The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with a full recap show of some of the events that happened last weekend in Elmira, in Halifax, and in Winnipeg. Honestly, it was a busy weekend of hockey action in those three cities, and our hosts will try to bring everyone up to speed on what happened in those cities. Frankly, it was a very entertaining weekend of hockey no matter which event one focused on, so we'll look at the two tournaments that determined university supremacy and the big game tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason will look back on a weekend where both the U SPORTS National Men's and Women's Hockey Championships were played and where the PWHL took over Winnipeg. They'll have thoughts, opinions, and discussion about each of the events including who won, who didn't win, and all of the incredible action seen from the two National Championships before spending a larger amount of time discussing the PWHL's arrival in Winnipeg, the viability of the PWHL in Winnipeg, and the results from that game. As a bonus, Teebz sat down with both Kendra Woodland and Kaitlyn Ross of the Ottawa Charge to chat about their careers, so don't miss those! There's lots to discuss, so tune in tonight to 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 National Championship, winners and also-rans, women's hockey, PWHL action, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
If the ice in the image to the left looks a little off, this was a real thing in 2005. With the NHL lockout in full effect, the AHL was seeing a pile of stars play nightly who should have been on NHL rosters while the NHL and AHL brass looked at all sorts of options to make the game better during AHL games. The image to the left is from one of those games where the ice was coloured "electric powder blue", the blue lines were painted almost fluorescent orange, and the red line was painted dark blue. If those changes seem drastic, it was meant for a specific reason as per the NHL.
According to an archived USA Today article, "[t]he blue ice is part of an experiment that was approved by both the NHL and AHL after officials discussed changing the ice color from white to enhance how the game is viewed by both live and television audiences."
You might be wondering why the NHL decided to give this idea any thought, but 2005 was the year that HDTV became a big thing that everyone had to have with Steve Jobs opening MacWorld that year "with the proclamation that 2005 is the 'year of high-definition video,'" so professional hockey was trying to keep ahead of the emerging television technology. After all, fans could have an HDTV in their homes for the NHL to give them the best view possible!
The game on March 20, 2005 where this was first tried featured the Rochester Americans and the Cleveland Barons playing in Buffalo's HSBC Arena in front of 15,288 fans as per the gamesheet. Paul Gaustad beat Nolan Schaefer in the first period and Rory Fitzpatrick added a second Americans goal from Geoff Peters and Daniel Paille while shorthanded in the second period, and that's all the scoring that Americans netminder Ryan Miller needed as Rochester captured the 2-0 victory. For what it's worth, Rochester ended up being the AHL's best team that season with 112 points with a record of 51-19-10 while Cleveland was last in the North Division with a 35-37-8 record and 78 points, 11 points back of a playoff spot.
As per the players, some noticed the new paint job on the ice while it seemingly had no effect on others based on their comments.
"I didn't notice it too much from a player's standpoint," Fitzpatrick told USA Today. "It was hardly noticeable at all."
Derek Roy had a different view of the ice after watching the game from the pressbox, telling The Associated Press, "From afar there was a distinct difference, as the black puck seemed to stand out well on its powder-blue backdrop, especially when it slid along the orange 'blue' lines. I think the orange lines really stood out. I think that was a positive. But overall, it didn't look that much different. It looked like everyone adapted and everyone liked it."
Fans seemed to agree with Roy's assessment of the new ice colours.
"I think it looks great," Sabres fan Alysa White told USA Today. "It takes some getting used to, but I really don't mind it at all."
While there was no guarantee these colour changes or any of the other changes - two-foot blue lines, larger nets, the trapezoid - would stick for NHL play when it resumed once the lockout ended, the Buffalo Sabres seemed pretty happy to partner with the NHL to put these experimental ideas to the test inside the HSBC Arena.
"We are very excited to experiment with a light blue ice surface," Buffalo Sabres Managing Partner Larry Quinn told AHL.com. "The National Hockey League first introduced the idea of using different types of ice colors and we asked their permission to experiment with the blue ice concept during our two upcoming AHL games. We think the action on the ice will show up better on television with a blue surface and will be easier to see the flow of the puck."
Depsite the somewhat-positive feedback for the ice, the Americans would play a second game on the powder blue surface against the St. John's Maple Leafs at HSBC Arena in front of 15,326 fans. Jason Pominville would record a hat trick and Thomas Vanek had a pair of goals for the Americans to erase Kyle Wellwood's two goals, and the Americans downed the Maple Leafs by a 6-4 score on April 3, 2005.
I couldn't find a single article about this game with the online newspaper archive being down, so there aren't any further comments about the blue ice. However, it seems like the thinking for the blue ice was similar to the experience that hockey fans had when hockey debuted on TV in the 1950s. As per a McGill University article,
"Television viewers got their first glimpse of painted ice on October 11, 1952 with the initial Hockey Night in Canada telecast. When color television appeared, cameras couldn't handle the brilliant white ice surface and it had to be painted blue. Technology soon overcame this faux-pas so that today we can watch hockey played on a white sheet of ice, as it should be."
With the innovation of high-definition television, it seems like the NHL was trying to learn from a mistake they made in the past by painting the ice blue in these test games. Despite the two games showing no adverse effects for players or fans when it came to playing or watching the game, it seems we were fairly close to seeing blue ice, bright orange lines and face-off markings, and a blue line at centre ice in an effort to make the game easier to watch on HDTV!
Ok, maybe we weren't THAT close considering that those two games were the only games we saw with the blue ice in the AHL that season or in any other season, but those two games should be remembered for what could have been had the NHL gone ahead with their HDTV idea. Frankly, the game looks pretty good in high-definition without any new paint on the ice, so perhaps this blue ice experiment was just to confirm that white ice works best on high-definition TVs.
Or, as the McGill article stated more succinctly, "today we can watch hockey played on a white sheet of ice, as it should be." 'Nuff said.
The cat to the left is not HBIC CEO Meg, but Meg is sleeping noisily next to me. I sit here and giggle quietly as she snores audibly enough that she's competing with the hockey game on TV, but I'm somewhat envious of her as I could use more sleep after what was a busy weekend. Between being up early to watch the U SPORTS National Championships to running around to watch PWHL hockey to just trying to get some stuff done around the house, I burned the candle at both ends this weekend so I'm taking the night off just to watch hockey and relax. And maybe nap.
By no means am I the average television viewer as I don't even have a cable subscription nor do I pay for streaming services. I happen to be somewhat tech savvy, however, so I do have ways of finding hockey on various streams that are broadcast free on the internet. One of those, as you likely know, is CBC Sports' website and YouTube channel, and I had wondered on Sunday why U SPORTS wasn't working more closely with CBC to bring U SPORTS hockey to their streams every week as some sort of "Hockey Night From Canada" broadcast.
Note the preposition change there. Trademarks matter.
Creative naming aside, hear me out on this because the numbers seem to indicate that there's a market for U SPORTS hockey. According to The Sport Information Resource Centre, U SPORTS broadcasts on streaming services increased in 2023-24 by 20% over 2022-23 thanks, in large part, to CBC's coverage of U SPORTS competitions. By sport, U SPORTS women's hockey saw an unreal 81% increase in viewership that year while men's hockey saw a modest 9% boost in online viewership. In short, people were watching games.
"U SPORTS has worked with our media partners TVA Sports, CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports, as well as iSi Live and Live U to give our student-athletes the best exposure of any amateur sports organization in the country," John Bower, U SPORTS Director of Marketing and Communications, said in 2024 in the SIRC article. "Our focus on digital broadcasting allows fans to watch our championships on any screen anywhere in Canada or worldwide. We're meeting consumers where they are, and that's how our exposure has grown so much over the past three years."
That's fine and dandy for 2024, but it's 2026 and we had Canada West hockey broadcasts on CBC streams all winter with almost no one knowing about it. I posted it a few times, but I'm not being paid to promote anything for U SPORTS, Canada West, or CBC. In saying that, it seems like that any momentum that was built in that 2024 season has relied almost exclusively on National Championships rather than looking to expand the coverage into any conference's regular season.
Consider the following scenario for a second: OUA women's hockey has a single game played every week on Thursday when no other conference is playing hockey regularly while the RSEQ has games being played on Sunday when no other conference is playing regularly. That would leave Friday and Saturday for Canada West and the AUS to broadcast games on CBC online streams, and you'd be able to schedule things appropriately for some of the bigger "featured" games each season like the Crowchild Classic in Calgary.
Just to prove my point, I looked at November 9 through November 23 for all four conferences. Here's what the schedule could look like if regular season games from all four conferences were on CBC streams:
Wednesday, Nov. 12: St. Thomas @ Mt. Allison - 7pm AT (AUS)
Thursday, Nov. 13: Toronto @ Brock - 6pm ET (OUA)
Friday, Nov. 14: Bishop's @ Montreal - 7pm ET (RSEQ)
Friday, Nov. 14: MacEwan @ UBC - 7pm PT (CW)
Saturday, Nov. 15: Toronto @ Waterloo - 2pm ET (OUA)
Saturday, Nov. 15: St. Thomas @ StFX - 7pm AT (AUS)
Sunday, Nov. 16: McGill @ Concordia - 2pm ET (RSEQ)
Wednesday, Nov. 19: StFX @ Dalhouse - 7pm AT (AUS)
Friday, Nov. 21: Mount Royal @ Trinity Western - 7pm PT (CW)
Saturday, Nov. 22: StFX @ Saint Mary's - 3pm AT (AUS)
Saturday, Nov. 22: UBC @ Alberta - 5pm MT (CW)
Sunday, Nov. 23: Bishop's @ Concordia - 1pm ET (RSEQ)
Imagine being able to see 21 of 35 U SPORTS women's hockey teams playing over two weeks without having to do anything other than logging onto CBC's online streams to watch games. Perhaps we'd see an uptick in the number of players drafted by the PWHL teams with this improved exposure as teams could do better scouting of players they're watching. Most importantly, it might give players a better idea of playing U SPORTS hockey rather than playing NCAA hockey.
I get that there's a significant margin of play when it comes to elite NCAA teams and elite U SPORTS teams and I'm not here to denigrate NCAA or ACHA hockey whatsoever. It's clear, though, that there's a significant margin between the exchange rates for the Canadian and US dollars. If players had a better appreciaton for how good U SPORTS hockey is, maybe some of them stay home to play hockey in Canada.
Some will say, "Teebz, you're competing against the NHL broadcasts on some of those nights", and I'd argue that U SPORTS programs already are. Add in the fact that paywalls prevent any easy accessibility to U SPORTS broadcasts, and you've now removed any chance of competing for viewers whatsoever. At that point, why go to the trouble of broadcasting at all since you can't attract casual fans?
Look, this is all just a fantasy right now anyway as CBC would need to agree to this grandiose plan to broadcast the streams before anything could even be scheduled. Based on the SIRC's data, however, there certainly appears to be a market for U SPORTS hockey in this country, and that market could grow by leaps and bounds if people just had access to games. CBC would just need access to the local feeds produced by the schools to put up on their streams, and this "project" would cost almost nothing while changing the landscape for Canadian university hockey. Someone just needs to get the wheels turning.
That person, however, won't be me. U SPORTS nor any of its conferences know I exist nor will they acknowledge my emails to them with any response. U SPORTS can steal this idea and claim it as their own if they like since I'm posting it publicly, but it's shocking that with the growth seen in 2024 that no one looked to capitalize on that interest in the game. U SPORTS was handed a winning lottery ticket in 2024 with SIRC's data, and U SPORTS basically tore it up.
There's still time to correct this error with the number of people that I believe tuned into the broadcasts this year, but ignoring the popularity of university hockey, specifically women's hockey, is something for which U SPORTS should be crucified if they squander yet another opportunity to improve the game for everyone.
It isn't often that I find myself sitting a couple stories above the ice for any game, but, yesterday, there was a big event that happened down at the rink as 15,225 people packed the Canada Life Centre for the first-ever PWHL game in the Keystone Province! Winnipeg played host to the PWHL Takeover Tour on Sunday evening with the Montreal Victoire "visiting" the Ottawa Charge, and this weekend has seen the players capture the hearts and minds of Winnipeggers who wanted to see professional women's hockey without needing a passport and an eight-drive to Minneapolis. I'll recap the events which I attended as the PWHL made itself at home in Winnipeg, and I'll try to determine whether or not Winnipeg is ready to join the PWHL circuit! Let's get into it!
On Friday evening, I had the opportunity to attend the Ottawa Charge Career Panel that took place at the University of Manitoba. The event was designed for university students who were thinking about a career in professional sports, but may not know where to start. The list of participants that the Charge made available for the panel covered a lot of positions with their team. The panel included:
Mike Hirshfeld, Ottawa Charge General Manager
Amanda Deluca, Head Athletic Therapist
Kara Fulawka, Head Equipment Manager
Olivia Giardetti, Hockey Operations & Team Services Director
The panel answered some pre-submitted questions that had been sent in, and they went over what a lot of their individual jobs entail. What they made clear was that they are never doing just one job. Everyone helps everyone else, there's always something that can be done or made better, and no one ever has the same day twice.
Following the pre-submitted questions, the panel took questions from the audience. There were a number of great questions asked about all aspects of the business, and the four panelists did a great job in answering all the questions as thoroughly as they could. They actually went over the allotted time much to the delight of the audience, so kudos to the Charge for being extremely accessible and informative!
Saturday saw the teams arrive at the Hockey For All Centre where open practices were held for fans to enjoy. I didn't stay long for these as the the teams were extremely busy following the practices in trying to get to youth hockey sessions and appearances, but both teams had uptempo practices that set the tone for Sunday night's game. Fans in attendance seemed to enjoy themselves as well!
The Charge hit the road quickly after practice as they were off to the Eastman Selects U13 practice where they hit the ice with the kids, hung around to sign autographs and take pictures, and generally allowed the Selects players to meet their hockey heroes! The players were generous with their time as everyone had a good time based on comments and excitement. Of course, it didn't hurt that the head coach of the Eastman Selects U13 team is Chantal Larocque, Jocelyne's sister, so seeing the highly-talented sister tandem work together while running a practice was pretty awesome for everyone!
That set up the city of Winnipeg for the biggest women's hockey event it will host this year, and I was down at the Canada Life Centre early as I spent some time in the pressbox watching the U SPORTS Women's Hockey National Championship gold medal game. When the doors finally opened at 5pm CT, the fans clad in both Charge and Victoire gear poured in as if it were a Taylor Swift concert. Fans of all ages anxiously waited for warm-ups to begin, and the crowd roared and waved their signs as players hit the ice to prep for the game.
After the ceremonies prior to the game, the action on the ice started slowly before the teams ramped up the action. There were hits, penalties, saves, shots, and passes, but a lack of goals was the only thing preventing the roof from being blown off Canada Life Centre by the sold-out crowd. As the first period ended, the fans in Winnipeg cheered loudly for their hockey heroes, but the score remained 0-0.
The third period started somewhat more conservatively as both sides seemed to be more mindful of the defensive zone, but chances were had as Montreal went to work on a power-play while Ottawa continued to push the pace with quick strikes. Winnipeg fans got a chance to exercise the pipes as the karaoke cam brought out an extended version of ABBA's Dancing Queen that extended far past the song being cut off. It seemed pretty clear that Winnipeg just needed a reason to explode with excitement! Would we get a reason?
Winnipeg responded loudly following a scrum that was preceded by a Rebecca Leslie boarding penalty as the more-than-15000 fans enjoyed the pushing and shoving between the teams. A shorthanded two-on-oh for the Charge was stopped by Desbiens, and the Winnipeg crowd roared again. Time, however, would tick down without a big moment, and we'd go to overtime with this Takeover Tour game tied at 1-1.
It would take only twelve seconds for Rebecca Leslie to wire a wrist shot on the power-play past Desbiens for the overtime winner, and the Winnipeg faithful responded with a loud ovation for the Charge! As the teams shook hands, lots of fans rushed to the glass for photo opportunities. As the two teams came to center ice for a photo, the building got loud with PWHL fans showing their appreciation by honouring their hockey heroes with cheers and applause!
When it comes down to it, Winnipeg showed up for the PWHL. As per Kyle Cushman's spreadsheet to the left, Winnipeg is just the third arena to hit 100% capacity or better, and Winnipeggers made this Takeover Tour stop the seventh-best attendance total for these neutral sites games in PWHL history. Obviously, Winnipeg hockey fans deserve some kudos for their efforts all weekend at welcoming the PWHL into the Manitoba capital, and there were people that attended the game from outside Winnipeg including both Ontario and Saskatchewan. That's just incredible, and it certainly says that there are a ton of women's hockey fans in the region.
I'm not saying Winnipeg can never be a PWHL city, but we need to understand that entertainment dollars are already stretched thin in this city when it comes to supporting professional sports, high-end entertainment, and other ventures on top of paying for the everyday bills and costs that pop up. If you had asked me five years ago when I was covering Bisons women's hockey as a broadcaster if I ever would have thought we'd see a sold-out Canada Life Centre for women's hockey that didn't include Team Canada, I likely would have said no.
So is Winnipeg a PWHL city or not? Frankly, it's a complicated answer.
There's no doubt in my mind that a PWHL team would get solid support here in Winnipeg, but the same issues that plagued the WHL's Winnipeg Ice will likely plague a PWHL franchise. There isn't an 8000-seat arena available for them to occupy, so they would need to play out of Canada Life Centre. If they do that, I can't see Mark Chipman being very enthusiastic about his staff having to work games for another team, so the PWHL would need to look at selling a franchise option for True North Sports and Entertainment to operate.
If all of those stars were to align, I feel like David Thomson wouldn't say no to an additional twenty nights per year where his arena is being used. It would then fall to True North Sports and Entertainment to acquire a PWHL franchise via expansion or relocation, and that's where the rubber hits the road here in Winnipeg. Having people put down deposits on seats doesn't appear to be a problem based on last night's support for the game, so it's likely just working through some of the logistical hurdles before Winnipeg would join the PWHL.
In summary, the short answer is that, yes, Winnipeg could be a PWHL city. The more nuanced answer is that there are business-related matters that would need to be cleared before skates hit the ice at Canada Life Centre. We know that True North Sports and Entertainment doesn't rush into things without considering all options so jumping into this without some sort of guarantee of profitability wouldn't be a move they'd make under any circumstance. After all, a PWHL team is still a business with an entertainment side of hockey.
In a longer view, Winnipeg likely will be on the PWHL's list as an expansion location. For now, though, I wouldn't hold my breath due to the business-related reasons I mentioned above preventing the league from putting a team in the Manitoba capital. What shouldn't be questioned, though, is the region's passion and enthusiasm for professional women's hockey as 15,225 fans showed the PWHL that there's a women's hockey market waiting in Winnipeg.
You did good, Winnipeg and surrounding areas. It was a team effort, but I'm proud of this region's support for women's hockey.
There isn't much to say today other than "good luck" to the six teams who will close out the 2025-26 U SPORTS women's hockey season. One team from Quebec will celebrate loudly into the evening after capturing gold while an OUA team and an AUS team will duke it out for the bronze medal. A Canada West team and an OUA team have the chance to close out their seasons with a win in the consolation final, so let's not waste anymore time as we look at this last day of championship games from Elmira, Ontario here on The Rundown!
Consolation Final
The UBC Thunderbirds may have dropped their opening game against Montreal, but they bounced back with a win over Ottawa to earn a spot in the Consolation Final. On the other side, the Waterloo Warriors lost to the Guelph Gryphons before handing the Manitoba Bisons a loss to land in the Consolation Final. This was the first meeting between these two teams at a National Championship despite both being at the last three tournaments - who would prevail?
Warriors goals: Nikki McDonald (3), Keiara Raitt (1)
Warriors assists: Carly Orth (1)
Warriors netminder: Kara Mark (33/40)
The Guelph Gryphons found themselves in the bronze medal game after defeating Waterloo and falling to Concordia. The UNB Reds got by Ottawa in a shootout before Montreal scored more than they did. These two teams were meeting for the first time in a National Championship as Guelph attempted to win its second medal ever while UNB looked to capture its first medal in program history!
The Concordia Stingers advanced to the gold medal game by defeating the Manitoba Bisons and the Guelph Gryphons. The Montreal Carabins found themselves in the gold medal final after upsetting the UBC Thunderbirds and the UNB Reds. Montreal was trying to become the second eighth-seeded team to capture gold after the 2023 Mount Royal Cougars while Concordia was hunting for its fifth gold medal and third in five years. The first all-Quebec final since 2014 looked like it would be entertaining, so which Montreal-based team would be crowned as the 2026 U SPORTS champions?
There are no standings to worry about, but the there is one team who stood taller than the rest this weekend as U SPORTS champions!
Les Carabins de Montreal are your 2026 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Champions after defeating the Concordia Stingers for the first time in eleven tries this season, and they become the second eighth-ranked team to capture the gold medal after starting the tournament as the lowest-seeded team. This is Montreal's third gold medal in program history, and its first gold medal since 2016. Netminder Maude Desroches was named the tournament MVP after the game!
There's nothing to analyze here as the season is over, but I do want to show some gratitude to a handful of people and organizations. You may disagree with me on some of these, but that's your ball to kick. I'll be over here thanking these people for making the season fun and informative. They deserve some thanks for their efforts as well.
I want to thank CBC for their continued efforts in bringing amateur sports to Canadians via their online streams and network channels. I don't know if there will be regular airing of U SPORTS hockey anytime soon, but having all the games and features from both U SPORTS hockey championships available via their streaming options is simply awesome. CBC also had a number of Canada West games on their streams this past winter as well, so CBC gets a big "thank you"! Perhaps this could be the new "Hockey Night In Canada" on CBC?
The Waterloo Warriors and the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, Ontario deserve some thanks for putting on a second-straight U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship that seemingly went off without any issues. I'm sure there were some bumps along the road, but the games looked good and sounded good at every point. Hosting this event is a massive undertaking, and you've set the bar high for the UNB Reds and the city of Fredericton next year!
The parents, families, friends, and fans of U SPORTS players and teams are deserving of some gratitude as well. These are the people that sacrificed time, spent oodles of money, booked time off work, and were there to cheer on their daughters, sisters, granddaughters, nieces, best friends, former teammates, and the amazing women that make up the teams in U SPORTS women's hockey. They may not get enough thanks, but these people are there during the times of sadness, the times of frustration, and, ultimately, the time of joy in these women's lives. Thank you for helping these women achieve their dreams of getting a high-level education while playing hockey!
A big thank-you goes out to the coaches, athletic therapists, nutritionists, equipment people, and everyone behind the scenes that keep these women healthy, happy, and on the ice. All of these people invest their time and energy into their programs with the hope that it will pay off with a celebration at the end of games and seasons, and they put in countless hours preparing and making sure their teams are ready to go wherever a game is being played. Thank you for your dedication to women's hockey, to keeping players healthy in both mind and body, and for preparing them for any challenge they may face, both on and off the ice. The game is better because of you.
You can't play a game without officials, and, despite complaining or disagreeing with calls made, the effort these men and women put in to keep order in the game can't go unmentioned. Officiating means someone will always be unhappy with you, and these people have shown that they're willing to take a little heat to ensure the games remain safe for all to play. Thanks to the stripes on the ice and off-ice officials who do a great job in making sure the women's game remains awesome, and sports in general remain friendly competition.
A big shoutout goes to all the broadcasters who put in countless hours reading and memorizing facts and stats about players and teams to bring you the best broadcasts they can. Most of these broadcasts don't have a Sportsnet truck outside the arena and a dozen cameras inside, but the people who call the games make it sound just as good with their passion for and knowledge of the game. Thanks to everyone across the four conferences who picked up a microphone this year to add some chatter and insight to the games!
Finally, to the players, another season has come and gone and I know a lot of you will say that the time passed by too quickly. That's a truth about life: time is one of the most valuable commodities you'll have that will always seem like it's being spent too quickly, so I hope you used it wisely. I'm not talking about scoring goals or making saves, but about making life-long friendships and lasting memories. Every moment you spent in the community meant something to someone you met. Every second you spent on the bus rides complaining about school work was something over which you bonded with someone else. You made an impact on lives, especially with all the high-fives given to youth hockey players at your games. Those matter to them.
Thank you, players, for entertaining us every weekend. For always being good role models. For being brilliant students and better people. For your charitable work. For the time you spent making lives better. For being incredible teammates, cherished friends, and unforgettable icons. For being coachable and pushing your athletic limits. For sacrificing social opportunities to do homework. For welcoming challenges and embracing opportunities. For simply being awesome people that touched the lives of many. Thank you so much.
This game will push forward without reflection just as time does, but your impact on the game will be felt for years. History was made, victories were earned, friendships were forged, and smiles were seen. Yes, big goals and big saves will get remembered, but your legacy at your school and in the university game will be marked by the relationships and friendships formed over the time you played.
Thank you to everyone listed above who made the 2025-26 U SPORTS hockey season fun, and here's hoping next season is just as good!
The Last Word
That will close this chapter of The Rundown, and I don't know if it will return next season. I know I said that last year and I ultimately went ahead and did another season, but I can't be the only person talking about Canada West and U SPORTS women's hockey all the time. Making matters worse is that fact that no one who has the power to do so wants to see it get better. It's honestly frustrating.
There will be two new schools added in Quebec next season, so the number of women playing university hockey will grow. You would think that having options like CBC internet streams would be something that U SPORTS would want to capitalize on with the explosion of growth in women's hockey thanks to the Olympics this year, but I guess my lack of marketing and business degrees say that following an easily-sourced statistical trend is a bad idea.
I have been dedicated to this game, specifically in western Canada, for a long time. I have meticulous records for U SPORTS National Championships because that information isn't readily or easily found online anywhere. I have reached out to leaders in the university women's hockey game, and I haven't received a single response to my questions. I know I'm not the only person who cares, but I also feel like I can't keep doing this alone. I'm honestly frustrated.
What I do know is that a new wave of incoming students will join teams where renewed hope for immediate and long-term successes will be fostered. Teams will play, players will score, goalies will stop, and coaches will strategize as everyone aims to follow in Montreal's footsteps this season with a massive celebration in March. Just remember that time will fly by, so use your time as best as one can to build those friendships, foster those relationships, and create those life-long memories. And for heaven's sake, have some fun too!
Enjoy your summers, hockey fans. October is closer than you think!
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