The Rundown - Quarterfinals

The weekend finally arrived. Three teams were already hard at work in preparation for next season. Two teams were watching from afar with a specific interest as to who prevailed. Four teams were engaged in battle as the Canada West quarterfinal series began in Edmonton and Winnipeg. Berths in the semifinal series were on the line as Regina, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba looked to continue their seasons while two of these teams would move to the sidelines if they came up short in the best-of-three series. There were potentially six games on the horizon for this weekend, so let's recap what happened this week on The Rundown!

The third-seeded Alberta Pandas played host to the sixth-seeded Regina Cougars this weekend as the quarterfinal series got underway in Edmonton. Alberta was 2-0 against Regina this season, but Regina came into the series having won three of four games against Manitoba and UBC. Despite the separation in the standings, this might be a more even series as we peel back the layers. Arden Kliewer was in net for the Cougars to start this series while Halle Oswald got the start for the Pandas.

Both teams came out hungry as there were chances at both ends in the early going. Alberta would get whistled for a penalty midway through the frame, and that would be the break that Regina needed as Lilla Carpenter-Boesch spotted a streaking Olivia Leggett across the ice, hit her with a perfect feed, and Leggett fired it home before Oswald could get across for the power-play marker at 11:06 to put Regina up 1-0! The remainder of the period would see these two teams remain equal as the Cougars took the 1-0 lead into the break with the shots even at 9-9!

The secodn period was similar to the first in that neither side was willing to let up in the defensive zone while trying to generate chances in the offensive zone. Both netminders were outstanding in rejecting the oppoisiton's shots once again, and that 1-0 lead for the Cougars would hold through 40 minutes. At the second break, the one-goal lead was inact despite Alberta taking an 18-16 edge in shots.

Early into the third period, Danica Namaka tied the game when he shot eluded the glove of Kliewer as she moved, and we had a 1-1 game at 1:32. 1:19 later, though, Oswald mishandled Raea Gilroy's shot, and the rebound she gave up was swatted into the net by Jenna Merk as the Cougars reclaimed their one-goal lead!

Alberta wasn't going to go away quietly, though, and they would strike again just past the midway point of the period. Madison Willan deflected an Abby Krzyzaniak shot from the point that Kliewer stopped, but the rebound popped out to Payton Laumbach who buried it at 11:57, and this game was tied up at 2-2! The teams resumed their attacks as the time ticked down, and it would Alberta would found a needed boost when Megan Wilson walked out of the corner and roofed a shot high over Kliewer's shoulder under the bar with 2:12 to play to make it a 3-2 lead for Alberta!

Despite pulling Kliewer for the extra attacker and having a few chances at the end, Oswald would not be beaten in the final two minutes as the Alberta Pandas earned the Game One 3-2 victory over the Regina Cougars! Halle Oswald made 24 saves for the win while Arden Kliewer stopped 26 shots in the loss. Alberta leads the 3-vs-6 quarterfinal series 1-0!

Highlights are below, but I don't know what happened to Alberta's feed. The video is choppy and there isn't any audio, so hopefully they have a better highlight package on Saturday.

After an exciting Game-One Alberta victory where Regina gave Alberta everything they could handle, Game Two went Saturday night as Alberta looked to close out the series while Regina looked to extend their season into Sunday. Regina's Arden Kliewer and Alberta's Halle Oswald stood 200-feet apart again in this second game of the series!

The chess match that we saw one night earlier carried into Saturday as both teams had chances, but the defences and goaltenders were equal to the task at either end. It wouldn't be until the end of the period when Jordyn Blais went to send a pass across to her defensive partner in her own zone that Payton Laumbach read, and she picked off the pass and sniped a shot past Kliewer at 18:53 to give Alberta the 1-0 lead! That score would hold into the intermission with Regina holding a 7-5 edge in shots.

Before we go on, I'm not sure how the officials score things in Alberta, but how on earth were there two assists on Laumbach's goal when she picked off a Regina pass? Someone needs to explain this to me because there's no way that scoring play is accurate.

The second period felt like the first period as both teams were locking down the defensive zone once again. Alberta did get a chance on the power-play where they had chances, but the power-play Regina received was mostly Alberta denying them any looks on Oswald. With no goals scored in this frame, the 1-0 Alberta lead would remain intact with Alberta taking a 13-9 advantage in shot into the third period.

The defensive battled went on throughout the final frame as the Pandas protected their one-goal lead. In a period in which there were just five shots recorded by the scorekeepers, Regina couldn't seem to find a way to get pucks on Oswald. With 55 seconds left, Kliewer went to the bench as Regina needed a goal to extend their season, but Taylor Anker would find the open cage with 21 seconds on a bank shot off the glass to ice this game as the Alberta Pandas downed the Regina Cougars 2-0! Halle Oswald recorded the shutout by making all 12 shots on this night while Arden Kliewer stopped 13 of 14 shots she faced. With the victory, Alberta defeated Regina 2-0 in the series!

Highlights are below, but Alberta still has no audio and still has choppy video. And watch for the assists on Laumbach's goal.

The fourth-seeded Manitoba Bisons played host to the fifth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies as this quarterfinal series got underway in Winnipeg. Manitoba was 4-0 this season against Saskatchewan, but Saskatchewan's only losses in the second-half of the season came to Manitoba as they were 6-2 in their final eight games. Would Manitoba's winning streak continue against the Huskies or could Saskatchewan spoil Manitoba's weekend and season? Camryn Drever was given the task of stopping the Bisons while Erin Fargey was in the Bisons net to start this series!

This game started out fast as both sides were trying to establish pace and presence in the offensive zone. The back and forth continued until the midway point of the period when Abby Shirley parked herself in front of Fargey and tipped an Emily Holmes shot past the Bisons netminder at 11:25 to give the Huskies the 1-0 lead! That lead would only last a few minutes, though, as Manitoba repsonded on the power-play when Camryn Gillis' point shot was tipped by Vanessa Klimpke in the slot to dent twine behind Drever at 15:40, and this game was squared up at 1-1! That score would hold into the break with Saskatchewan up 11-5 in shots!

The second period was more of the same as Saskatchewan found ways to get shots through on Fargey. Abby Shirley took advantage of that when she picked up a loose puck at the Bisons' blue line with the Herd's defence collapsing, and she used the extra space to get a shot off that zipped past Fargey to make it a 2-1 game for the Huskies at 5:25 on her second goal of the game! Despite the goal, the torrid pace of the period would continue as both teams looked to light the lamps further, but Shirley's goal would be the only one in the period as the horn sounded. At the second intermission, Saskatchewan led 2-1 and held an 18-8 edge in shots.

The Bisons seemed to have regrouped during the break as they came out with fire in their skates as they peppered Drever with shots. It would turn out to be beneficial when Julia Bird ripped a shot through Drever's five-hole to the back of the net, and we were tied up at 2-2 at 9:52! The frantic pace would continue until six minutes later when Kennedy Brown poked the puck past a Bisons defender at center and broke in on a two-on-one before she sent a laser over Fargey's right shoulder to go bar-down for the 3-2 Huskies lead at the 16:00 mark!

The Bisons, needing a goal, pulled Fargey for the extra attacker late in the game, but Abby Shirley would end the threat when she scored on the empty net for a hat trick and the 4-2 lead with 38 seconds to play, and the Huskies skated to the 4-2 win over the Bisons in Game One! Camryn Drever stopped 18 shots for the win while Erin Fargey was on the wrong side of a 25-save effort. Saskatchewan leads the 4-vs-5 quarterfinal series 1-0!

Highlights of this game are below!

One hoped that the Friday-night uptempo hockey between these two teams carried into Saturday where Manitoba's back was against the wall needing a win after Saskatchewan's victory one night earlier. A second victory would end Manitoba's season while a Bisons win would keep the series and season going. Camryn Drever was back in the Huskies' net while Kimmy Davidson was protecting the Manitoba cage!

The Huskies knew they were 60 minutes from moving on, and they played the first period like a team on a mission. Manitoba had chances, but the Huskies seemed to be hungrier, and they'd be rewarded for their work late in the opening frame. Sophie Lalor's shot found room past Davidson to open the scoring at 17:47, and the Huskies took the Lalor goal into the break as they led 1-0 on the scoreboard and 16-8 in shots.

The Huskies brought the fire out of the break once again, and they'd be rewarded off a crazy scramble around the goal as Brooklyn Stevely scored her first Canada West goal when she found the loose puck and went high glove-side over the pandemonium after several shots were stopped and all sorts of humanity littered the crease area at 4:52 to make it 2-0 Huskies! The Bisons pushed back as they found themselves in a hole, but were slowed up by penalties as they tried to slow the Saskatchewan counterattack. The power-play would be unsuccessful, but the Huskies would score moments after a 5-on-3 advantage expired. Sophie Lalor spotted Kennedy Brown lurking quietly in the slot behind a Bisons defender, and Brown one-timed the puck past Davidson off the Lalor feed at 11:45 to make it a three-goal lead for the Huskies! The teams would trade chances once more for the final eight mnutes of the middle frame, but Saskatchewan held a three-goal lead and a 29-12 advantage in shots after 40 minutes.

The third period saw Saskatchewan switch more into defend-the-lead mode as they look to preserve their three-goal advantage. They clogged up the neutral zone, stood tall across their own blue line, and frustrated the Bisons for most of the period as the Bisons had shots, but rebounds and second chances were few and far between for the Herd. When the final horn sounded, the Saksatchewan Huskies had downed the Manitoba Bisons by that 3-0 score! Camryn Drever recorded her first playoff shutout as she stopped all 21 shots in the win while Kimmy Davidson made 35 stops on night where she may have deserved better. With the win, Saskatchewan defeated Manitoba in the series 2-0!

Highlights are... missing? And we just had a conversation in the pressbox about how Canada West wants more highlights posted from teams. I suspect the Bisons will eventually post these highlights, but it seems they're AWOL at this moment. I know I'd appreciate them as I'm sure the Huskies fans would too, right?

These aren't really "standings" per se, but here's the playoff picture after this weekend with game times for next weekend's contests!

Mount Royal will host Saskatchewan at Flames Community Arena in Calgary for their best-of-three semifinal series. As posted, Friday's game will be at 7pm MT while Saturday is at 6pm MT. Sunday, if necessary, will also go at 6pm MT.

UBC will host Alberta at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver for their best-of-three semifinal series. As seen above, all three games will take place at 3pm PT as UBC has the pleasure of hosting two home semifinal series with the UBC Thunderbirds men's squad hosting the Mount Royal Cougars. It appears the men will get the primetime games this season, so make adjustments for earlier games if you want to watch the women play.

The winners of the semifinal series will play for the Catherwood Cup and the Canada West banner while being the two designated teams who will travel to Charlottetown, PEI to be Canada West's representatives at the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship!

The Last Word

We started with nine teams. We reduced the field to six teams. We're now down to four teams as these four squads have risen to the occasion in these playoffs. Things get a little tougher now as the top-two teams in Canada West enter the picture, but out of adversity comes opportunity. That opportunity is the chance to play for a National Championship!

There's no denying that these matchups are intriguing. Mount Royal battled Saskatchewan on December 3 and 4 to a pair of 1-0 wins in Calgary, so I'm expecting another low-scoring series between these two squads. Both teams have solid netminding, clutch scoring, veteran leadership, and a very good defensive structure. I wouldn't expect this to turn into a track meet where next goal wins, so look for these games to be tightly-checking affairs.

UBC hosted Alberta on November 19 and 20, downing the Pandas by 3-1 and 4-0 scores, respectively. As we know, UBC likes to score goals and will play physically against teams, and Alberta really doesn't seem built for that kind of game. If Alberta is going to win this game, they need to be relentless on the forecheck and pressure UBC all over the ice. For UBC, they'll need break through the Alberta defensive line and pepper the Pandas netminders with shots while creating chaos with their speed. This series seems like it will feature more goals.

I'm excited to see what these semifinals series bring in terms of excitement, and with both the Canada West Final and a trip to Nationals on the line I expect all four teams to leave it all on the ice in what should be very entertaining hockey games! Make sure you tune in via Canada West TV to catch all the action!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!