandas on Saturday as Mount Royal's Allee Gerrard adds her name to the list!

Gerrard hit the ten-goal mark two seasons ago, but her goal-scoring slumped to six goals total last season. With her current four-game streak, she already has five goals this season in ten games as she looks to become one of the Cougars' reliable snipers. Consistency at the Canada West level is how players find that next level, and Gerrard's last four games where she netted all five goals is the kind of consistency that will put her in the upper echelon of scoring. Add in an overtime game-winner, and people start noticing!

Every team has players who are called upon when a key goal is needed, and Allee Gerrard was that player this weekend as she scored with five minutes left on Friday before Alberta tied it with seconds to play, and she was out there again for the overtime winner on Saturday. If she can keep that going for the rest of the season, Gerrard will be a player that head coach Scott Rivett will send out on the ice in late moments when they need a goal. Allee Gerrard was a key performer for the Mount Royal Cougars in their two wins this weekend after the bye week, and that's how she made the list!

Record Watch: Part One

With her tenth goal scored on Saturday this season, Grace Elliott is now tied with former UBC forward Tatiana Rafter for most goals in program history! Obviously, eyes will be on the UBC Thunderbirds next week when they play the MacEwan Griffins in Vancouver because Grace Elliott could become the program's most prolific goal-scorer!

If you're looking for a little voodoo in Elliott hitting 61 goals this weekend, consider this: Tatiana Rafter scored her 61st goal on Saturday, February 7, 2015 when she beat Rachel Dyck at 16:16 of the third period on the power-play for UBC's fifth goal as the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the Manitoba Bisons 5-2 at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Comparatively, Grace Elliott scored her 61st goal on Saturday, November 8, 2025 when she beat Emily Shippam at 12:09 of the third period on the power-play for UBC's second goal as the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the Manitoba Bisons 3-2 in a shootout at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

A Saturday game, a power-play goal in the third period, and a win over the Bisons at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre - if that has The Twilight Zone music playing in your head, you're not alone. What should be remembered, though, is that Elliott is now tied for the most goals in UBC Thunderbirds history, she's eight back of Iya Gavrilova for fifth-place all-time, and she's easily one of the best goal-scorers to ever have played at the Canada West level!

Record Watch: Part Two

With her tenth assist this season on Elliott's 61st goal of her career, Annalise Wong now sits one assist back of Tatiana Rafter for second-place all-time in UBC Thunderbirds history for assists. Wong has 54 helpers in her career to date, and it should be noted that Rafter picked up her 55th assist against the Alberta Pandas on February 13, 2015 in a 2-1 loss to the Alberta Pandas at Clare Drake Arena. While the Pandas won't be in Vancouver next week, another Edmonton team will be visiting as Wong could break Rafter's mark against the Griffins!

Of the assists she has collected this season, only one helper hasn't been the primary assist on a goal and that came this weekend when she was the secondary assist on Grace Elliott's 60th goal on Friday. To date, she has assisted on goals by Vanessa Schaefer (1), Jaylyn Morris (3), and Grace Elliott (6) with her last five assists all being awarded on Grace Elliott goals. It seems the dynamic duo of Elliott and Wong might be something for which teams should plan!

Regardless of how they're being scored, it seems pretty clear that Annalise Wong is one heckuva playmaker at the Canada West level as she looks to move past Tatiana Rafter's second-best total of 55 assists in program history next weekend. If her and Grace Elliott have a weekend, there could be a number of pucks kept from those games!

Record Watch: Part Three

If you thought we were done talking about UBC records falling, we are. That's because one player has a chance to tie or break a Canada West all-time record next weekend as Elise Hugens picked up her 63rd win of her career on Friday night when she blanked the Bisons by a 2-0 score. That 63rd win moved her into sole possession of second-place all-time for wins in a Canada West career by a goalie as she passed former Alberta netminder Lindsey Post who has 62 wins!

The key is that Elise Hugens is now one win back of former Manitoba Bisons goaltender Stacey Corfield who posted 64 wins in her Canada West career. Corfield won her 64th game on February 6, 2010, stopping 19 of 20 shots she faced in a 5-1 win over the Regina Cougars to finish her career with 64 victories and sit atop the conference for wins in a career. As it stands, Post, Corfield, and Hugens are the only three netminders who have broken the 60-win mark.

It seems certain that Hugens will start one of two games next weekend against MacEwan, and I wouldn't put it past head coach Graham Thomas to start Hugens on Saturday if she wins on Friday to allow her to set the record on home ice. However, the logical choice would be to have her split the games next weekend so she can go home to Edmonton and set the record against the Pandas in front of friends and family. The Sherwood Park, Alberta native will likely have an entire section devoted to cheering for her!

Clicking With The Added Player

If you had to select one of the Canada West teams who have the best power-play success rate right now, I could see people picking UBC, Mount Royal, Calgary, or even Alberta as the top power-play in the conference. The only problem is that all of those people would be wrong because the Saskatchewan Huskies are the top team in Canada West when it comes to power-play success so far this season!

For a team that has scored 16 goals through ten games, it's surprising to me that they've netted seven power-play goals on 30 advantages. That's not to say that they don't have talent to do it - Bronwyn Boucher has three of those seven goals - but the Huskies finished with a 12.8% success rate last season, a 14.9% rate in 2023-24, and a 13.6% rate in 2022-23. To see them with a 23.3% success rate after ten games this season is a huge improvement with the player advantage!

It also has helped the team post a 4-2 record in their last six games which has them tied with Regina for third-place in the East Division, and they sit just four points back of both Calgary and Mount Royal despite a 1-3 start to the season. I have noted on this article before that special teams successes can win games in Canada West, and the Saskatchewan Huskies are proving that fact right now!

Schedule Quirk

You may have noticed on the standings above that there are three teams that will be on a bye week next week. Frankly, I've never understood why the conference gives three teams a week off, but I do respect that it's the fall term break or "Reading Week" at those three universities. Rarely do we see players fail to qualify academically for Canada West women's hockey, and that's proof to how important the "student" part of "student-athlete" is.

Parents: check in with your kids and make them them talk about it. Struggling in a class isn't a sign of weakness or a failure on their part. It's them not understanding the material, not knowing the right questions to ask, and perhaps a little shame for struggling. Help them out by giving them support even if you don't understand the material.

Coaches: take an active role in your athlete's lives by checking in with them and involving their parents. I get that you're hired to coach hockey and not be their tutors, but, as a figure of authority, it's your job to give them the support they need to succeed in order to be able to succeed on the ice. Take this part of the coaching role very seriously, please. Hockey isn't forever; education is.

Teammates: check in with your teammates, particularly the first- and second-year players. University is a big, scary place sometimes, and the course material is just one of the things that may overwhelm students. Talk to your teammates. Encourage them to seek help if they're struggling. Help them get help if they don't know where to go. We often hear about how hockey teams are "families", so support them like you would if they were your sisters!

Players: if you're struggling, there is no shame in asking for help. Ever. Talk to your parents, your coaches, and your teammates. Talk to classmates. Talk to the professors of the classes where you want to improve. There's an acceptance at university that if you don't ask for help, no one will offer it. I'm asking you to build those relationships so you can turn to people who have walked the same path you're walking if you feel like you're lost. No one wants to see you fail!

Just like learning on the ice, it sometimes takes someone to show you how to succeed. Don't be afraid to ask for help. The last thing anyone wants to see is someone missing out on games due to academic ineligibility because one was too proud or ashamed to ask for help.

The Last Word

It's Remembrance Day on Tuesday and there are no Canada West games scheduled for that day, but please remember to pay your respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to those who continue to defend our freedoms and culture today. Wear your poppy in honour of those who have and are serving within our Armed Forces, and remember to give two minutes of silence at 11am.

Next weekend, six teams get back to action as the Canada West season continues with a push towards December!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!