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!

An Amazing Night Of Hockey

I spent my Friday evening in a rink once again, but this game was a little different in that we had the radio gear out, we were broadcasting a game, and we were having a blast! As you may have heard on The Hockey Show over the last few weeks, Jason and I were looking forward to this weekend's set of games featuring Team Manitoba parahockey and the Minnesota Wild sled hockey team in a series being called the Cross Border Classic! Tonight saw Game One of the three-game set kick off the weekend, and we were treated to an incredible display of skill, speed, and talent from both squads as the Wild and Team Manitoba hit the ice! Would we see a Manitoba win?

I'll be honest in saying that, win or lose, seeing sledge hockey getting more attention in this province is vital for the sport's growth, and UMFM through The Hockey Show is proud to be part of this. Jason and I are happy to volunteer our time to give these incredible athletes a brighter future that includes better funding and sponsorships and more opportunities to play, so expect us to continue to work with and partner with Sledge Hockey Manitoba whenever we can.

I was at the rink early today to get things setup, and there already was electicity in the air as a handful of Team Manitoba players were already there to get the raffle table setup alongside the coaches and volunteers. Team Manitoba head coach McKenna Wild said that her team was dealing with nerves as they felt pressure to play well with the added media coverage. We agreed that the pressure they felt was a privilege as the players had a chance to show off the skills and talents they had acquired through practice and hard work.

I had the privilege of chatting with photographer Dan of Ice Wave Media, who captured the image above, as he arrived soon after I began setting up the radio broad cast, and he was just as excited as I was to see how Team Manitoba would fare against the Minnesota Wild. Dan's an outstanding photographer and I'm glad he was there to capture the action from tonight's game. Ice Wave Media will be at all three games to take photos, so make sure you follow them!

It wasn't long before the players took the ice, and it was clear that both sides were fired up based on the pace seen during warmups. Shots had extra zip on them, the players were flying around the ice, and the goalies stood tall. It appeared that we were going to be in for one heckuva game as the teams sent players out for the face-off!

I'm not here to recap the whole game, but let's just say that Minnesota Wild goaltender Ben Schmitz should probably playing in Hockey USA's camps if he'snot already on their list. Manitoba had the ice tilted for most of the first period, but Schmitz came up big on all but one shot as Manitoba peppered him throughout the period. Elijah Armbruster was the only player to beat him as Manitoba took a 1-0 lead into the break despite outshooting the Wild by an 8-1 count.

If there were any nerves from a young Minnesota Wild team, they seemed to shake those off when the second period began. Both sides had chances as plays developed, passes were made, and shooting lanes were found, and it was clear that we had a game on our hands. Manitoba built on their lead to go up 3-0 before Minnesota responded with two quick goals to make it 3-2. Manitoba would add another goal in the dying second of the frame to make it a 4-2 contest, but it was clear both teams ratcheted up intensity in the second period!

The third period saw Manitoba lock down the defensive zone while getting outstanding goaltending from Paul Hamm, and they would add three more goals in the final frame to win Game One by a 7-2 score. Don't let the score fool you in that Minnesota had great opportunities throughout the game, but Hamm made a number of key saves while the Manitoba defence cleared pucks from danger quickly. Hamm seemed to have Zayden Inselman's number all evening as he stopped Inselman on a number of good chances, giving Manitoba the goaltending they needed to be successful as they took Game One!

Players of the game were Minnesota netminder Ben Schmitz and Manitoba forward Cohen Klassen, and seeing the two teams hang out on the ice and chat while showing the friendships they forged was awesome. Manitoba's Isaac Zint, at one point, was chatting with three Wild players, and there were lots of smiles shared among the two teams despite the furious competitiveness they showed.

Even more encouraging was the fact that Team Manitoba featured two women in Alyssa White and Petyon Vergie, but the Minnesota Wild featured two women as well! Adaylia Borgmeier and Kaia Bollmeier were solid in their efforts tonight, and it seems like the women's side of the game is gaining momemtum with these four women suiting up tonight. We know that both White and Vergie are already part of Canada's national women's team, but perhaps Borgmeier and Bollmeier are the next wave for the American team?

If you missed tonight's action, Game Two will be played at 5:15pm tomorrow at the Hockey For All Centre while Game Three goes at 9:15am on Sunday morning. If you can't make it down and you want to hear the action, you can catch Jason and I calling the games on the UMFM Second Stream all weekend long. We'll be on the air for the remaining two games after calling tonight's action, so set your watches and alarms to tune in for that fun! We do encourage you to get down to the rink for the games, though, as admission is free and there are all sorts of raffle prizes being offered to help raise funds for Team Manitoba and Sledge Hockey Manitoba this weekend!

If you're not busy, you know where you should be. Even if you are busy, your internet-connected devices can stream the action via the UMFM stream. Don't miss out on the best parahockey offered in this province because, as we saw tonight, it was an amazing game between two very talented teams who deserve more attention!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 702

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, invades the UMFM studios once again as there's a pile of hockey chatter to go over from leagues and places all over the North American map. It's been a busy week with playoffs starting, teams pushing for playoff spots, and teams loading up for playoff runs, so we'll talk about a lot of that stuff tonight with a few more stories mixed in. We'll be all over the map as we discuss all sorts of stories tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason dive into a pile of news and information that should be entertaining. They discuss the Cross Border Classic sledge hockey series happening at the Hockey For All Centre this weekend that you should attend, they take a look at the Canada West semifinals which have given us the finalists and Canada West's teams for the National Championships, and they discuss all the non-deadline trades that have happened so far. On top of that, there will be stories about North Dakota going green, Troy Ryan looking for a change, James Hardie's incredible adventure, Maryville University stepping up, and a legend stepped away from the game. It's going to be a busy hour, so settle in for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about parahockey action, playoff craziness, ridiculous trades, going green, stepping down, stepping up, an incredible adventure, deserved time off, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Greenest Playoffs

There's no doubt that a deep playoff run helps a team immensely when it comes to the financial windfall that comes from that run. NCAA hockey certainly can make some money if a winning team has a deep run, and this year's playoff format in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference will see one team likely make a bundle of cash this year. We already know they're one of the most profitable programs even without the deep playoff runs, but the UND men's hockey team is asking its fans to go green this postseason to support the team by dressing in green for their home playoff dates!

The Grand Forks Herald's Brad Schlossman reported today that "UND and Ralph Engelstad Arena are asking fans to wear green to all the home playoff games" as the team gets set for its weekend best-of-three playoff series against Omaha. Being the higher-seeded team in conference play sees North Dakota host the playoff series as "[t]his is the first year where every game of the NCHC tournament will be at a home venue. The higher seed will host each matchup."

UND will actually host every playoff game this season with the rule change pointed out by Schlossman above as North Dakota finished first-overall in the NCHC. That, of course, will result in the University of North Dakota making bundles of money off each playoff home game, so handing out rally towels on Friday is the kind of promotional item that will guarantee a sell-out if the game hasn't already reached capacity. No matter what you think of this new playoff format, the best schools and programs are always guaranteed a monetary bonus.

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with a school profitting off its extremely-popular hockey program as it literally should be one of the school's main marketing tools, but I struggle to understand how UND can annually make millions of dollars off their men's hockey while playing in what is arguably the best arena in all of NCAA sports, but they cannot have a women's collgiate hockey team because it apparently wasn't profitable enough and cost too much money.

The part about being profitable is understandable because women's hockey still struggles to find more than a couple of schools that average more than 2000 fans per game, so this is clearly a problem on every campus that has NCAA D1 women's hockey. If there are very few programs that get close to breaking even, North Dakota's cutting of their program was a choice, not a necessity, despite their men's hockey program generating vaults of money on an annual basis.

Before anyone jumps all over me by saying that the men's hockey program shouldn't subsidize a women's hockey program, let me turn the tables on you and ask why hockey fans in the same towns and cities go to see men's hockey and not women's hockey? Why do people complain about how a program is funded when the obvious solution to the problem would be to support both hockey programs as passionately and fervently as men's hockey is supported currently?

I take nothing away from UND men's hockey because they have a powerhouse team each and every year, they play in one of the best rinks in North America, and they have a fanbase that supports the program no matter what. That kind of support year-in and year-out is something that most hockey teams across the planet want, and UND gets it every weekend. North Dakota will make serious bank with the new playoff format, and I'm not holding that against them.

My only question is where does all that money go? It clearly didn't go towards keeping the women's program alive that produced PWHL stars like Kristen Campbell, Michelle Karvinen, and Susanna Tapani along with a pile of Olympians for a number of countries and players who skated in the CWHL, NWHL, and PHF. The program was clearly getting results, but it seems like no one noticed. Or cared.

I'm hopeful that UND can have a deep playoff run so they're flush with cash for next season and beyond. It's pretty clear that the University of North Dakota needs that money to keep the lights on rather than helping young women in the state of North Dakota and beyond achieve their dreams. The men's hockey program should be able to help UND with their budget by hosting the three-game series against Omaha this weekend, but it still leaves me with questions about where all the money goes from the greenest playoffs in UND history.

One place it doesn't go? Women's hockey at UND. Nor will it ever.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Was This Supposed To Happen?

If you've been reading HBIC long enough, you know that the aura around outdoor games has worn off for this writer. While the NHL keeps milking that cash cow at every opportunity they get, there simply aren't enough positives to make me want to see more of them. It seems that there was almost one in a place I never even expected, though, as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman shot down a question today that seemed to indicate that the NHL may play an outdoor game at Lake Louise. That left me asking "who came up with this bad idea?"

According to reports, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly were in Calgary to visit the site of Scotia Place, Calgary's new arena, as they evaluate potential locations for the World Cup of Hockey in 2028. Bettman and Daly met with the media before the Flames and Dallas Stars tangled tonight, and someone brought up a potential Lake Louise outdoor game.

"In terms of having a picturesque site that would be magnificent, but I don't know that as a reality it could happen," Bettman explained to the assembled media. "That's federal land around Lake Louise, and the regulations might make it next to impossible to deal with in terms of what we would have to do and how people who worry about those aspects of the environment wouldn't like it. Logistically it's a little hard because you don't have any infrastructure. Economically it's a little hard because you have no fans."

Circle this date on the calendar, folks, because I may actually applaud Gary Bettman for backing away from an outdoor game where the NHL could say it was the first to do something. Lake Louise does not need an NHL game whatsoever in that picturesque land. People go there to escape the hustle and bustle of city life while getting a chance to participate in some winter activites where the backdrop to those activities is unparalleled. The NHL is not needed there.

As we know, the NHL rarely does anything where they won't make a bundle of cash, and Bettman alluded to that fact by dropping in the "economically" portion of his statement. The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise has 539 guest rooms and suites, the Lake Louise Inn has 247 rooms and suites, and there are rental properties available. Even if one estimated four people to a room, that's 3200 fans that would be able to stay within walking distance of the NHL's outdoor rink. That doesn't include the number of rooms needed for players and staff, though, so let's drop the number to 3000 fans conservatively.

Newsflash: the NHL won't haul its mobile rink out to Lake Louise for 3000 people regardless of how many old-time hockey vibes there may be because they won't make bags of money as they do in stadiums.

The Lake Tahoe opportunity arose because the NHL was already playing in front of empty seats thanks to the pandemic, so they weren't required to rent seating or find ample parking for thousands of people. We saw some of the logistical challenges that the NHL faced that day as the ice melted around the boards during the afternoon, presenting obvious safety risks for the players. As a result, there was an eight-hour delay and subsequent scheduling changes before the Vegas Golden Knights-Colorado Avalanche game.

There are places that don't need the NHL, and Lake Louise is one of them. There may be people who want to see some old-time pond hockey, but Gary Bettman is right: there's zero infrastructure to play a game there. And while we have different reasons, this might be the first time that Gary Bettman and I totally aligned on a subject.

With hell freezing over thanks to today's developments, perhaps Bettman will consider Hades as an outdoor game location?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!