The Rundown - Bye Week

Canada West in on a conference bye this week, so there won't be any recaps or highlights to post of goals or saves. Instead, The Rundown will take a look at a pile of things that you may not know about some of the athletes that are playing or have played at the Canada West women's hockey level. This will be a mostly informative post as I take a look at a handful of stories, so buckle up as we get you edu-ma-cated on this week's edition of The Rundown!!

Where Is She From? - Regina

If you haven't been keeping up with recent international player trends in Canada West, it seems there are a pile of international players in the conference this year. We'll start in Regina where they're representing the Czech Republic with Martina Maskova being joined by Adela Juzkova this season. Maskova is in her second season of play with Regina coming out of the town of Teplice (Te-PLEET-say) after being born in Usti nad Labem (Oo-STEE-nad-lab-em) while Juzkova made the leap from her hometown of Dobrichovice (Doe-BREEK-hove-its-say). If the cities of Teplice and Usti sounds familiar, former NHLer Robert Lang is from Teplice while Milan Hejduk and Michal Neuvirth hail from Usti.

In any case, Maskova scored a goal and added four helpers in her rookie season last year, but she has showed great potential. She has speed and hands, but needs to play a slightly more physical game in the offensive zone if she wants to score at the international level for the Czech Republic. In eight games this season, she has already scored and is an effective checking forward with her speed, and I suspect that head coach Sarah Hodges has bigger plans in shutting down some of the Canada West stars in coming years. Internationally, Maskova has recorded just one goal at three Women's World Junior Championships, but helped the squad capture bronze at the 2014 tournament in Budapest, Hungary.

Juzkova, on the other hand, has been playing all sorts of hockey for her country. She was a member of the 2018 Czech inline team that won a silver medal at the 2018 Inline Hockey World Championship - yes, that's the same one where Jetta Rackleff won a gold medal! She was part of the Czech team that won the gold medal at U20 Ball Hockey World Cup that saw them go undefeated. She was part of the Czech Republic squad at the U18 Women's World Championship as well. At home, she played in the Czech women's league for HC Slavia Praha, the same team that Maskova played with before going to Regina. And now Juzkova will suit up with the Regina Cougars as well.

Juzkova brings some solid speed and tenacity to the lineup. As I was witness to in the preseason, she likes to go to the net and she's not afraid to shoot. Maskova may have more speed than Juzkova, but the latter will still win footraces if given the opportunity to skate. Juzkova has scored one goal this season, but I'm liking the rookie's character and abilities when it comes to playing a more North American game and I see her doing well as she settles into Canadian university life.

If Sarah Hodges has a pipeline into Czech hockey, she may unearth some solid talent from the European country as the Czech national team looks to improve at every level.

Where Is She From? - Edmonton

If the name "Alex Gowie" doesn't sound very foreign, it's partly because it's not. While Gowie was born in Durban, Republic of South Africa, she actually grew up in Vernon, BC where she discovered hockey and ultimately suited up for the prestigious Okanagan Hockey Academy. From there, Gowie was recruited by the Calgary Dinos and began her U SPORTS career in 2011-12.

You might be looking at those years and be thinking, "How is this young lady a part of the Alberta Pandas? And why is Teebz writing about a Canadian?" Well, there's a story to that.

Gowie was part of the CIS champion Calgary Dinos team as a rookie in 2011-12 when the team featured the likes of Hayley Wickenheiser and Iya Gavrilova, but it was in 2013-14 when rookie Kitti Trencsényi joined the team from Budapest and planted the seed in Gowie's mind to give Hungary some thought. Gowie told Women's Hockey Life,

"I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my degree, I just wanted a change," Gowie said. "One of the girls that played on the team was from Hungary [Kitti Trencsényi] and it was her first year on the team. She was going to leave after and she encouraged me to go over [to Europe] and so I went over there and played in Hungary."

Originally signed for one year with KMH Budapest, Gowie was invited to the Hungarian national team's training camps and was encouraged to return to KMH Budapest for a second year and a chance to obtain Hungarian citizenship. While Gowie moved on to a new team and country after two years in Budapest, she eventually became a Hungarian citizen and officially joined the national team program.

Alex Gowie, born in South Africa and raised on Canada's west coast, is officially a Hungarian citizen!

After spending two seasons with KMH Budapest, Gowie moved onto HC Spisska Nová Ves in Slovakia in 2016 before joining the EV Bozen Eagles in Italy for the 2017-18 season. With two years of eligibility left on her U SPORTS transcript, Gowie made the jump back to North America where she enrolled at the University of Alberta pursuing an Arts degree. In a rather cool piece, Gowie sat down and explained her jersey number in honour of the four fallen players from the Humboldt Broncos team that called St. Albert, Alberta home.

Where Is She From? - Vancouver

While they may all be Canadian, there are four women who got to do something fairly special in May this year when the Thunderbirds sent four players to the Chinese development camp who have Chinese heritage. Shiayli Toni, Emily Costales, Jenna Fletcher, and Tiffany Chiu spent a week at the camp for the Shenzhen-based Chinese Development Team as China prepares for the 2022 Winter Olympics. While there are no guarantees on any of these players making the Olympic team in 2022, the potential for one or all is certainly there based on the play of the four players over the last few Canada West seasons.

As China looks to add some additional North American-trained players to its emerging roster that includes Jessica Wong, Rose Alleva, Kimberly Newell, and Leah Lum among others, adding the four T-Birds isn't a bad idea at all. In two seasons, Emily Costales has nine goals and seven assists, but she's very good at reading the play. Tiffany Chiu is a rock-solid defender who takes care of business in her own zone. Jenna Fletcher has a goal and three assists thus far in her career, but she's an effective checking forward who certainly can make defenders pay with her speed. Shiayli Toni has six goals and 14 assists in her four-year career thus far, but she always seems to be around the puck and is a solid two-way forward.

If you want to see some potential Olympians, UBC features four players who could suit up for Team China in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing! While we've seen other Olympians play in Canada West - Hayley Wickenheiser and Venla Hovi, most notably - these four women might be some of the bedrock upon which future Chinese Olympic teams build their foundation.

Speaking of foundations, another emerging nation on the world's stage might want to build around another of UBC's talented forwards. Mathea Fischer, the Oslo, Norwegian native, has been putting up impressive numbers since her arrival at the school four years ago. In her career thus far, Fischer has tallied 19 goals and 37 assists. She led UBC in scoring last season, and her six points this season is tied for the lead as well. She has incredible vision and creativity on the ice, and she's becoming the go-to offensive player for head coach Graham Thomas.

Fischer is a star on a Norwegian team that needs someone to carry the torch, and her development in U SPORTS and Canada West has been undeniable.

That Old Barn

With Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon officially gone and replaced by Merlis Belsher Place, there was some discussion in the pressbox a week ago about which barn is the oldest rink in Canada West now. I decided to do a little digging, so let's take a look at some of the arenas and their date of opening and if refurbishments have been done.

UBC's Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena opened in October 1963, but was part of a major refurbishment in 2008.

Calgary's Father David Bauer Olympic Arena was also built in 1963, and AME Mechanical Engineers completed a major renovation in December 2015.

Flames Community Arena is home to the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary, and it appears to have opened in September 1986. There have been ongoing upgrades and renovations thanks to the arena being run by a non-profit board of governors.

The Lethbridge Pronghorns play at Nicholas Sheran Arena which was opened in 1986. In 2011, a major renovation was completed by the city of Lethbridge on the arena and facilities.

The Alberta Pandas, in their historic building known as Clare Drake Arena, saw the facility open in 1959. There have been some upgrades and renovations done, but it appears that the University of Alberta is looking at going modern sooner than later.

Saskatchewan's Merlis Belsher Place opened this year, replacing the 88 year-old Rutherford Rink. They should be good for a while, methinks.

The Co-operaters Centre in Regina plays host to the Cougars. The multi-rink complex was opened in December 2009. Like their neighbours to the north, the Cougars should be good for a while.

The Bisons play at Wayne Fleming Arena inside the Max Bell Centre. The entire centre, including the rink, opened in 1981 for use.

If the above information is to be believed, it seems Alberta will be the next team with a new rink to call home. Manitoba will probably need to start exploring the idea of making major renovations at some point while UBC will likely need to start making decisions with respect to the age of their facility. The rest of the rinks seem to be pretty well-maintained from what I've seen, so let's hope that the facilities for these teams continue to help them find wins on home ice!

Moving On

Here are the standings once more with the updated schedule for next weekend's games.

CWUAA WOMEN'S HOCKEY

School	Record	Points	GF	GA	Streak	Next
Alberta	5-2-1-0	17	19	7	W2	@ REG
Manitoba	5-2-1-0	17	20	11	W4	vs LET
Saskatchewan	4-2-2-0	16	11	7	W1	vs UBC
British Columbia	4-2-1-1	15	18	10	L2	@ SAS
Regina	4-3-0-1	13	18	18	L1	vs ALB
Lethbridge	3-4-0-1	10	12	12	W2	@ MAN
Mount Royal	2-5-0-1	7	10	23	L2	@ CAL
Calgary	0-7-0-1	1	4	24	L8	vs MRU

The Last Word

There are four weeks of hockey remaining before the December break on the Canada West schedule. The following are the schedules for each team.

ALBERTA: @ Regina, vs Lethbridge, @ Calgary, vs Saskatchewan.
MANITOBA: vs Lethbridge, @ UBC, vs Saskatchewan, @ Calgary.
SASKATCHEWAN: vs UBC, vs Mount Royal, @ Manitoba, @ Alberta.
UBC: @ Saskatchewan, vs Manitoba, @ Regina, @ Lethbridge.
REGINA: vs Alberta, @ Calgary, vs UBC, @ Mount Royal.
LETHBRIDGE: @ Manitoba, @ Alberta, @ Mount Royal, vs UBC.
MOUNT ROYAL: @ Calgary, @ Saskatchewan, vs Lethbridge, vs Regina.
CALGARY: vs Mount Royal, vs Regina, vs Alberta, vs Manitoba.

If you were asking me who had the most difficult schedule to close out the first-half of the season, Lethbridge is on the road three weeks in a row against the top-two teams in Canada West followed by a Mount Royal team looking for a playoff spot before returning home to take on UBC. Saskatchewan's schedule isn't any easier with games in Manitoba and Alberta to finish their schedule after hosting UBC and Mount Royal.

I'll be honest in that I don't envy any team in Canada West because of how good this conference is when it comes to hockey, but if there's one team who needs to really take advantage of a great schedule to finish the first-half, it's Calgary. A home-and-home with Mount Royal might be the push they need to get off this losing streak before hosting Regina, Alberta, and Manitoba. I'll say this here and now - if Calgary doesn't win three of these eight games in regulation, their season may officially be over before the Christmas break.

It should be a solid November of hockey, so get down to one of the rinks listed above and catch all the hockey action you can! If the women are on the road, the men are at home so there should be no excuse not to catch a U SPORTS hockey game! See you at the rink!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!