Why Keeping Records Matters

I spent more time than I probably should have in searching for information that shouldn't be this hard to find. As we know, Manitoba Bisons goalie Emily Shippam was credited with a goal last night in the Bisons' quarterfinal game against the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton, and I had put my stake in the ground that she may have been the first U SPORTS women's hockey netminder to have that honour. Both U SPORTS and Canada West have zero history of goalie goals posted anywhere, so I took a leap of faith that Shippam's goal made her the first woman to do so. I am here today to say that she was not first, but she's now part of a very small group of goalies.

That brings me to the goalie pictured above. Seen in the image is former Toronto Varsity Blues netminder Nicole Kesteris who suited up for the Varsity Blues from 2010-2015 in the OUA. Kesteris was recruited by former Varsity Blues head coach Karen Hughes to join the team where she showed she was ready for the university game by being named to both the OUA and CIS all-rookie teams in 2010-11 after going 8-8-0 with a 2.13 GAA and a .933 save percentage.

Kesteris would add a number of accolades to her résumé in her university career including graduating with a major in human geography and a double minor in sociology and environmental geography, but we're going to focus on a game on October 20, 2012 when the Varsity Blues were hosting the the Windsor Lancers. It was in this game where Nicole Kesteris made U SPORTS history.

According to the recap from that game, "with the score 3-3 in the second, Windsor pulled their goalie on a delayed penalty call, setting the stage for Kesteris’ goal. The Blues goaltender was credited with the goal after she made a pad save on a Windsor forward in the slot. The Windsor player then fired a pass back to the point, where it missed its’ intended target and travelled the length of the ice into the Lancers net." Apostrophe catastophe aside in that final sentence, Kesteris would score Toronto's first-ever goalie goal and, from what I've read, U SPORTS' first women's hockey goal by a goaltender.

As you can see, Kesteris was credited with an unassisted goal to make it 4-3 at 14:33 of the second period with Brittany Kirby being the Varsity Blues player who had committed a tripping penalty.

According to Kesteris' biography on the Varsity Blues website, that first Toronto goal was upgraded to "became the first female goalie in the CIS to be credited with a goal versus Windsor on Oct. 20". Again, I take no issue with this claim being made because there is simply no record of any other goaltender having scored a goal, but that's more of a function of U SPORTS and its conferences not having records online for people to read and reference. Which is all sorts of wrong.

This only makes things worse for everyone in hockey because, during my wee-hours-of-the-morning research, I stumbled across the player biography for Shanley Peters who suited up for the University of Wisconsin-Superior in the NCAA. The Manitoba-born, former Pembina Valley Hawks netminder played from 2010-14 with the Yellow Jackets, and her biography reads, "Made history on November 15 when she was credited with a goal in a 2-2 tie with UW-Eau Claire, making her the first goaltender in women's hockey history to score a goal".

Except she wasn't the first as I showed above. Nicole Kesteris scored on October 20, 2012 while Peters scored her goal on November 15, 2013, nearly 13 months after Kesteris had achieved the feat. Was she the first Yellow Jackets netminder to be credited with a goal? I'm sure she was and I won't debate that. Was she the "first goaltender in women's hockey history" to score? Absolutely not by all measures.

If we want to make things even more murky in the women's hockey goalie goals category, the goal by Peters erases the history made by Manitoba-born, former Pembina Valley Hawks goalie Corinne Schroeder as well. Schroeder was credited with a goal on September 25, 2021 with the Quinnipiac Bobcats as she scored against the Maine Black Bears. At the time, I had written that Schroeder was "the first female goalie in NCAA history to be credited with a goal of any kind" which we now know is not accurate thanks to Shanley Peters.

NCAA goals aside, this is why keeping accurate records in women's hockey is important. In just this article, I've debunked several statements and claims made by teams and organizations because the information is not accurate in any way nor is it easily accessible. The point is that no one should have to spend time hunting down simple stats like I did last night-slash-this morning. And the fact that me doing this work has now affected other records in other leagues is why accurate and accessible record-keeping is vitally important.

Because none of U SPORTS or its respective conferences make this information available, I guess I'll have to step in to fill the void despite me not being on those organizations' payrolls and despite me not having any association with those organizations or their respective teams. Here is the list of goalies who have been credited with goals in U SPORTS women's hockey that I have found:

• Nicole Kesteris (TOR) vs. Windsor Lancers - October 20, 2012
• Emily Shippam (MAN) at Alberta Pandas - February 20, 2026

If you know of other U SPORTS women's hockey goalies who have accomplished the feat, please let me know either by emailing me or posting in the comments, but you must provide a date and evidence that it happened. As much fun as it may sound, I don't really want to spend hours at night hunting down information that U SPORTS and the four conferences should already be making available to everyone.

Congratulations to all of Nicole Kesteris, Emily Shippam, Shanley Peters, and Corinne Schroeder for being part of a very exclusive club! Based on the four goalies who were mentioned in this article, it seems that Manitoba has a firm grasp on the unviersity-level women's hockey goalie goals, but membership is always open to any goalie who can accomplish the feat! Goalie goals are always awesome!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is This The First One Ever?

I normally save all the Canada West women's hockey chatter for Sunday on The Rundown, but tonight will need its own entry on HBIC because we might have witnessed history tonight. As you know, HBIC will push whatever article I may be working on to a later date if there's a goalie goal scored with video evidence, and it appears we have one tonight that could be very historic! The woman to the left is Manitoba Bisons netminder Emily Shippam, and she was the starter for the Bisons tonight against the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton in Game One of the Canada West quarterfinal series. I'll recap the game on The Rundown, but it appears that Shippam might now be in the record books!

First, let's go to the video of why Shippam may have made history!
Shippam was credited with a goal at 18:55 of the third period after the shot by Alberta Pandas forward Hailey Carothers went off Shippam's arm, off the boards, and down the ice into the vacant net to put the Bisons up 4-2 in the game, eventually winning 5-2. What makes this goal historic is that I can find no other records of any Canada West or U SPORTS women's hockey goalie being credit with a goal of any kind! Emily Shippam may be the first goalie to have a goal credited to her in any U SPORTS women's hockey competition!

To give you an idea of how rare this is in U SPORTS hockey, I went all the back to 2009-10 to see how many goalies had scored in both men's and women's hockey. I found three goalies who did in men's hockey as Alberta's Kurtis Mucha scored in 2012-13, Western's Lucas Peressini scored in 2018-19, and Saskatchewan's Taran Kozun scored in 2019-20. The women's stats for the same time period are non-existant entirely as it only shows the normal goaltending stats rather than having point totals included. Because of this, it appears that Emily Shippam is the first goaltender to be credited with a goal!

Because Canada West and U SPORTS have criminally underreported women's statistics for decades, I'm making it official: Manitoba Bisons goaltender Emily Shippam is the first U SPORTS women's hockey goaltender to be credited with a goal. I'm willing to change this if anyone can find proof that another goaltender was credited with a goal before Shippam, but this is the image that matters right now.

Clearly, Emily Shippam played a big role in the Bisons win tonight as she recorded the victory after stopping 18 shots, and she scored her first career U SPORTS goal at 18:55 of the third period to put Manitoba up 4-2! That's a great day at the office for Shippam as the Bisons are one win away from a Canada West semifinal appearance after Shippam helped her own cause in Game One with a goal!

Congratulations go out to Manitoba Bisons netminder Emily Shippam who, based on all the reading and research I've done, is the first goaltender credited with a goal in U SPORTS women's hockey history!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

***Update: Emily Shippam is NOT the first goalie to be credited with a goal. I'll have more on this on Saturday when I discuss the lack of statistical records kept by U SPORTS in another HBIC article.***

The Hockey Show - Episode 700

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, somehow made it to the 700th show in its history. There aren't many weekly shows that have lasted as long as this hour has, but we're climbing the rungs of history at UMFM. When you consider that The Simpsons has been on the air for 37 seasons and only have 805 episodes to their name, we must be holding our own in the hockey chatter realm. In all honesty, though, we are grateful and thankful for each and every person who has tuned in for a segment or a season or the entire run of shows, and we're hoping to deliver another good one today! Buckle up because we have a couple of great guests joining us tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

You may have heard us talking about the Cross Border Classic earlier this year as we looked to get Sledge Hockey Manitoba a little real estate on the hockey map, and Teebz and Jason are excited to chat with Team Manitoba goaltenders Paul Hamm and Jon Derry tonight! We'll talk to them about being selected as the netminders for Team Manitoba, how they got into sledge hockey, their other pursuits, the upcoming Cross Border Classic, the Olympics, the Paralympics, and more! This show should be a beauty with medals on the line in Italy and two great guests who love the game of hockey in Paul and Jon, so hunker down around the radio 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 with Team Manitoba parahockey goalies Paul Hamm and Jon Derry about playing the game, their upcoming series, the biggest tournaments on the planet, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: February 19, 2026: Episode 700

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Corny Evening Of Hockey

If you're a fan of Lego, you know that the company has been producing a line of minifigures over the last number of years that feature all sorts of wacky characters along with a number of licensed characters not released in sets. One of those figures that came was the one you see to the right as they had a minifigure dressed up like an ear of corn. What one would use this for in a Lego setting outside of being a mascot is harder to imagine, but what if there was a hockey team who decided to dress like the corncob guy? You may chuckle at that question, but that's happening this weekend in the ECHL as one team has decided to get "corny" with their look on Saturday. Settle in and lend an ear for this story of kernels, skates, and rather unique uniforms that will hit the ice!

The Iowa Heartlanders will host the Cincinnati Cyclones on Saturday, but the midwest ECHL team won't be in one of their normal uniforms that to Saturday's game being "Cornfed Country Night" at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa! It seems that the Heartlanders are pulling out all the stops for this one as they'll give away Corn Thunderstix to fans as they come into the arena, there will be a pregame pyrotechnic show, the arena rock will be replaced with country music, and there will be giveaways for fans all night!

Of course, there will be the normal arena games between periods, and you know there will likely be a few cornhole boards setup along the concourse. It sounds like the concession stands will feature a lot of popcorn, there will be face-painting for the kids, and fans who want a larger-than-normal beverage can purchase the Heartlanders Boot Mug ticket package which comes with the boot-like mug seen to the left! Unfortunately, the toe appears to not be fillable so there won't be any physics needed to prevent spills, but that's a pretty cool promotional item nonetheless! I wonder how many Heartlanders Boot Mug tickets have been sold?

Ok, since I lured you into this article with the promise of corncob-clad players, the real deal are the uniforms to the right. Obviously, the players have to wear helmets so the hats shown in the image is just for fun, but the Iowa Heartlanders will wear the uniforms you see to represent "Cornfed Country Night" on the ice! I honestly can't think of any other team ever dressing as ears of corn for a hockey game, but it seems we can cross that one off the "did it happen in hockey?" list. If you're thinking, "I want one of those," fans can get their hands on these uniforms thanks to the Heartlanders putting them on Dash Auctions where both the jerseys and the pants shells can be won!

My hope is that a good crowd comes out on Saturday for this game between the Heartlanders and Cyclones. Currently, both teams sit at the bottom of the ECHL Central Divsion with the Cyclones having a nine-point edge on the Heartlanders. Cincinnati is 21-22-3 this season while Iowa is 16-28-4, so both teams will need to win games if they hope to have a shot at the playoffs. The good news is that Cincinnati is just six points back of the Indy Fire for fourth-place in the Central Division, but the Heartlanders have some serious work to do being 15 points back. A win on "Cornfed Country Night" would help that cause!

It should be a fun night on Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville and we'll get to see what the Heartlanders look like as they skate around the rink as ears of corn. "Cornfed Country Night" wouldn't work everywhere and it may not even be wanted anywhere else, but it works well in Iowa where, 90 minutes northeast, there was a story about a summer sport that came to life thanks to a cornfield!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

No Red Leafs In Canada West

Despite the logic of having a third BC-based university hockey program under Canada West's watch, the dream of seeing the Simon Fraser University Red Leafs make the jump to U SPORTS hockey is now dead-on-arrival with the news that was reported yesterday. I know that SFU is experiencing a "tightening of the purse strings" like most of the big universities across Canada, but the men's at-large hockey program that played against both U SPORTS and NCAA competitors whenever possible is officially being slashed at the end of the current season as per Simon Fraser University. Along with the lacrosse team, the university found that these two teams were "“not sustainable due to financial, regulatory and logistical constraints".

In reporting done by Mario Bartel of Freshnet News, he broke the story yesterday about the hockey and lacrosse teams, noting that the school had already planned to scuttle the varsity softball, golf, and outdoor track and field teams "as U Sports doesn’t have national championships for those sports". It seems the scalpel that SFU is using to get its budget back in order doesn't just end with non-championship sports as the Red Leafs men's hockey program looked like a potentially-viable option for Canada West men's hockey.

The madness in all of this is that Canada West and U SPORTS are shooting themselves in their respective feet by forcing SFU to pay fees to rejoin the two sporting bodies. Bartel reports that "the move back to U Sports will save $850,000 annually. But the one-time application costs for the new affiliation will cost the school up to $990,000" which makes absolutely zero sense when one considers that SFU's re-application can be amortized over a number of years, thereby guaranteeing better health of their athletic teams and ensuring their commitment to the conference is legitimate.

In looking at those numbers, though, I have a serious question: what is that money used for when it comes to the application costs? Shouldn't the application fees be as minimal as possible to allow more schools to compete at the U SPORTS and regional levels assuming they meet the educational requirements of U SPORTS participation? It's not like Canada West or U SPORTS is sinking that money into reducing costs for schools or building new infrastructure for their teams, so where does that million-dollar fee go?

Of course, no one will provide me with answers as to where those fees go besides into general coffers, so your guess is as good as mine. That's a whole other topic for another article one day, though.

If there's one thing that Canada West can use, it's tighter groups of teams rather than having nine teams spread out over four provinces. Travel is a significantly massive part of each program's budget each year, and having a better configuration for these ridiculous East and West Divisions would change that. If there were three teams in BC, they'd match the three teams in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the only teams who would need to switch divisions to make things work would be the Alberta teams. That won't happen now with this news.

Perhaps there will be a day where Simon Fraser University announces both a men's and women's hockey program for Canada West, but that day isn't even on the horizon at this point. I'd expect the players who are currently on the Red Leafs' roster to potentially look elsewhere for hockey opportunities now, and that will once again hurt Simon Fraser's enrolment numbers when one considers the number of athletes who are paying the price for SFU's financial situation.

If you were hoping for good news about Canadian university hockey growth, there is none here today. The Red Leafs are done as far as high-level competition is concerned, and their only team will continue to play in the BCIHL where costs are kept relatively low in comparison. And if we're ever to arrive at a ten-team Canada West conference, we need another team in BC to balance the conference.

As it stands, the nine current teams won't have to worry about trips to Burnaby next season or at any time in the future, apparently.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!