The Rundown - Canada West Final

There was no guessing nor any surprises to be found as the final games of the Canada West season played out this weekend. Both the UBC Thunderbirds and the Manitoba Bisons were headed to the U SPORTS National Championship in Elmira, Ontario where they'll be looking to bring home the conference's first gold medal since 2023. The only paperwork needed to be done is which team would go as the champion of Canada West, earning a Canada West championship banner in the process. Let's see who gets the higher seeding for Nationals between UBC and Manitoba this week on The Rundown!

FRIDAY: It had been a while since these two teams met in any fashion, but this meeting carried more weight as the Canada West championship hung in the balance. UBC was 11-1-0 against Manitoba at home in the previous five seasons so things didn't look good for the Bisons as they arrived in Vancouver, but there's a reason why they play these games. Could the Bisons keep the magic going against the Thunderbirds or would the top-ranked team in the nation end the fairytale run by the Herd?



Bisons goals: Dana Goertzen (3)
Bisons assists: Sophia Anderson (2), Kelsey Huibers (2)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (20/24)

Thunderbirds goals: Grace Elliott (1), Ashton Thorpe (1), Ilona Markova (3), Mia Bierd (2), Mia Bierd (3)
Thunderbirds assists: Vanessa Schaefer (1), Vanessa Schaefer (2), Meadow Carman (1), Presley Zinger (2), Karine Sandilands (1), Ilona Markova (1), Presley Zinger (3), Hanna Perrier (3), Madisyn Wiebe (1)
Thunderbirds netminder: Elise Hugens (12/13)

Result: 5-1 victory for UBC over Manitoba.

SATURDAY: UBC handled Manitoba's attack in Game One, but we saw the Bisons drop the first game against Mount Royal before bouncing back in Game Two. Manitoba would need to make adjustments in the same fashion if they hoped to play on a third-straight Sunday while UBC looked to close out the series and capture their fourth banner in five seasons with a win!

No highlights yet? I'll mark this spot as "Coming Soon".

Bisons goals: none
Bisons assists: none
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (20/21)

Thunderbirds goals: Cassidy Rhodes (3)
Thunderbirds assists: Karine Sandilands (2), Ilona Markova (2)
Thunderbirds netminder: Elise Hugens (17/17)

Result: 1-0 victory for UBC over Manitoba.

There are no standings to worry about per se, but there is one image that needs to be posted when it comes to how the west was won.

Outside of the poor framing for the photo, UBC will hang another banner in their arena next season. With fourteen players graduating or moving on from the program, this veteran team made it clear that they were the team to beat all season long, and only two teams can claim they've done this this season: Alberta and Mount Royal. Neither of those teams will be going to Ontario as UBC sits three games away from something that has eluded them for the past four seasons: National Championship gold. Will this finally be their golden year?

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. She didn't Canada West Goaltender of the Year honours this season, but it's hard to argue with results when you consider that she's lost just 11 games in regulation time and 17 times total in her entire five-year career. She's been a big part of every UBC banner in the last five years including this year, and that's how UBC Thunderbirds netminder Elise Hugens added her name to The Honour Roll this week!

There's a case to be made that Hugens should be considered to be one of the best netminders to ever suit up in Canada West, but this season was proof that she's one of the greatest. Her 0.87 GAA is among the lowest in Canada West in a single season, her .943 save percentage was only down .003 from last season's career-high, and her six shutouts ties a season-high. However, her work in the playoffs was even better as she allowed two goals in four games as she stopped 68 of 70 shots she faced. Hugens is a big reason that UBC is both the top-ranked team and the Canada West champions in 2026.

The Thunderbirds will need Hugens at her best as they head to Ontario, and she's certainly been that this season and in the Canada West playoffs. She's a combined 20-0-0 this season with her four wins in the playoffs, and she hasn't allowed more than two goals in any of those 20 games. That's the kind of elite goaltending that wins championships as Hugens proved with her efforts this weekend, and that's how UBC Thunderbirds goaltender Elise Hugens made the list!

Ontario's Teams

It took until today, but we're down to the finalists for the McCaw Cup in Ontario as we know which two teams will represent Ontario at Nationals. Ontario Tech squared off against Guelph in one semifinal while Ottawa and Wilfred Laurier battled in the second semifinal.

The Guelph Gryphons may have sent a message to teams heading to Elmira that they're coming to win. Guelph defeated Ontario tech 3-0 in Game One of their series before following that up with a 2-0 win in Game Two as Martina Fedel, fresh off her Olympic run with Italy, stopped all 36 shots she saw in the two games to help Guelph down Ontario Tech. Guelph will play the winner of Ottawa and Laurier.

That Ottawa-Laurier series needed three games to decide a winner with Game Three being decided earlier today. Ottawa won 4-1 over Laurier on home ice in Game One before the series shifted to Laurier for Games Two and Three. Game Two saw Laurier bounce back with a 3-2 win, setting up Game Three today. Thanks to an Angélique Proulx overtime goal, the Ottawa Gee-Gees will play in the McCaw Cup Final as Ottawa downed Laurier by a 3-2 score in the extra time.

Ottawa and Guelph will now meet in the one-game McCaw Cup Final on March 14 with Ottawa travelling to Guelph for the game as Guelph is the higher-seeded team. Both teams will be in Elmira, Ontario for the U SPORTS National Championship, and we'll see which of the teams gets the higher seed as the OUA champion on March 14!

Quebec's Teams

We already knew that Concordia and Montreal were heading to Elmira for Nationals, but we needed to see which team would have the higher ranking from the RSEQ teams. It should come as no surprise that the Concordia Stingers will likely be the second-seeded team when Nationals open as they downed Montreal 5-3 on Thursday before closing out the three-game series with a 2-1 win yesterday to capture the RSEQ championship. If Concordia is the second-seeded team, expect Montreal to be the fifth-seeded team at Nationals.

Atlantic's Teams

As we know, the AUS has one berth at the 2026 U SPORTS National Championship, and last week saw four teams still in contention for that opportunity. We found our finalists this week as two teams were eliminated from the postseason this past week, so let's see which two teams will battle for the AUS championship and the right to go to Ontario for Nationals as one of the top-four teams in Canada.

When we last checked in on UNB and St. Thomas, the Reds held a 2-1 series lead over the Tommies and were looking to close out the series last Monday with a win. Despite a furious push in the third period from St. Thomas, the UNB Reds would hold on to the lead in Game Four, locking down a 4-3 win to take the series 3-1 over Tommies. UNB will play the winner of the UPEI-StFX series on Monday.

The StFX X-Women held a 2-1 series lead over the UPEI Panthers as they met on Monday night, and the Panthers would use their home-ice advantage to score a 3-1 win over the X-Women to force Game Five. That game went on Thursday night in Antogonish, and the X-Women would close out the series with a solid 3-0 win over the Panthers to return to the AUS Final as the defending champions.

The best-of-three AUS championship sees StFX holding home-ice advantage with Game One scheduled for Monday, Game Two in Fredericton on Wednesday, and Game Three, if necessary, back in Antigonish. Again, the winner of this series will move on to the U SPORTS National Championship. The silver medallist goes home.

Famous Last Words?

"This group is going to go down in history," Thunderbirds head coach Graham Thomas said following the Game Two 1-0 win over Manitoba, and he unfortunately might be right for all the wrong reasons.

This Thunderbirds group will have gone to Nationals in five-straight seasons, and all they have to show for their efforts is a bronze medal won in 2023, the same year that Mount Royal brought home the gold medal. They have been one of the top-four seeds in three of four years, and look like they'll be the top-ranked team going into Nationals this season. In each of the three seasons where they didn't medal at Nationals, they finished the tournament in fifth-place.

UBC is 2-3 against RSEQ teams in the last five seasons, defeating McGill in 2022 and Montreal in 2023. They've lost to Concordia, Montreal, and Bishop's, so they've had their struggles against the Quebec conference as the RSEQ has ended their gold-medal run in each of the last three seasons. The only non-RSEQ team to defeat them was Nipissing in 2022 and they claimed the silver medal.

Here's why UBC's run has been historic for all the wrong reasons: in all four seasons, they've been defeated by a team that medalled. In three of the seasons, they've been defeated by a finalist. In none of the seasons has UBC been a finalist. Will the trends continue? If it does and UNB doesn't win the AUS, UBC could be the first team to go to Nationals in five consecutive seasons and not play in the final.

Only three teams have gone to four-straight National Championships and not played in the gold medal final: StFX (1999-2002), UNB (2022-26), and UBC (2022-26). UBC could make history this season.

The Last Word

The eight teams are nearly set as we know that all of UBC, Manitoba, Ottawa, Guelph, Concordia, and Montreal have qualified through their respective conference playoffs. Waterloo will go as the host team and may have the pleasure of playing UBC first based on how their season ended. Of course, we'll wait to see which of UNB and StFX will join the seven teams already named, but we've very close to having a full field for the 2026 U SPORTS National Championship!

Ottawa will make their first appearance at a tournament since 2009 where they finished in sixth-place, and it will be their first appearance since the field increased to eight teams in 2015. Their best finish came in 2004 where they lost to Alberta 2-0 in the gold medal game, earning their only medal at the National Championship.

Guelph's last appearance was in 2019 where they won the gold medal in Charlottetown after downing Manitoba, Montreal, and McGill in their games. This will be the Gryphons' seventh appearance at the U SPORTS National Championship, and that 2019 gold medal is the only medal they have won in their previous six tournaments.

I'll look at more of the teams coming up in the U SPORTS National Championship preview that will come out next week, but it's nice to see some a handful of new teams at Nationals this season with Manitoba, Guelph, and Ottawa finding their ways back. There aren't any first-timers like Bishop's last season, but a little diversity among the teams should make for a fun and interesting tournament!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!