The Rundown - Week 18

Wins and losses are starting to mean a lot more to teams fighting for playoff spots and playoff positioning. Dropping games one is expected to win gives everyone else a chance to make a move, so every point counts. Especially when you lose points after winning games as Lethbridge found out. As you'll see, each conference has a battle on their hands as we inch towards the playoffs so let's get to the rundown!

Canada West Results

MOUNT ROYAL at REGINA: The battle of the two Cougars teams took place in Regina, and it would be the visiting Cougars who opened the scoring. Sarah Weninger's shot would pinball off a couple of bodies in front of the net with the man-advantage and the puck would find its way past Toni Ross to put Mount Royal up at 16:37.

The second period would see a flurry of goals scoring in the final five minutes. Regina's Tessa Wilson had the puck deflect off her as she took position at the side of the net, and the ricochet would land behind Jess Ross to tie the game at 1-1 at 15:15. Mount Royal would jump ahead 1:19 later when Talia Terry wired a shot over Toni Ross' glove after a turnover to put the Alberta-based Cougars up 2-1. However, the Saskatchewan-based Cougars would tie the game again after Kylie Kupper's shot from the high slot wasn't seen by a screened Jess Ross at 18:51 to make it a 2-2 score.

Alexis Larson would put the Regina Cougars up for the first time in this game as she knocked in a rebound off a Kylie Gavelin wrap-around for the 3-2 lead. From there on, Ross and Ross would match one another save for save leading to the 3-2 Regina Cougars win. Toni Ross stopped 22 of 24 shots for her CIS-leading 14th win of the season while Jess Ross suffered the loss in this game.

MOUNT ROYAL at REGINA: The second-half of the back-to-back wasn't as close as the opening game. There would be no scoring in the opening stanza, but Regina's Kylie Gavelin would find the back of the net past Jess Ross at 3:39 of the second period. Regina would keep coming in the third period as Jaycee Magwood struck at 6:27 and again at 9:21 to put Regina up 3-0. Sarah Weninger got one back at 11:50, but Stephanie Sawchuk would ice the game with 18 seconds to play for the 4-1 Regina Cougars win. Make it 15 wins for Toni Ross in her 21-save victory while Jess Ross takes her second-straight loss.

ALBERTA at CALGARY: The first half of the home-and-home was played in Calgary, and these two Alberta teams battled through five periods to find a winner! Regulation and the first overtime period couldn't solve this game, but Calgary's Sasha Vafina would make the 3-on-3 overtime count. Kate Lumley's shot from the left side deflected onto the tape of Vafina who buried the puck behind Dayna Owen for the 1-0 victory! Hayley Dowling stopped 35 shots for the shutout win while Owen took the loss.

CALGARY at ALBERTA: The two teams would meet in Edmonton for the second-half of the series, but this one would only go 60 minutes. Alberta's Janelle Froheler opened the scoring at 12:18 with her goal on Hayley Dowling to put the Pandas up 1-0. Calgary would knot the game up at 1-1 when Iya Gavrilova found the back of the net past Lindsey Post at 5:49 of the second period, meaning one team would have to take a lead in the third.

Alex Poznikoff gave the Pandas that very lead at 14:08 when she beat Dowling, and Lindsey Cunningham finished off the Dinos at 17:57 with her goal. Alberta takes the second game by a 3-1 score. Post picked up the 21-save win while Dowling was on the losing end of the score.

SASKATCHEWAN at MANITOBA: The Huskies would open the scoring when Shyan Elias banked a centering pass off a Manitoba defender into the net past Rachel Dyck at 8:45, and Lauren Zary would make it 2-0 when she broke in on a 2-on-1 and ripped a wrist shot high on Dyck's glove side that found the twine. Brooklyn Haubrich would make it 3-0 in the middle frame when she eluded several poke-checks to find some open room to zip a shot past Dyck at 5:05.

The only question was whether the seemingly-disinterested Bisons would find a way onto the scoreboard, and they came out looking like an entirely different team in the third period. Crashing the crease began to work for the Bisons as Cassidy Hendricks seemed a little bothered by the distractions, and Venla Hovi would find Alanna Sharman cross-crease who buried it in the back of the net at 11:09. It would be the only blemish on the night for Hendricks as the Huskies took this game by a 3-1 score. It was a 22-save effort for Hendricks' win while Dyck took the loss.

SASKATCHEWAN at MANITOBA: Manitoba was in serious need of some points having dropped four-straight games and falling way down the standings. Caitlyn Fyten put the home side up midway through the first period while on the power-play as her blast beat Cassidy Hendricks at 9:19.

The second period would go scoreless as these two teams tightened up the defence, but Charity Price put the Bisons up 2-0 when she found daylight behind Hendricks at 1:53. Lauren Keen would put this game out of reach with her goal at 10:20, and the Bisons would take the second game by a 3-0 score. Amanda Schubert stopped all 21 shots she faced for the shutout while Hendricks ended the weekend with a split.

UBC at LETHBRIDGE: There were all sorts of goals in the opening game of this two-game set. Haneet Parhar opened the scoring on the power-play for UBC at 7:54. Keely Chalk tied the game up at 12:08 with her goal for the Pronghorns. Kathleen Cahoon would give UBC the lead through the intermission when she found the back of the net at 18:54.

Lethbridge would tie things up early in the second period while playing short. Sarah Spence found twine while shorthanded at 2:54, and Lethbridge took the lead at 5:17 when Kirsten Reeves put the Pronghorns up 3-2. UBC would find the equalizer at 15:40 when Nicole Saxvik's shot found the back of the net.

The third period saw Aislinn Kooistra score with 3:44 to play as the Pronghorns looked to be on the verge of a victory, but UBC never said die as they rallied and got a second goal from Cahoon at 18:54 - on the same net at the same time as the first period! - to tie the game at 4-4. We'd see overtime, and it would be in the 3-on-3 second overtime period where Tricia Van Vaerenbergh scored for the Lethbridge win!

Or not? UBC appealed the game based on the fact that the officials neglected to have the teams change ends after the first overtime. Canada West heard the appeal and, based on evidence, ruled in favour of UBC as the two teams hadn't, in fact, switched ends. That meant that the two teams would have to replay overtime again on Saturday!

On Saturday, both teams went scoreless through the two overtime periods which meant it was off to the shootout to determine a winner. Kathleen Cahoon scored on UBC's second shot while Danielle Dube stopped all three Lethbridge shooters she faced for the 5-4 UBC win! Dube made 26 saves in the shootout win while Alicia Anderson lost in the skills competition. It should be noted that Lethbridge is appealing the replay based on the fact that no advantage was evident by not changing ends. Canada West will rule on this later in the week, but UBC escapes the first game with two points right now.

UBC at LETHBRIDGE: Saturday's game literally took place right after the conclusion of the Friday game on Saturday afternoon. Confused? Don't worry about it. Here's the second game's results. Kirsten Reeves scored at 3:50 of the second period to open the scoring and put the Pronghorns up 1-0. We wouldn't see another goal until midway through the third period when UBC was skating with the man-advantage and Haneet Parhar scored at 13:01 to make it 1-1. However, Lethbridge was not going to be denied on a second day as Reeves would score her second of the game while on the power-play with 24 seconds to play as the Pronghorns took this one by a 2-1 score. Alicia Anderson allowed just the one goal in the win while Danielle Dube was on the wrong side of the win in this game.

CWUAA WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
British Columbia	11-7-4-2	43	58	43	L1	vs REG
Regina	11-8-4-1	42	64	54	W3	@ UBC
Alberta	13-8-0-3	42	54	37	W1	@ SAS
Saskatchewan	9-9-3-3	36	52	55	L1	vs ALB
Manitoba	11-11-0-2	35	47	41	W1	@ CAL
Lethbridge	9-11-2-2	33	46	59	W1	@ MRU
Mount Royal	7-12-3-2	29	46	56	L4	vs LET
Calgary	6-11-3-4	28	51	73	L1	vs MAN

As a result of this week's play, UBC, Regina, and Alberta all clinched playoff spots. Saskatchewan and Manitoba can clinch with two wins each in next week's play. The top-six teams in Canada West make the playoffs with the top-two teams earning first-round byes.

Ontario Results

UOIT at LAURIER: A rare Thursday night game in the OUA saw just one team hit the scoresheet with both goals coming in the third period. Kaitlyn Hatzes scored at 3:35 and Jessica Prevette added another at 13:53 as Laurier picked up the 2-0 victory over UOIT. Amanda Smith picked up the 33-save shutout while Cassie Charette suffered the loss.

YORK at NIPISSING: York used the power-play to take the lead in this game. With Nipissing's Alexane Papineau sitting for tripping at 11:25 and Stacey Henshaw sitting for roughing at 11:57, the Lions scored on the 5-on-3 when Jenna Gray beat Sabrina Picard at 12:57 for the 1-0 lead. They would use the remaining power-play time as well when Amy Locke ripped a shot past Picard at 13:54 for the 2-0 lead.

The Lakers would mount a comeback in the second period. Brooklyn Irwin beat Megan Lee with her shot at 9:31 to make it 2-1, and Stacey Henshaw would make up for her penalty in the first period with a power-play goal of her own at 16:53 to make it 2-2 through 40 minutes of play.

The only goal in the third period came off the stick Taylor Murphy with 58 seconds to play, but it was enough for Nipissing to take the game by a 3-2 score! Sabrina Picard earned the victory while Megan Lee took the loss.

WESTERN at TORONTO: Toronto's Meagan O'Brien ripped a shot past Kelly Campbell to put Toronto up early at 2:52 of the first period. Western would rally back as Amanda Pereira found daylight behind Valencia Yordanov at 8:04, making it a 1-1 game. We jump ahead to the second period where O'Brien made her presence felt again as she dented twine at 18:16 to make it 2-1 for the Varsity Blues. The two netminders would hold the forts in the third period, but Toronto held the 2-1 lead when the final horn sounded. Yordanov claimed the win with a 16-save performance while Campbell took the loss.

WINDSOR at RYERSON: Windsor got the jump on the Rams as Shawna Lesperance beat Sydney Authier at 8:31 for the 1-0 lead. We jump to the second period where Emma Rutherford found room past Hanna Slater for the Rams to tie the game at 1-1. Windsor's Krystin Lawrence would put the Lancers up 2-1 on the power-play at 8:01, and the Lancers would take a two-goal lead into the intermission after Erinn Noseworthy dented twine at 17:40. Neither team would find the back of the net in the third period as Windsor earns the 3-1 victory. Slater stopped 22 of 23 shots she faced for the win while Authier took the loss in her first start of the season.

WESTERN at RYERSON: Things didn't get any easier for Ryerson. April Clark scored at 17:07 of the first period and she would add a second goal on the power-play at 12:34 of the third period to give the Western Mustangs the 2-0 win. Kelly Campbell stopped 23 shots in the shutout victory while Sydney Authier took her second loss in as many days.

GUELPH at QUEEN'S: One team would get credit for goals in this one. Averi Nooren scored at 1:07 and Karli Shell added a second goal at 7:44 of the second period, and Ashlee Lawrence scored at 10:09 of the third period to lead the Guelph Gryphons to the 3-0 win over the Queen's Gaels. Valerie Lamenta was perfect on 21 shots while Caitlyn Lahonen was on the losing end of this game.

YORK at LAURENTIAN: Emma Leger got things started for the Voyageurs with her goal at 3:18 to put Laurentian up 1-0. Amy Locke would respond at 12:52 for the Lions to tie the game at 1-1, but Marie-Pierre Pelissou would restore the one-goal lead on the power-play at 15:38.

Cynthia St-Cyr would tie the game at 10:56 in the second period, and both Laurentian's Emmily Toffoli and York's Megan Lee were perfect through the remaining 29:04 of the game. It was off to overtime for these two teams, but it would take the second overtime period to find a winner. Julie Hebert ripped home the winner past Lee for the 3-2 Laurentian win! Toffoli stopped 22 of 24 shots she saw for the win while Lee suffered her second loss of the weekend.

BROCK at NIPISSING: All the scoring would come in the third period. The Lakers went out in front at 4:56 when Natalie Graham beat Stephanie Loukes, but Brittany Gillmor would tie the game for the Badgers with her shot that found room past Sabrina Picard at 15:42. This game would remain tied through regulation and both overtime periods, so it was off to the breakaway competition for the winner. Gillmor would score on Brock's second shot while Loukes stopped all three shooters she faced for the 2-1 Brock shootout win! Loukes made 29 saves in regulation for the win while Picard took the loss despite stopping 27 of 28 shots in regulation time.

WINDSOR at TORONTO: Shawna Lesperance put the Lancers up 1-0 just 2:42 in as her shot beat Valencia Yordanov. It became 2-0 when Krystin Lawrence scored on the power-play for Windsor at 12:10. Toronto, though, began the comeback in the second period as Kristi Riseley beat Ingrid Sandven on the power-play at 3:47 and Meagan O'Brien tied things up at 13:51.

We wouldn't get another goal before the end of the third period, so it was off to overtime. We didn't have to sit long as Sonja Weidenfelder's shot at 1:17 beat Sandven for 2-1 overtime win for Toronto! Yordanov stopped 15 shots to preserve the win while Sandven was the loser on this day.

WATERLOO at LAURIER: Laurier got the jump on the Warriors at 17:26 of the first period when Haley Bazter beat Rebecca Bouwhuis with her shot. From there, it was onto the third period where Waterloo's Alison Hanson scored on Amanda Smith at 9:13. Laurier, though, would take a lead they wouldn't relinquish as Cassandra Calabrese scored at 14:29, and the Golden Hawks would take this game by a 2-1 count. Smith earned the win in making 24 saves while Bouwhuis suffered the loss.

BROCK at LAURENTIAN: Only one team put points on the board. Laura Neu scored while shorthanded at 12:44 of the second period and Maggie Spratt-Mallick added a second goal at 7:47 of the third period to help the Brock Badgers down the Laurentian Voyageurs 2-0. Stephanie Loukes stopped all 32 shot she faced for the shutout while Laura Deller was on the losing end in this one.

UOIT at QUEEN'S: This was a tale of two games. UOIT built a lead off a Jenna Carter power-play goal at 3:54 and a Victoria MacKenzie marker to put them up 2-0 after one period. The Ridgebacks would go up 3-0 at the 3:06 mark of the second period when Shalyn Pavlisko beat Caitlyn Lahonen.

Cue the comeback for Queen's. Katrina Manoukarakis scored at 10:43 and added a second goal on the power-play at 18:50, and it was a 3-2 game for UOIT. The third period saw Kyla Crouse score on Cassie Charette at 17:03, and this game would go to overtime tied at 3-3. The first overtime period solved nothing, but Manoukarakis completed the hat trick at 3:27 of the 3-on-3 overtime period to give Queen's the comeback 4-3 overtime victory! Lahonen stopped 27 of 30 shots in the win while Charette stopped 50 of 54 shots in the loss.

OUA WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Guelph	13-2-3-1	46	58	22	W6	@ YOR/vs WIN
Nipissing	10-5-1-5	37	41	38	L1	vs QUE/UOIT
Waterloo	10-6-2-1	35	54	30	L1	vs TOR/@ YOR
Western	11-7-1-0	35	49	26	W1	@ LGH/vs BRO
Toronto	8-4-3-3	33	44	35	W3	vs RYE/@ WAT
Queen's	9-5-2-2	33	38	30	W1	@ NIP/LAU
Laurier	10-7-1-1	33	37	35	W3	@ WIN/vs WES
Laurentian	8-8-3-2	32	43	51	L1	vs QUE/UOIT
Brock	6-10-2-1	23	29	37	W2	vs RYE/@ WES
Windsor	6-10-1-2	22	51	65	L1	vs LGH/@ GUE
York	3-8-4-3	20	33	40	L2	vs GUE/WAT
UOIT	4-13-1-2	16	37	65	L5	@ NIP/LAU
Ryerson	2-15-0-1	7	18	58	L5	@ TOR/BRO

Quebec Results

McGILL at MONTREAL: This was an outstanding game that needed extra time to decide it. After an early tripping penalty called on Montreal, McGill's Melodie Daoust found room past Marie-Pier Chabot on the power-play 49 seconds into this game for the 1-0 lead. A body-checking penalty was called on McGill less than a minute later, and the Carabins would find the equalizer with the man-advantage as Audrey Gariepy beat Taylor Hough with her shot at 1:51. Montreal would strike again nearly two minutes later when Catherine Dubois ripped a shot past Hough to make it a 2-1 game.

We jump ahead to the second period where a great individual effort by McGill's Pamela Psihogios drew the two clubs even at 2-2 at 9:02. The power-play would strike again for the Carabins as Alexandra Labelle potted a goal at 13:05 after Brittany Fouracres was sent off for hooking, and the Carabins held the 3-2 lead. Nine seconds after Labelle's goal, Melodie Daoust would pick up her second goal of the game when she beat Chabot again, and it was a 3-3 game heading into the third period.

The Carabins appeared to wrap this game up on the power-play once more as Alexandra Paradis scored with 2:25 remaining to put Montreal up 4-3, but the Martlets wanted to play a little longer. Gabrielle Davidson found the back of the net for McGill at 18:49, and this game would need extra time. Overtime solved nothing, so it was off to the skills competition. Montreal's Laurie Mercier scored on the third shot and Chabot stopped all five shooters she faced to give Montreal the 5-4 shootout victory! Chabot stopped 19 shots in the win while Hough stopped 37 in the loss.

CONCORDIA at OTTAWA: Ottawa opened the scoring on the power-play at 13:56 when Camille Pauck-Therrien's shot got by Briar Bache for the 1-0 lead. And then the second period happened where the Stingers opened up a sizable lead. Goals by Sophie Gagnon at 1:34, Carol-Anne Gagne at 9:03, Claudia Dubois on the power-play at 16:04, and Marie-Joelle Allard with two seconds to play put Concordia out in front by a 4-1 count. Laura Turcotte would get one back for Ottawa at 8:05 of the third period, but Stingers' second-period blitz was enough for the 4-2 win. Bache stopped 38 of 40 shots she faced for the win. Maude Levesque-Ryan took the loss after allowing four goals on 19 shots in the second period, stopping 31 of 35 in total.

CARLETON at MONTREAL: This one was ugly. Montreal saw goals in the first period from Catherine Dubois on the power-play at 5:06, Audrey Gariepy at 8:45, and Maude Gelinas at 11:57 to stake a 3-0 lead. The second period saw Montreal add to their lead on goals by Catherine Dubois at 13:41 and Ariane Barker on the power-play at 19:21 for a 5-0 lead. Jessica Cormier scored at 6:23 and Alexandra Labelle added a power-play goal at 16:40 as Montreal trounced Carleton by a 7-0 score. Elodie Rousseau Sirois made just eight saves in the shutout. Katelyn Steele took the loss in giving up five goals on 30 shots in 40 minutes of work while Hailey Perreault allowed two goals on 22 shots in her third period of action.

RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Montreal	12-3-1	25	56	24	W8	vs McG/@ OTT
McGill	9-4-2	20	40	25	L2	@ MON/vs CAR
Ottawa	9-5-1	19	42	40	L1	vs CAR/MON
Concordia	6-8-2	14	27	39	W3	BYE
Carleton	3-13-0	6	15	52	L6	@ OTT/McG

Maritime Results

UPEI at MONCTON: It was all Moncton in this one. Goals by Brittany Poitras at 8:09 of the first period, Marie-Pier Arsenault at 8:18 and Katherine Dubuc on the power-play at 18:16 of the second period, and Arsenault again at 4:49 of the third period led the Aigles Bleues to the 4-0 victory. Gabrielle Forget was perfect on the 26 shots sent her way while Marie-Soleil Deschenes took the loss in this one.

SAINT MARY'S at ST. FRANCIS XAVIER: Hayley Halilihan put the Huskies on the board when she beat Sojung Shin just 2:29 in for the early 1-0 lead. The X-Women would respond a few minutes later as Daley Oddy's shot got through Justine McIntosh at 5:19, and we were tied up at 1-1.

The Huskies would take over in the second period. Caitlyn Schell found the back of the net at 3:44 and Breanna Lanceleve would make it 3-1 at 9:43. Nicole Blanche would add another goal at 8:31 of the third period, and Saint Mary's skated to the 4-1 victory. McIntosh picked up her second win of the season while Shin suffered her seventh loss.

MOUNT ALLISON at DALHOUSIE: The Mounties jumped out in front at 3:17 when Amanda Volcko beat Mati Barrett. That 1-0 score would hold until the third period when Mackenzie Lalonde made it 2-0 with her goal. Dalhousie's Laura Brooks would put the Tigers on the board with her power-play marker at 14:17 that eluded Keri Martin, but Heather Richards would restore the two-goal lead at 16:34 with her marker to make it 3-1. Courtney Sheedy would score with 34 seconds to play to pull Dalhousie within one goal, but that's as close as the Tigers would get as Mount Allison takes this game by the 3-2 count. Martin stopped 22 shots in the win while Barrett took the loss.

MOUNT ALLISON at MONCTON: The Aigles Bleues were all over the Mounties in this game. Marie-Pier Arsenault scored 24 seconds into the game and Natacha Bergeron made it 2-0 for Moncton at 4:41. Kelsey Taylor would get the Mounties within one goal at 15:20, but Cassandra Labrie restored the two-goal lead at 18:29 while on the power-play. Marie-Pier Corriveau would make it 4-1 at 10:06, and Kaitlyn Gallaway would add a power-play goal at 14:23 to wrap up the 5-1 Moncton win. Emilie Bouchard stopped 23 of 24 shots for the win while Keri Martin had a rough night for the Mounties.

DALHOUSIE at SAINT MARY'S: All the scoring would come in the third period in this game. Mary Worndl beat Jessica Severeyns to put the Huskies up 1-0 at 4:01. Dalhousie would tie the game minutes later when Elizabeth MacArthur beat Justine McIntosh on the power-play at 8:27 to make it 1-1. However, Caitlyn Manning at 11:48, Breanna Lanceleve on the power-play at 17:27, and Caitlyn Manning with 15 seconds to play would seal the deal for the Huskies as they took this game by a 4-1 score. McIntosh picked up her second win of the weekend in stopping 16 shots while Severeyns took her fourth loss of the season.

UPEI at ST. THOMAS: One end of the ice saw all the scoring. Jessica McCann put the Tommies up 1-0 off a power-play goal that beat Kristy Brown at 3:51. Emily Francis would make it 2-0 before the period ended with her goal at 17:14. With the teams switching ends, it was time for UPEI to get in on the scoring. Lindsay Johnston beat Taylor Cook at 3:33 to make it a 2-1 game, and Andie Boeckman would tie things up 17:02 with her goal to send the teams into the final period knotted up at 2-2.

Stephanie Ford would put the Tommies up 3-2 at 13:31 of the final frame as she found the back of the net. Despite the pressure from UPEI on a power-play with the goalie pulled, Kelty Apperson would score shorthanded on the 6-on-4 into the empty net at 18:44 to give St. Thomas the 4-2 victory. Taylor Cook moves to 7-5-0 on the season in the win while Kristy Brown fell to 0-2-0 in the loss.

AUS WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Saint Mary's	15-5-0	30	62	39	W2	vs MON/STU
Moncton	13-6-1	27	60	39	W5	@ SMU/vs StFX
St. Thomas	12-7-1	25	52	43	L1	vs StFX/@ DAL
Mount Allison	10-10-1	21	53	60	L2	vs UPEI/@ StFX
StFX	9-9-2	20	44	46	W1	3 games
Dalhousie	7-12-1	15	40	56	L3	vs STU/@ UPEI
UPEI	5-13-3	13	28	56	W1	@ MAU/vs DAL

Thanks to their successes this past week, Saint Mary's, Moncton, St. Thomas, and Mount Allison all clinched playoff spots in the AUS playoffs. The top-two teams earn a bye to the semi-final while third-place will play sixth-place and fourth-place plays fifth-place. With UPEI only having four games left, St. Francis Xavier can clinch a spot with any combination of a win or a loss by UPEI.

Things are getting tight in all of the conferences in terms of playoff spots! And how about that appeal by UBC to earn two points instead of just one point on Friday night? I'll post the result of the Lethbridge appeal, but I can't see that appeal going very far after Canada West ruled in favour of UBC. In any case, we'll have that update next week!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is It All Just Click-Bait?

I feel that I, as a blogger, take some liberties in writing pieces that please only me. To be honest, I want to inform, educate, entertain, and have you return as readers, but I have a pretty nice luxury in that I am responsible to no one regarding deadlines, story content, or word counts. Unlike the vast majority of print journalists today, I don't have to worry about generating dollars or hitting a specific amount of clicks on a story, so it's a completely different game for me than what real journalists - those with the degrees - are playing. After seeing a complaint on Twitter this week about the content and quality of stories about women's hockey, I think we need to examine the boundaries that journalists play within when compared to the bloggers who are complaining about said coverage.

I was reading an article today on Quartz about what graduates from journalism programs face in entering their chosen field. The writer, Catchpool Founder Erica Berger, points out that the world of journalism has changed immensely in the face of new media and that a number of older, well-respected journalists have been forced out of the industry due to these changes while new journalists with less experience are over-worked and feeling burned out by their chosen profession. Miss Berger, for her part, "used to work at The Economist, then news startup Storyful," and now runs the news startup she founded in Catchpool.

I feel this article by Miss Berger captures a lot of where friend, blogger, and NCAA women's hockey genius Nicole Haase was pointing out on Twitter this past week. Nicole was lamenting the number of news outlets seemingly show up to write the most basic of women's hockey stories without actually going into any depth or showing any knowledge about the sport.

I keep seeing new outlets print pieces that essentially work as a primer &they're all proud of themselves for "discovering" this new thing

— Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) January 28, 2016

Let's be clear - I'm upset at the repetitive nature of the pieces that are run. To me, that's not "more coverage"

— Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) January 28, 2016

The problem? Nicole is entirely right in her assessment. I've read enough stories on the dream forming after the Sochi Olympics of having a paid women's hockey league. I've read the same Dani Rylan quotes - word for word - in dozens of pieces that are now climbing aboard this new-found wave of women's hockey.

So how does this happen? Better yet, how can it be fixed?

Writing For Clicks And Audience

Miss Berger identifies the problems up front in the Quartz article.

Most of the time, when we talk about journalism and media, we talk about ad dollars, circulation revenue, and attention (let's be real — clicks) from the audience. I'm not the first to write about the decline in the quality of editorial content or ad dollars. But it is rare that we discuss what online media in particular is doing to journalists, writers, and editors in the fast-moving digital age.

Think about how you get your news. Is it from a newspaper? Do you tune into the nightly news at 6pm? Or do you log onto whatever news site or social media site and find out about what's happening in the world whenever you like? Convenience has its benefits, I'll admit, but it's this online media that is competing with the print and TV journalists for, as Miss Berger writes, "ad dollars, circulation revenue, and attention".

Because news is so accessible anytime, any place, anywhere now, the audience for online news stories has significantly changed as well. With how online stories are shared and aggregated, there's a much wider audience than ever before. No longer are stories about women's hockey in Connecticut just shared locally and grabbed by one or two major national media sources, this information is now accessible to anyone with an Internet connection on the planet who has the ability to use a search engine.

In saying this, I'm not rationalizing or justifying the same news stories being written time and time again. What I am saying is that major outlets who are jumping onboard a new trend in news see the startup of a paid professional women's league as an easy story to report. Thanks to the power of aggregation and sharing, they cater to their growing online audiences who may or may not be aware of how the NWHL got started, and they write for the larger majority - those who don't know the NWHL's founding story - than they do for the informed. Because the majority will bring more clicks, that's the story they run.

And what do clicks bring? More "ad dollars, circulation revenue, and attention." In theory.

In reality, the problem with the stories aren't the stories themselves, but it's the model in which they are written. I'll wager that 90% of the similar NWHL founding stories never see the printing press. They are written solely for an online audience. They'll be redressed with new images and interesting formatting on each of the websites, but the goal is always the same: clicks. Clicks generate revenue, and revenue keeps the site online. And these stories always seem to appear with the coincidence of a major event such as the NWHL All-Star Game.

We'll make this a little more interesting. I'll bet that we get a handful of NWHL founding stories in March with the NWHL Championships taking place on March 11-13. Anyone wanna bet me that there won't be these stories written about the success of the first women's paid league? I didn't think so.

How Does It Change?

I'll go back to a quotation from Miss Berger.

Young people in the media frequently complain about all of the extra skills young journalists now need to get hired and create compelling content. We worry about how hard it can be to get a job. We spill a lot of ink whining about the decline of quality content and reporting, and the rise of so-called click-bait. We bemoan the difficulty of making money while producing good journalism, and we try to fix the problem through technological innovations, subscription services and partial paywalls.

We've seen this happen on a number of sites where subscriptions and paywalls now prevent access to journalism. And while I don't bemoan the fact that people want to be paid for the work they do, it's the quality of this work that's under fire in this piece.

Jim Tankersley, the The Washington Post's economic policy correspondent interviewed by Miss Berger for the Quartz piece, stated quite bluntly, "We should all worry about reporters running out of time or energy for more ambitious work."

I think that's a fair comment when looking at traditional media outlets. The game has changed significantly for print reporters in that newsrooms are being downsized and the demands for stories and content is always on the rise. In between starting and filing stories are vital skills and jobs that have either disappeared or are being used less due to time constraints in an ever-changing news environment. Miss Berger writes,

If the media continues to be created and spread at such a rapid rate, we know the effects are unlikely to be positive. Fact-checking already has a troubling tendency to fall by the wayside. The need to churn out constant content also means that editors often lack the time to do more than proofread. Then there are the intangible things we're losing: the art and joy of writing; the ability to leave the office in search of interesting people and stories begging to be told. Most worrisome of all, we could lose journalists' ability to act as watch dogs on behalf of the public.

All of these factors have, in my opinion, contributed to the same carousel of stories being reported in women's hockey. From media outlets in Connecticut picking up the brawl between the Riveters and Whale while ignoring the Whale's undefeated record at that time to reporters showing up at rinks and asking questions that the women have answered ad nauseum about the game, it's a very telling sign of the downward spiral that journalism is on while being a complete and utter disservice to women's hockey as journalists now encroach into this sport.

While it's true that the worst part about being talked about is not being talked about, if every story says the same thing, people will stop talking about women's hockey altogether. It's impossible to grow the game in any significant manner if no one is paying attention.

Are We Doomed?

I'm not sure that question is entirely fair, but I think the model is doing a disservice to women's hockey. Since the model can't be changed overnight, it's going to require a bit of work that will come from both the journalism side and the public.

First, as Miss Berger stated above, journalists have to act on behalf of the public. They have the training, the ethics, and the access to be able to ask tough questions and probe into stories about which the public care. This is why more stories are being written about women's hockey - the public has shown an interest and passion for the game.

The problem is that these stories cater to the lowest common denominator, if you'll excuse the expression, in delivering the mere basics. As stated above, the uninformed should generate more clicks being that the uninformed is usually the majority which, in turn, drives more revenue on the first telling only. That italicized part is important.

Secondly, we need to ask more of our journalists and media outlets. Dr. Douglas LaBier, a business psychologist and director of the Center for Progressive Development, said in the Quartz interview, "When building a journalistic career today, it's easy to be pulled into going after whatever shiny objects look enticing. To counter that, you need to build a strong inner core of self-knowledge regarding your own values and a capacity for inner calm."

The problem is that, like Nicole was indicating, women's hockey isn't some "shiny object" that just popped up overnight. These are women who have sacrificed a lot in life in becoming who they are today - icons, idols, and heroes - for men, women, boys, and girls all over the globe. They are the backbone of every club team, every college and university program, and every Olympic squad. They are the architects for dreams of future generations of women's hockey players. They are wildly successful women - daughters, mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, and friends. They deserve more than "Are your parents proud?" or "Is this the biggest win in your career?"

I don't think we're doomed as much as we've missed out on, as demonstrated above, the ability and time to do proper research and ask relevant questions instead of filing rushed stories and going to cookie-cutter, generic questions that could be asked to anyone at any time in any sport. There's a difference between reporting the news and informing and educating the public, and it's the latter that advances us a society both on a macro level and on smaller scales like the women's hockey world.

There Are No Answers

As much as I'd like to say that we should allow our distinguished storytellers to continue to write exceptional pieces about any number of topics, the business of journalism is preventing that. As Miss Berger wrote, "It's a sad truth that some of our greatest reporters have had to bail out in search of a saner or more impactful job thanks to the new media ecosystem."

I think this is where bloggers and freelancers make an impact, and there should be a push to use them as a resource when the mainstream media wanders into a topic in which they have little experience. I want to be clear in saying that freelancer journalists and bloggers should NOT replace journalists, but should be complementary to the work done by journalists. These writers are free to write and report on a host of topics, and often have the time to do research, seek out interesting topics and people for stories, and can really turn in pieces of writing that contain joy and passion for their subject matter.

Women's hockey has seen a pile of stories written about it lately. Nicole is right: writing the same story over and over isn't more coverage even at its most empirical form. It's going to take effort from both sides to correct this - readers will have to seek better writing and better pieces and, in turn, demand better writing and better pieces from journalists who will be forced to listen to their audiences.

As women's hockey moves to the forefront of the sporting world as it currently is, the best thing that you can do right now is to go and watch games. By watching, you'll gain better insight into the game and will be able to determine which writers you should read and which you should not. Because if the journalism business is all about clicks, the cream will rise to the top through competent, intimate writing.

No click-bait needed.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

**Thanks to Nicole Haase for permission to use her tweets and generating this discussion!**

Standing Alongside Legends

While the title may lead you to believe that this article could be about the NHL All-Stars, it assuredly is not. The player we'll look at today has, however, done a number of impressive things in the NHL - led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, became the first Blackhawk to record a shutout in his debut, played in a Winter Classic - but has been a career journeyman in the NHL if you look at his moves. He's been an outstanding contributor has been in the AHL, and goaltender Michael Leighton is now standing alongside one the all-time greatest goaltenders in tying him for career AHL shutouts. He does have other AHL records to his name, but Michael Leighton is on the verge of adding his name to the select few in the AHL who have dominated the league like no others.

With a 6-0 victory over the Chicago Wolves tonight, Rockford Icehogs netminder Michael Leighton's 20-save shutout was his 45th blank sheet of his career, tying him with Hockey Hall of Fame netminder Johnny Bower for most-ever in the American Hockey League. The 34 year-old netminder is an incredible 23-4-4 on the season with a 2.01 GAA and a .932 save percentage, and has the IceHogs at the top of the Central Division standings with a 27-10-6 record for 60 points. He's been named to the AHL All-Star Game in Syracuse, New York next weekend which is fitting since he's among the best at his position this season.

What makes Leighton's achievement so special is that he's reached the 45-shutout mark in 428 career AHL games whereas Bower set his mark in 592 games. Leighton owns a career 216-161-37 record for a .566 winning percentage. Bower, on the other hand, has a 359-174-57 record for a .657 winning percentage - a better career mark for sure - so if we're making straight comparisons, Leighton has a little work to do to catch Bower's success. But the fact that he reached the shutout mark in 164 fewer games says a lot about Leighton's ability in relation to some of the teams he's played on in his time in the AHL.

We also need to factor in some other impressive marks that Leighton has made in the American circuit. He as named to the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2001-02, he's 10th all-time on the AHL wins list right now, he set an AHL record making 98 saves on 101 shots in a playoff game that went to 5 an AHL-record overtime periods, and he owns the record for the lowest goals-against average in a single playoff year at 1.18 GAA in 2008. He also was named as the winner of the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL's outstanding goaltender in 2007-08. Leighton has, for all intents and purposes, written his name into AHL stone as one of the best to have ever played in the American League.

Gerry Cheevers holds the record for most wins in one season when he went 48-21-3 in 1964-65 with the Rochester Americans. Rockford has played 43 games already this season, so Leighton would have to win 22 of the remaining 37 games the IceHogs have left. Considering he's 23 of 31 already on this season, it's not unfathomable to think that Michael Leighton could knock that record off as well. Leighton has five shutouts this season, so Jason LaBarbera's record of 13 shutouts in one season set with the Hartford Wolfpack in 2003-04 is a little further out of reach, but still possible.

It's in this realization that Leighton is going to eclipse Bower's shared shutout mark at some point - most likely this season - and is staring down a number of other single-season records that has me wondering about what it would take for a man whose greatest achievements came outside the NHL to make it into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Could this be possible that Michael Leighton could be included on the Hockey Hall of Fame's ballot once he decides to hang up the skates for all that he did in the AHL?

So there's your question, readers: should Michael Leighton be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame for establishing himself as one of the best goaltenders in AHL history? Have your say in the comments, folks. This should open up a good debate about the relevance of statistics, the NHL, and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 175

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced hockey radio show, makes it way back onto the airwaves tonight with a whole pile of guests in-studio and on the phone! Rarely do Beans and I get to throw parties on the air, so we'll break out the hors d'oeuvres and welcome three ladies to the show. Two will sit in as unofficial co-hosts while the third is our interviewee for the evening. It should be a great discussion tonight with one of the CIS' best players in recent history and two current CIS players. The key in all of this? All three have ties to the Manitoba Bisons in some way!

Beans and I are honoured, proud, privileged, and humbled to be able to speak with one of the CWHL's finest players, a 2016 CWHL All-Star, and a member of the Brampton Thunder in forward Candice Styles! Candice is coming off the recent CWHL All-Star Weekend, so we'll talk to her about that, her start in hockey, her international and national play both with Hockey Canada and the CIS, and how she ended up at Wilfred Laurier University where she developed into one of the best defencemen this country has to offer that has come through the CIS system. After doing a little research, it's clear that Candice has a few ties to the Manitoba Bisons and we'll point these out in the interview tonight. We also have a few Twitter questions to ask and we'll gladly take more, so hit up the Twitter machine if you want to ask Candice a question!

Also joining us in-studio tonight are two of the current Manitoba Bisons who play for the women's team at the institution. Goaltender Rachel Dyck and forward Charity Price. The Bisons are currently in a battle for playoff positioning, and they have a huge weekend set coming up against the Saskatchewan Huskies at Wayne Fleming Arena on the University of Manitoba campus. We'll talk to them about dropping a pair of games to Lethbridge last weekend, how they are righting the ship for the Huskies this weekend, and their recent social that helped to raise money for their European hockey tour next August!

It's a busy night on the ol' show so the phones will be closed as we have Candice tying up a line for her interview! Make sure you tune your radio dial in the Winnipeg region to 101.5 on your FM dial or listen live between 5:30pm and 6:30pm CT on your web-enabled device at the UMFM webpage as well! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter. You can also post some stuff to Facebook if you use the "Like" feature, and I always have crazy stuff posted there that doesn't make it to the blog or show. A CWHL All-Star and two local CIS stars join us on The Hockey Show tonight only on 101.5 UMFM!

PODCAST: January 28, 2016: Episode 175

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Antler Banter: Season 1, Volume 39

So I've been doing a little thinking about this running weekly piece since the Moose are out of a playoff race and have very little to be excited about in the way of player achievements. The Moose hit a new low this past week as they played their way through California, so Antler Banter is going to focus less on game results and more on some of the stories coming out of Moose camp. I'll admit these changes aren't what I was hoping for, but it's clear that the "development" part of this Moose team isn't coming into the picture as clearly as management had wanted. I'm all for playing out the season and looking forward to Season 2 right now because Season 1 has been an utter disaster from a fan's standpoint. That being said, let's get into the banter for this week.

California Dreaming

I made it pretty clear in last week's Antler Banter that this trip through California would be tough. I don't think anyone would have guessed that the Moose were going to go oh-fer, but that was a possibility based on how the Moose have been playing and how the California teams have been faring in their games. The Moose didn't go pointless, but they certainly didn't help their win total in any way.

January 20 saw the Moose in Ontario where the defending Calder Cup champions handed the Herd a 4-1 loss in a game where Manitoba was thoroughly outplayed. This pushed Manitoba to a 11-22-2-3 record.

The Moose moved on to Stockton where they Heat were waiting for them in a back-to-back scenario. The Heat, for what it's worth, aren't very far ahead of the Moose in terms of points, but they would move further ahead. January 22 saw these two teams battle to a 1-1 tie through regulation time. Overtime solved nothing, so it was off to the shootout where the Heat scored on their second shot while the Moose went 0-for-3 on their breakaway chances as the Heat won 2-1 in the shootout. The Moose would pick up a point, but their record fell to 11-22-2-4.

January 23 finished off the back-to-back with the Heat and this game would need extra time as well. The Moose and Heat battled to a 2-2 tie through 60 minutes, so it was off to the overtime period where we'd find a winner. Aaron Johnson played the hero in this one with his goal 35 seconds into the extra period as the Stockton Heat picked up another win with the 3-2 victory. Manitoba falls to 11-22-3-4 despite gathering two points in Stockton.

The Moose would roll into Bakersfield for a two-game set on January 26, and there was some hope that Connor McDavid might still be in town and get a chance to pull on a Condors jersey. Alas, it was not to be, but it's not like the Condors needed his help on this night. They chased Eric Comrie from the net after 40 minutes, and the Moose were outshot 22-6 in the third period as the Condors won this game 6-3. In total, Manitoba was outshot 51-27 on the night and it looked like they wanted to go home. The Moose fell to 11-23-3-4 on the season in this rather dispirited loss.

Cellar Dwellers

The Moose find themselves in the unenviable position of dead-last in the AHL. For a team that has a ton of individual talent, there's a lot that this collection of boys-turning-into-men need to learn if the Winnipeg Jets are even going to come close to making the playoffs let alone winning the 2019 Stanley Cup as predicted by The Hockey News.

True North Sports and Entertainment needs to take a long look in the mirror and ask some tough questions about these youngsters. Are they good enough to win at the AHL level? Will they take the next step to make the NHL? Is head coach Keith McCambridge the right man to be guiding this young team? There are a lot of questions that will need answers, and right now everyone involved with the Moose should be playing for pride and for jobs with an added dash of do-whatever-is-necessary desperation.

This team is in shambles on the ice. I can't imagine they're a tight group off it.

Lone Star

If there's good news about the AHL All-Star Break, it's that the upcoming break will see the one player who absolutely deserves the bigger stage get that opportunity. While Connor Hellebuyck was originally named to the AHL All-Star Game (which I couldn't understand in having a 2-7-0 record), Eric Comrie was named as his replacement.

Comrie rightfully deserves to go to the game after all the rubber he's seen this season. Despite his record, Comrie has faced nearly 1000 shots already in 41 games. Comrie has shown flashes of brilliance in keeping the Moose in games they have no business being in, and he's backstopped the Moose in the majority of games where they've earned points.

No other player on this Moose team looks ready to take the next step like Eric Comrie. That's exactly what an AHL-Star should be in terms of his development. Good luck at the All-Star Game in Syracuse, Eric!

Does It Matter?

I guess it does, but the Moose will finish off their California road trip on January 29 against Bakersfield and January 30 against Ontario. They'll return home to play Toronto, so I'm expecting a solid 0-for-4 run from the Moose as they slump back to Winnipeg where the best AHL squad will visit.

At 29 points, the Moose may not break 40 points this season in what has turned into an utter disaster of a campaign. Admittedly, this is not how I expected the first season back in Manitoba to go.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Longest Skills Competition Ever

When is a shootout not a shootout? When it lasts 54 shots and over 30 minutes! January 23 saw a top-division Bundesliga game in Germany between women's teams ECDC Memmingen Indians and EC
Bergkamen Baren tied at 3-3 after regulation time before the ladies participated in the shootout. I'm quite certain no one saw 54 rounds of breakaways coming next.

We almost didn't get to see history made as league-leading Memmingen trailed 3-1 with 4:43 to play, but two quick goals before the final horn by leading scorer Nicola Eisenschmid and Kaitlyn Keon - a Toronto native who went to Brown University - pushed this game into extra time. Franziska Albl for Memmingen and Jule Flotgen for Bergkamen didn't flinch through overtime, so it was off to the shootout where the two goalies were outstanding. Only three shooters on each side had scored in the previous 26 rounds before Julia Seitz beat Flotgen on the 53rd shot of the skills competition. The pressure was on for Rebecca Graeve of Bergkamen, and Albl kicked out the shot from Graeve to secure the 4-3 victory!

Memmingen head coach Werner Tenschert wasn't all that happy with his team's effort, but gladly took the win. Loosely translated, his statement reads, "We failed to take advantage of opportunities. But I have to praise my team as we never gave up and believed in our chances even down 3-1."

Seitz was honest about how she decided on her shot that was the winner. "Once I was on the ice I thought I have to make it so that the game would have an end. I blanked out my original plan on how to shoot and decided spontaneously," she told Eishockey News.

Only 109 people in attendance were able to witness German national team player Julia Seitz end this marathon which seems wrong for the top women's league in Germany. You would think that with the popularity of men's ice hockey in Germany that some of the excitement would carry over to the women's game, but Germany seems to be experiencing the same apathy towards the women that North American women's hockey sees. Because of this apathy, a lot of people missed out on history.

In the end, Memmingen caps off the comeback with some history, and they retain their top spot in the Budesliga standings as well as writing their names into the record book. The previous longest shootout record was also set in Germany when the Straubing Tigers downed EHC Munchen 5-4 after 42 shots in the DEL on November 21, 2010. The longest NHL shootout was between the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals. Florida won 2-1 on December 16, 2014 after 40 shots in the shootout.

The best part? 18 hours later, these two teams met again. No shootout was required in the second-half of the back-to-back as Memminger took that game by a 6-2 score. Thank goodness there was no need for another shootout!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Bee In London's Bonnet

It's been a while since all hell broke loose in a hockey game, so yesterday's game in London, Ontario between the Sarnia Sting and the London Knights was a bit of a surprise considering the gap in the standings between these two teams. London is the second-best team in the OHL with 71 points as of this morning while Sarnia is the fifth-best team in the Western Conference with 54 points. That doesn't mean that the Sting will just take anything handed to them by the Knights, though, as this one got out of hand with just over a minute to play in the third period and London leading by a 4-1 score.

Let's go to the video because there's five minutes of anger and fighting that happened.

Wow. So you might be asking what caused Sarnia's Kevin Spinozzi to go after Max Jones behind the net to set off this powder keg. According to Sarnia head coach Derian Hatcher, Jones was to blame for the entire ordeal.

"He slew footed our guy in front of the net about three minutes earlier," Hatcher told Ryan Pyette of The London Free Press. "The last four times we’ve played this team, he’s done it three times and we have (all) three on tape."

While the cameras didn't catch it, Hatcher was also incensed over the sucker punch Travis Konecny took from London's Owen MacDonald as they were picking up equipment. MacDonald was given a match penalty for intent to injure, and proceeded to taunt and challenge the entire Sarnia bench as he was escorted off the ice. Adding to the insanity was Chad Heffernan who left the London bench to attack Sarnia's Alex Black. Needless to say, OHL Commissioner David Branch won't be too happy with any of this foolishness.

"They sent their four toughest guys off the bench," Hatcher said. "It's all on the game sheet. The refs got it on there. We shouldn’t have anything. There were second fights, but their (the Knights) instigator penalties should make them null and void."

Here's the penalty summary for the last 1:21 of the game. There will be suspensions handed out for sure. The only question will be to whom and for how long. The OHL doesn't need this kind of tarnish right before the Top Prospects Game on Thursday in Vancouver.

With London staring down a meeting with first-overall Erie in the upcoming week, losing a pile of players to suspension won't help them close the four-point gap between themselves and the Otters. If timing is everything, the Knights allowed the bee in their bonnets to really put them at a disadvantage in their quest for first-overall. That may sting in the playoffs more than the Knights would like to let on.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Rundown - Week 17

If you needed a reason to get out and watch some CIS women's hockey, this week would have been it. There was a lot of movement in the standings, some upsets to report, and some rather exceptional performances. In saying that, there are a couple of teams that need to get their acts together if they want to host a home playoff game, but we'll see where things shake out. Here's this week's Rundown!

Canada West Results

MOUNT ROYAL at CALGARY: The annual Crowchild Classic got started on a Thursday as the Cougars met the Dinos in the opening game! Chelsea Court got things started in this crosstown rivalry as she beat Jessica Ross from the slot at 5:26 off a nice pass from behind the net by Iya Gavrilova.

The Cougars would tie things up early in the second period when Cylenna Alexander's point shot appeared to be redirected by Janessa Jenkins that banked off the post and off Hayley Dowling before landing in the net, but Alexander was credited with the goal at 2:05. Calgary would regain the lead at 9:39 when Delaney Frey split the defence, made a couple of moves to deke out Ross, and slid the puck into the net for the 2-1 lead. Mount Royal would answer before the end of the period, though, as Jenkins would get credit for a goal off a shot that beat Dowling through the five-hole for the 2-2 tie at 18:06.

The back-and-forth would roll into the third period where Calgary grabbed the lead again. Rylee Smith picked up a puck off a blocked shot, and she ripped home a goal over Ross' shoulder for the 3-2 lead. Hayley Dowling would put an end to the back-and-forth, though, as she stopped all five shots she faced in the period as the Dinos downed the Cougars by the 3-2 score! Dowling picked up the win in stopping 25 shots while Ross took the loss.

CALGARY at MOUNT ROYAL: The home-and-home crosstown rivalry continued on Saturday with the Cougars hosting, but it was the Dinos who showed up to play. Cheyann Newman opened the scoring on the power-play at 8:42 and Iya Gavrilova added a pair of goals at 13:57 and 18:29 to stake Calgary to the 3-0 lead in the opening period.

The second period would go scoreless, but the Dinos got back into the act in the third period. Gavrilova finished off the hat trick at 2:20, Heather Berzins would add another goal 33 seconds later, and Delaney Frey would make it 6-0 at 11:01. The only question would be whether Hayley Dowling would get the shutout, and that question would be answered at 17:51 when Carley Bertram beat Dowling to make it 6-1. Dowling stopped 28 shots in the win while Emma Pincott allowed all six Calgary goals.

UBC at SASKATCHEWAN: UBC would open the scoring early in the second period when Katie Zinn beat Cassidy Hendricks with a shot for the 1-0 Thunderbirds lead. They would double the lead 5:01 later when Haneet Parhar found room past Hendricks for the 2-0 lead. Saskatchewan would get one back on the power-play early in the third period when Lauren Zary beat Danielle Dube, but that would be all the scoring in the game as UBC takes the Friday night game by a 2-1 score. Dube made 25 saves in the win while Hendricks took the loss.

UBC at SASKATCHEWAN: Logan Boyd got UBC on the right side of the scoreboard early as she banged home a power-play goal off a rebound past Cassidy Hendricks at 6:51. It would be a late goal in the second period that tied the game as Saskatchewan's Kaitlin Willoughby fired home a cross-ice feed on the power-play that Samantha Langford couldn't corral at 18:56 for the 1-1 equalizer.

UBC would put this game away in the third period. Shiyali Toni beat Hendricks up high on the 5-on-3 power-play just 22 seconds into the period and Rebecca Unrau would rip one past Hendricks on the blocker side as the second penalty expired at 1:08 for the 3-1 T-Birds lead. That would be all that Langford needed as she stopped all ten shots in third period for the 3-1 UBC win. Langford made 33 stops in the win while Hendricks suffers her second-straight defeat.

ALBERTA at REGINA: Three goals. Three periods. One winner. Alberta found the back of the net 2:32 in when Hannah Olenyk dented twine. Alexis Larson tied it up for Regina at 12:08 of the second period with her shot. Alberta went back up by a goal after Alex Poznikoff scored. When the dust settled, Alberta recorded the 2-1 win! Lindsey Post stopped 16 shots for the win while Toni Ross allowed two goals on 14 shots in the loss.

ALBERTA at REGINA: This game felt more like a heavyweight bout as these two teams went back and forth. Jaycee Magwood opened the scoring when her backhander found its way through Lindsey Post for the 1-0 just 5:10 into the game. Alex Poznikoff would tie the game on the power-play at 7:07 when Toni Ross kicked out a rebound right to her stick and Poznikoff put it in the back of the net.

Meghan Sherven would pt the Cougars up 2-1 at the 54-second mark of the second period when a shot on Post was deflected by an Alberta defender that Post stopped. The rebound, however, sat in front of Post, and Sherven banged home the puck between Post's legs for the goal.

Alison Campbell set up Sasha Lutz 1:16 into the third period with a perfect pass that all Lutz had to do was tap into the net, and the Pandas were even with the Cougars at 2-2. Caitlyn Dempsey found Emma Waldenberger on the power-play at 3:26, and Waldenberger put the Cougars up 3-2 with her goal. Kylie Gavelin would add another Cougars goal after her forecheck caused a turnover, and she was able to beat a surprised Post at 7:44. Alberta wasn't done, though, as Ashley Morin would score with the extra attacker at 19:45, but the Cougars would hold on for the 4-3 win! Toni Ross picked up the win while Lindsey Post took the loss.

LETHBRIDGE at MANITOBA: The Pronghorns would get on the board first as Aislinn Kooistra tapped in a loose puck behind Rachel Dyck off a Sarah Spence shot for the 1-0 lead at 3:56. Manitoba would respond on the power-play at 10:55 when Alana Serhan had the puck go off her skate and past Alicia Anderson to make it a 1-1 game.

Spence would get her own goal 1:03 into the second period as she made a move around a defender of the half-boards and snapped it home past Dyck for the 2-1 Pronghorns lead. It would be 3-1 minutes later when Jenae Culp picked up a loose puck after Kaitlyn Bauer was hauled down, and Culp beat Dyck at 6:07 with her shot. Amanda Schubert replaced Dyck after Culp's goal, and Manitoba looked to regroup. They'd score at 11:08 of the third period when Alanna Sharman beat Anderson, but that was all the Bisons could muster as the Pronghorns skated to the 3-2 victory. Anderson stopped 33 of 35 shots for the win while Dyck was handed the loss.

LETHBRIDGE at MANITOBA: Things looked better for the Bisons in this one as they opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal off the stick of Alanna Sharman to put Manitoba up 1-0 at 16:15 of the second period. However, Lethbridge stormed right back on the same man-advantage and Janae Culp beat Rachel Dyck at 16:46 to make it 1-1.

The momentum seemed to shift after that power-play goal by Lethbridge, and they would finally capitalize when Amber Yuha beat Dyck with a shot at 8:45 of the third period. Despite some pressure at the end, the Bisons couldn't find the equalizer as Lethbridge swept the Bisons after the 2-1 victory. Anderson stopped 25 shots in the win while Dyck suffered her second-straight loss.

CWUAA WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
British Columbia	11-6-3-2	41	52	37	W5	@ LET
Alberta	12-8-0-2	38	51	35	L1	@ CAL
Regina	10-8-3-1	37	57	51	W1	vs MRU
Saskatchewan	8-8-3-3	33	49	51	L4	@ MAN
Manitoba	10-10-0-2	32	43	38	L3	vs SAS
Lethbridge	8-11-2-1	29	40	53	W2	vs UBC
Mount Royal	7-11-3-1	28	43	49	L2	@ REG
Calgary	6-10-2-4	26	49	70	W5	vs ALB

Ontario Results

LAURENTIAN at WESTERN: Laurentian opened the scoring 4:46 in when Julie Hebert beat Kelly Campbell. Laurentian would keep coming as Ellery Veerman scored at 7:32 and Jeanne Boutin notched a goal at 9:19 for the 3-0 Voyageurs lead. They'd make it 4-0 when Maggie Brennan scored at 6:57 of the second period, but Western seemed to awake from their slumber after that goal.

Lyndsay Kirkham and Megan Taylor would score on Emily Toffoli before the end of the second period to being Western within two goals at 4-2. Kendra Broad would make it 4-3 at 15:15 of the third period, but Toffoli would allow no further scoring despite the pressure as Laurentian escaped this game with the 4-3 victory. Toffoli earned the win while Campbell suffered the loss.

YORK at RYERSON: York dominated two periods. Amy Locke scored on the power-play at 3:58 and Stephanie Dovaston added another goal at 18:52 to put the Lions out in front 2-0. Emma Rutherford brought Ryerson to within one goal with her marker at 1:58 of the second period, but York would put this game away in the third period. Power-play goals by Amy Locke at 4:24 and by Erran Lee at 5:44 put York up 4-1, and Locke would finish off the hat trick at 11:23 as the Lions skated to the 5-1 win. Megan Lee stopped just 12 shots in the victory while Ally Sarna took the loss.

WATERLOO at QUEEN'S: Emily Jukosky beat Rebecca Bouwhuis at 18:28 of the first period, and Queen's had the lead going into the first intermission at 1-0. Waterloo would respond with two quick goals in the second period as Marissa Redmond scored at 15:31 and Paula Lagamba would add another goal 19 seconds later on Caitlyn Lahonen to put the Warriors up 2-1. Kaitlyn McDonell would add another goal at 14:56 of the third period to give Waterloo the 3-1 win. Bouwhuis stopped 28 of 29 pucks sent her way while Lahonen was on the losing end in this game.

NIPISSING at WINDSOR: Lots of goals in this one. Rachel Chantler scored on the power-play at 5:55 to give Windsor the 1-0 lead. Bronwyn Bolduc responded at 7:45 for Nipissing, but Windsor would get out the period with the 2-1 lead off a Larissa Borowiec goal at 18:03.

Erinn Noseworthy would make her presence felt with goals at 4:09 and at 6:00 for Windsor to put the Lancers up 4-1 and end Jacqueline Rochefort's night, but Kaley Tienhaara would get one back for the Lakers at 19:30 to make it 4-2. Noseworthy would complete the hat trick at 15:47 of the third period with a power-play goal to make it 5-2, but Alexane Papineau would get one more for Nipissing at 17:22 before the Lancers skated to the 5-3 victory. Ingrid Sandven picked up the win while Jacqueline Rochefort took the loss. For the statistical records, Sabrina Picard stopped 20 of 21 shots in relief of Rochefort in 30:24 of action.

GUELPH at RYERSON: Guelph's Averi Nooren got things started very early as she beat Alex Armstrong 39 seconds into the game for the 1-0 lead. Ryerson would do the same thing in the second period to tie the game as Alyssa Connolly beat Valerie Lamenta just 36 seconds into the middle frame! Kelly Gribbons would put Guelph up 2-1 at 4:31, but Amanda Grant would tie things up at 6:07 with her goal. Guelph would grab a lead before the intermission, though, as Jessica Pinkerton found the back of the net at 17:13 for the 3-2 Gryphons lead.

Guelph would own the third period. Christine Grant would make it 4-2 at 16:23 and Jessica Pinkerton would put one into an empty net as the Gryphons take this game by a 5-2 score. Lamenta adds another win to her total while Amrstrong was on the wrong end in this game.

LAURENTIAN at WINDSOR: This game felt a lot like the Laurentian-Western game. Jessica Staats put the Voyageurs up 1-0 with her goal at 19:55 of the first period. Samantha Morell would make it a 2-0 game at 9:05 of the second period, and Taylor Weber would add another goal at 16:56 for the 3-0 Laurentian lead. Windsor's Ingrid Sandven's night would be over at this point as Hannah Slater started the third period.

With 20 minutes to play, Windsor found life. Erinn Noseworthy scored on the power-play at 10:34, and she'd add a second goal at 15:26 to make it 3-2. Renee Leclair would open a two-goal gap once more with her goal for Laurentian at 17:36, but Windsor would strike again at 18:35 when Shawna Lesperance struck. Despite some crazy pressure from Windsor in the last 1:25, Laurentian would get out of this game with the 4-3 victory. Laura Deller picked up the win while Hannah Slater took the loss despite playing just 18:05 and stopping four of five shots she faced. Ingrid Sandven played the first two periods and made 17 stops on 20 shots.

NIPISSING at WESTERN: The Lakers got things started with a goal from Kaley Tienhaara that beat Katie Jacobs just 1:00 in. Western would tie the game up at 6:26 with a power-play goal off the stick of Lyndsay Kirkham that got past Sabrina Picard.

We jump to the second period where a power-play was fruitful for the Mustangs once more. Brittany Clapham scored 31 seconds into the period with the 5-on-3 man-advantage to put Western up 2-1. Any momentum created by that goal was wiped out less than a minute later when Bronwyn Bolduc scored shorthanded at 1:16 to even the score at 2-2. The Lakers would jump ahead at 7:26 on Kaitlyn McManus' goal for the 3-2 Nipissing lead, and that would be the last goal scored in this game as the last 32:34 would go scoreless! Picard stopped 32 shots in the win while Jacobs suffered the loss.

TORONTO at BROCK: Toronto had lost three-straight games coming into this one, and it didn't look good off the top. Brock's Bronwyn O'Neill scored on Valencia Yordanov to put the Badgers up 1-0. Toronto would storm back late in the period, though. Sonja Weidenfelder beat Jensen Murphy on the power-play at 18:22, and Kiyono Cox would make it a 2-1 game just 21 seconds later.

Autumn Garnham would make it a 3-1 game for the Varsity Blues with her goal at 3:08 of the middle frame. We'll jump ahead to the third period where Brock got within a goal at 5:54 off the stick of Christina Leradi, but Toronto would restore the two-goal lead at 7:09 when Garnham struck again. That's all that Yordanov would need as she stopped 22 shots in the 4-2 Toronto win. Murphy was on the losing end in this game.

LAURIER at QUEEN'S: Queen's dropped their Friday night game, so they were looking for a little redemption on home ice. Laurier's Jessica Prevette put a damper on the party early when she beat Caitlyn Lahonen just 1:57 in. Queen's, however, would respond in a big way. Kyla Crouse tied the game at 4:21 when she beat Lauren Webber before a pair of power-play goals by Katrina Manoukarakis at 8:00 and Taryn Pilon at 13:37 put the Gaels up 3-1 through 20 minutes.

Webber would be on the bench in favour of Amanda Smith to open the second period for Laurier, but that didn't seem to matter to Queen's as they continued to buzz the Laurier net. Laurier would get a goal back at 18:12 from Katia Piccoli, but that celebration was short-lived as Micaela Smith made it a 4-2 game at 19:25. Queen's would get one more goal in the third period as Courtenay Jacklin found the back of the net at 6:58, and the Gaels would close this game out at 5-2. Lahonen stopped 24 of 26 shots for the win while Webber suffered the loss in stopping 13 of 16 pucks she saw. Statistically, Smith made 25 of 27 saves in her 40 minutes of work.

WATERLOO at UOIT: The Ridgebacks did not have a good Saturday. Rachel Marriott scored at 7:15 and Marissa Redmond added a second goal at 11:05 to put the Waterloo Voyageurs up 2-0 through 20 minutes. We'd see UOIT cut the lead to one goal as Mikaeli Cavell scored five minutes into the third period, but Marriott added a second goal at 6:50 and Kaitlyn McDonell put this game away at 19:17 to give Waterloo the 4-1 win. Stephanie Sluys stopped 18 of 19 shots for the win while Cassie Charette suffered the loss.

LAURIER at UOIT: The only game on Sunday felt a lot like Saturday's game. Mikaeli Cavell put the Ridgebacks on the board at 7:07, but the game was tied 19 seconds later when Laurier's Robyn Degagne dented twine. A power-play goal by Blair Connelly at 12:04 of the third period and a third goal by Jessie Hurrell at 13:22 capped off a 3-1 victory for the Golden Hawks. Amanda Smith stopped 25 pucks in the win while Tori Campbell was on the losing end in this one.

OUA WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Guelph	12-2-3-1	43	55	22	W5	@ QUE
Waterloo	10-5-2-1	35	53	28	W4	@ LGH
Nipissing	9-5-1-4	33	37	34	W1	vs YOR/BRO
Western	10-6-1-0	32	46	24	L2	@ TOR/RYE
Queen's	9-4-1-2	31	34	24	W1	vs GUE/UOIT
Laurentian	8-7-2-2	30	40	47	W2	vs YOR/BRO
Toronto	7-4-2-3	28	39	32	W1	vs WES/WIN
Laurier	8-7-1-1	27	33	34	W1	vs UOIT/WAT
York	3-7-4-2	19	29	34	W1	@ NIP/LAU
Brock	5-10-1-1	18	25	36	L1	@ NIP/LAU
Windsor	5-10-1-1	18	46	61	L1	@ RYE/TOR
UOIT	4-12-1-1	15	34	59	L3	@ LGH/QUE
Ryerson	2-13-0-1	7	17	53	L3	vs WIN/WES

Quebec Results

McGILL at CARLETON: In a rematch from the week prior where McGill routed Carleton by a 5-0 score, this one was a little closer. Olivia Sutter scored at 2:43 and Shana Walker scored at 14:03 as McGill took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Joanne Cagianos made it 3-0 just 2:33 into the second period, but Carleton would get one back at 7:19 when Mackenzie Coney found the back of the net. That would be everything we needed to see in this game as the Martlets took this one by a 3-1 score. Taylor Hough has a relatively quiet night turning aside 11 of 12 shots for the win while Katelyn Steele stopped 46 of 49 shots she faced in the loss.

McGILL at OTTAWA: McGill went back-to-back as they arrived in Ottawa on Saturday. The GeeGees would open the scoring, though, as Ottawa's Emilie Bouchard beat Taylor Hough at 14:50. McGill would tie things up early in the second period when Marie-Philip Lavoie's shot found room past Maude Levesque-Ryan at 4:22. Ottawa would go into the final frame up 2-1 after Melodie Bouchard ripped home a power-play goal at 12:35.

The third period saw a flurry of goals. McGill's Gabrielle Davidson scord at 3:15 to make it 2-2, and Melodie Daoust would make it a 3-2 Martlets lead at 6:32. The Martlets, though, would run into penalty trouble. Ottawa would score on a 5-on-3 power-play at 7:55 as Camille Pauck-Therrien dented twine, and they would end the 5-on-4 power-play early as well when Roxanne Rioux added her own power-play goal at 8:47 for the 4-3 Ottawa lead. Ottawa would take advantage of one more power-play when Cynthia Whissell hit twine with the puck at 16:31, and Ottawa would take this game by a 5-3 score on the strength of a 4-for-5 power-play night. Levesque-Ryan earned the win while Hough took the loss in this game.

CARLETON at CONCORDIA: There was a single goal scored, and it was scored late. Claudia Dubois found the back of the net on the power-play with 47 seconds left in the game as the Concordia Stingers downed the Carleton Ravens 1-0. Briar Bache most likely had the easiest shutout of her career in stopping ten shots while Katelyn Steele stopped 31 shots in the loss.

RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Montreal	10-3-1	21	44	20	W6	vs McG/CAR
McGill	9-4-1	19	36	20	L1	@ MON
Ottawa	9-4-1	19	40	36	W1	vs CON
Concordia	5-8-2	12	23	37	W2	@ OTT
Carleton	3-12-0	6	15	45	L5	@ MON

Maritime Results

MONCTON at UPEI: The Aigles Bleues struck first as Amelie Dion beat Marie-Soleil Deschenes at 6:42 to put Moncton up 1-0. UPEI would tie things up late in the second period as Samantha Sweet's shot got past Emilie Bouchard with 39 seconds to play for the 1-1 tie. The tie wouldn't last long, though, as Kaitlyn Gallaway scored 50 seconds into the final frame to put Moncton up 2-1, and Karine Roy would add a goal with a second to play for the 3-1 Moncton win. Bouchard stopped 23 of 24 shots for the win while Deschenes took the loss in this Wednesday night tilt.

ST. THOMAS at UPEI: If the game on Wednesday didn't go well for UPEI, Friday wasn't any better. The Tommies got second period goals from Kelty Apperson and a shorthanded marker from Emily Oleksuk, and added a third period goal from Stephanie Ford as St. Thomas downed UPEI by a 3-0 score. Taylor Cook stopped all 25 shots she saw for the blank sheet while Deschenes took her second loss in three nights.

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER at SAINT MARY'S: StFX would open the scoring midway through the first period when Schyler Campbell beat Rebecca Clark at 10:40. The Huskies would tie the game less than a minute later off a Caitlyn Schell goal at 11:29 that got by Sojung Shin.

Saint Mary's kept coming in the second period. Breanna Lanceleve would make it 2-1 for the Huskies at 3:19, and Caitlyn Manning added a third Saint Mary's goal at 10:56. StFX would get one back while shorthanded when Connor Garagan found twine while down a man to make it 3-2. Unfortunately, there would be no more goals in this one as both goalies stood tall in the third period, and the Huskies closed out the 3-2 win. Clark picked up her 12th win of the season while Shin took the loss.

DALHOUSIE at MOUNT ALLISON: The Tigers would take the lead midway through the opening frame. Laura Brooks found some room through Keri Martin to make it 1-0 Dalhousie at 11:20. The Mounties would rally back 1:36 later when Shelby Colton zipped a shot past Jessica Severeyns to make it 1-1.

There was nothing doing in the second period, so it was off to the third period where Rosie Heffernan's shorthanded marker at 2:27 gave Mount Allison the 2-1 lead. Dalhousie would score a few minutes later off a Lisa MacLean shot that found twine, and the two teams were tied at 2-2. MacLean would be the hero on this night for Dalhousie, though, as she scored her second goal of the period at 14:01, and Severeyns would stop the rest as the Dalhousie Tigers downed Mount Allison by a 3-2 score. Severeyns stopped 23 of 25 pucks she faced for the win while Keri Martin suffered the loss.

DALHOUSIE at ST. FRANCIS XAVIER: After a big win for Dalhousie and a loss for the X-Women on Saturday, these two teams would meet on Sunday. StFX jumped all over the Tigers as Taylor Dale and Schyler Campbell scored in the opening period to stake the X-Women to the 2-0 lead through 20 minutes. The second period was all about shorties as Dalhousie's Sarah Robichaud scored a shorthanded goal at 7:20, and StFX got their own shorthanded goal at 18:37 off the stick of Daley Oddy to make it a 3-1 game. Neither team would find the twine in the third period, so StFX takes this one by a 3-1 score. Sojung Shin would stand tall for the win while Mati Barrett took the loss for the Tigers.

MONCTON at ST. THOMAS: Like they did on Wednesday, Moncton opened the scoring in this one. Katherine Dubuc hammered home a power-play goal past Taylor Cook at 10:36 for the 1-0 lead. Moving ahead to the second period, St. Thomas would get that early goal back as Teah Anderson struck at 8:19 with a shot that Emilie Bouchard couldn't handle. Moncton, though, would score two goals in the next 2:39. Marie-Pier Arsenault scored at 9:30 and Cassandra Labrie scored on the power-play at 10:58 to put the Aigles Bleues out in front 3-1.

Eliza Snider would add a power-play goal for St. Thomas 49 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, but Katherine Dubuc would close out the scoring at 3:54 with her second goal of the game. Moncton closed out the weekend with their second win in a 4-2 victory. Bouchard stopped 31 shots en route to the win while Cook took the loss.

SAINT MARY'S at MOUNT ALLISON: This one had a pile of goals. Mount Allison got things started with a Kara Anthony goal at 11:14. Saint Mary's responded at 15:58 when Caitlyn Manning scored, but Mount Allison would take the lead into the intermission with a late goal off the stick of Samantha Bujold at 16:51.

Kara Anthony got on the board early in the second period off a Kara Anthony goal just 48 seconds into the stanza. Hannah Askin would make it a 3-2 game when she scored for the Huskies at 3:24. Samantha Bujold struck with her second of the game for the Mounties at 11:58, but Saint Mary's would keep it close off a Nicole Blanche goal at 13:15 that made it a 4-3 advantage for Mount Allison.

The Mounties would post two more goals in the third periodas Shelby Colton notched a power-play goal at 8:29 and Heather Richards added a sixth Mount Allison goal at 18:29. When all was said and done, Mount Allison skated to the 6-3 victory. Keri Martin withstood the Huskies' barrage for the win while Rebecca Clark absorbed all six goals in the loss.

AUS WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Saint Mary's	13-5-0	26	54	37	L1	@ StFX/vs DAL
Moncton	11-6-1	23	51	38	W3	vs UPEI/MAU
St. Thomas	11-6-1	23	48	39	L1	vs StFX/UPEI
Mount Allison	9-9-0	18	47	50	W1	@ DAL/MON
StFX	8-8-2	18	41	42	W1	vs SMU/@ STU
Dalhousie	7-10-1	15	37	49	L1	vs MAU/@ SMU
UPEI	4-11-3	11	23	46	L2	@ MON/STU

There was a number of moves in the standings as teams that should have won lost and teams that were expected to lose won. A few teams at the top of the standings kept rolling with wins, so it's up to those teams below them to start chasing them down if they hope to challenge for the best seeding in their respective conferences.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!