It's Time

February 8, 2020 was the last time I had the privilege of standing beside my broadcast partner in Kyleigh Palmer as we called a Manitoba Bisons women's hockey game. On that day, the Alberta Pandas closed out the season with a 4-0 win over the Bisons following a thrilling 3-2 victory by the underdog Bisons one night earlier. Kyleigh and I lamented the fact that the season was over as Manitoba would miss the playoffs, but Canada West would press on as they crowned the Pandas the champions and sent both Alberta and the Mount Royal Cougars to the U SPORTS National Championship in March in Charlottetown, PEI.

Just two days into that tournament, everything was cancelled due to the worst pandemic of this generation's time. And then we waited for relief that never came, forcing Canada West and the rest of U SPORTS to cancel all meaningful games for the 2020-21 season. It will have been 615 days that Kyleigh and I were last in the broadcast booth come October 15 when the 2021-22 season open for Canada West women's hockey. It has felt much longer than that, I assure you.

With the schedule set, we're officially 44 days from opening night which still feels like an eternity. There will be preseason games for the Bisons that will be covered, though, so here's your first announcement on that front: all three games on September 24, 25, and 26 will be aired on the UMFM Second Stream! We're still working through some of the details for the Canada West TV side of things, but the radio side will see the game against Balmoral Hall on September 24, the game against the Bisons alumni team on September 25, and the game against St. Mary's Academy on September 26 on UMFM's exclusive internet webstream.

As you're likely aware, Kyleigh Palmer is a proud alumna of the Bisons, and she has agreed to play in the game on September 25. Filling in for her as the play-by-play person that night will be Jason Pchajek as he is going to use the opportunity to get reacquainted with the team as Kyleigh will miss opening weekend against the Dinos. By having Jason in the booth that night, he'll also get to see the new technical setup we have, so we shouldn't miss a beat all season whether you're tuning in for men's or women's hockey.

The Bisons will have played five preseason games before that weekend - three against Team Manitoba's U18 squad, and two against the Regina Cougars in Russell, Manitoba as a neutral site game. I do expect that "neutral site" game to have a multitide of Regina fans there with all the western Manitoba players the Cougars have on the roster, but that should be a fun weekend of games against a team that the Bisons will see four times in the regular season. Nothing like firing up a rivalry early!

There were two games planned for October 1 and 2 that would have seen the Bisons travel south to Minot, North Dakota to play the Minot State Beavers in their first preseason games of the season, but the border restrictions have made that impossible. I had planned to travel to those games to broadcast them as well, but that will have to wait for a future opportunity with the pandemic keeping the border closed for Canadians looking to head to the US.

I will say that there is lots planned for Bisons women's hockey broadcasts this season, and I encourage you to check social media where I'll be posting teasers about the new features, returning segments, and fresh ideas we have to make Bisons women's hockey broadcasts more like what you see on CBC and Sportsnet with Hockey Night in Canada. While we'll never have the budget they do to produce some of the content they show, we'll make up for a lot of it with ingenuity, effort, and dedication to telling stories that no one else does. At the end of the day, U SPORTS women's hockey is the highest organized level of hockey that women can play in the country, so they deserve the same effort from at least one broadcasting crew as the NHL gets.

With the calendar flipping to September, it's time to get back to the rink. Let's have some fun doing it this season!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!