Bisons Rewind: The Pinnacle

Today is the day! Well, maybe it's the second day since this day actually happened on March 18, 2018 and not exclusively on today. Either way, we're hit the final day of Bisons Rewind from that magical 2017-18 season in the history of the University of Manitoba women's hockey team. There was hope that the magic from the shootout win over the Concordia Stingers one day before wouldn't run out against the hometown University of Western Ontario Mustangs in the gold medal game of the 2018 U SPORTS National Women's Ice Hockey Championship, but it would be a battle once more for the ladies in the brown-and-gold when it came to fulfilling destiny.

Western, as the third-ranked team in the tournament, downed Montreal by a 4-0 score in the quarterfinal before scoring two-straight goals after falling behind 1-0 against Saskatchewan, and then held on to win in the semifinal by that 2-1 score over the Huskies. The big story for the Huskies was in net was rookie Carmen Lasis who basically took over the netminding duties in January as Western went on an insane run to not drop a single game since January 20, 2018 as they overcame a pile of odds to win the OUA Championship.

The Mustangs were led by April Clark up front who had been named an OUA All-Star in 2018. The Mustangs captain and senior student led the team in scoring, but she was every bit the heart and soul of the team as the Mustangs followed her scrappy, relentless style of play. Clark finished the season with 12 goals and 10 assists, but she was the true leader on the team after helping Western win the U SPORTS National Championship in 2015 with the Mustangs.

Joining her up front as some of the key players for the Mustangs were Evra Levesque, Amanda Pereira, and Ali Beres. Levesque had an incredible season where she scored 11 goals and added 10 helpers, Pereira was the setup player with seven goals and 13 assists on the season, and Beres had four goals, but set up 11 others on the season. These Mustangs had the depth to score goals up and down the lineup, and it's part of the reason they were playing in the final game of the 2017-18 season.

On the back end, there was no one better for Western in 2017-18 than Emma Pearson, and the senior rearguard was often the first pass out of her own zone. Pearson had three goals and nine assists on the season, and she led a defence corps that included Claire Balas, Edie Levesque, and Anthea Lasis who really were a big difference in helping the Mustangs put together than 13-game winning streak with their effective play in their own zone while helping Carmen Lasis.

It should be noted that Carman Lasis was the goaltender responsible for the 13-straight wins coming into this gold medal final, and she had been en fuego for two-and-a-half months. Lasis had surrendered three goals in a game just twice all season, and she had pitched seven shutouts coming into the final including three blank sheets in her previous five starts. Lasis entered the game as the second-best goaltender in the tournament statistically to only Miss Lauren Taraschuk of the Bisons.

The Bisons had downed the OUA finalist Queen's Golden Gaels 4-0 in the quarterfinal and needed a shootout to get by the Concordia Stingers by a 2-1 score, so the stage was set as the Golden Path Trophy was about to be awarded to one of the Bisons or Mustangs. Here's the UMFM broadcast of the 2018 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship gold medal game featuring the Bisons and Mustangs as called by TJ and myself.

Game Notes

• I made the decision to cut the post-game festivities and interviews as there was an additional hour of audio there. Yes, it's fun to hear the reactions, but I have size limits for the audio file to which I'm trying to adhere.
• It can't be overstated just how well Venla Hovi played in the seven games she played after returning from Pyeongchang. Let the record here show that she likely deserved a tournament all-star nod at the very least.
• Hovi led the Bisons in scoring at the tournament with a goal and three assists, and she was the only Bisons player to record a point in all three games.
• Tournament all-stars included: Alanna Sharman (F), Jordyn Zacharias (F), Alana Serhan (F), Marie-Joëlle Allard (D), Caitlin Fyten (D), and Carmen Lasis (G).
• Lauryn Keen was named as tournament MVP.
• Shockingly, Lauren Taraschuk received no individual awards for her efforts despite allowing just one goal at the championship through three games, ten periods, and one shootout.
• For the record, Taraschuk would finish the three-game tournament at 3-0 with a 0.32 GAA, a .983 save percentage, and two shutouts.
• The depth of these two teams might have been unparalleled in the tournament. Concordia likely could fit into this group, but Western's depth shone through on their side of the bracket, helping them to the national championship game.
• There were three sets of sisters playing in this game - Edie and Evra Levesque and Anthea and Carmen Lasis for Western while Manitoba skated Courtlyn and Sheridan Oswald.
• As TJ stated, this is the first time in 53 years that a Manitoba Bisons team skated in a hockey national championship.

There is the finish to the biggest season in Bisons women's hockey to date! I'm really hoping you'll join us down at Wayne Fleming Arena at some point this season or any season to see some great women's hockey action in Canada West. Alternatively, you can listen to every single home game on the UMFM Second Stream with select games being broadcast over 101.5 UMFM for your listening enjoyment as well! And don't forget to watch on Canada West TV as well where the same audio comes with video too!

And don't forget the debut of Hockey24 tonight on Sportsnet at 7pm ET! With everyone needing a little boost in the community department, this film will certainly do that as Scotiabank and The Mark showed hockey from this great nation from coast to coast to coast over one day! Catch it tonight!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!