Hockey Blog In Canada West Women's Hockey

As you're likely aware, I might be the only person who has the only blog that offers regular Canada West women's hockey coverage. I'm quite proud of the fact that a number of players, coaches, and teams come here for some Canada West news, but I'm still an outsider for the most part because I'm not working for the local university's athletic department. Having the freedom to opt out of writing puff pieces is something I'll never surrender, and I still want to tell the stories of a number of individuals and teams where they're doing amazing things on campus and in their communities. All in good time, I suppose.

I tend to believe the Oscar Wilde statement of "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." In sports, you want to have people talking about you because that shows there's an interest in what you're doing on the court, the field, the ice, or wherever you're playing your sport. When people stop talking about you, there should be some worry because it usually means interest is fading or there's a serious problem with public opinion about your organization.

Normally, a sports organization uses its marketing and public relations teams to send out messages and stories to the press, but it's rather shocking that Bisons Sports has been silent about the women's hockey program and their efforts playing against a few European national teams to date. If you're not aware, Bisons women's hockey is currently in Europe playing games as they prepare for the 2022-23 Canada West hockey season.

As shown above, they played a pair of games against the French National Women's Team in Strasbourg, France followed by a visit with the Dutch National Women's Team today in Tillberg, Netherlands. The French squad earned a promotion back to the Women's World Championship by winning the Division-1 championship earlier this year, so they're likely a solid team who play well in all three zones. The Dutch team finished last in the Division-1 championship earlier this year, but it was only their second time playing at that level so it was a learning experience for the Oranje against some of the better teams in the world. Needless to say, the 12th-ranked French team and the 19th-ranked Dutch team would be a challenge for the Bisons as they looked to establish their presence on the world stage.

Let's start with the game played in Strasbourg against the French National Team on Friday. The Bisons actually got on the board first, but former Montreal Carabins forward Estelle Duvin made her presence felt with a pair of goals to close out the period as France went into the break up 2-1. Manitoba would tie the game in the second period, but the Frenchwomen responded once again as Carlton Ravens defender Lucie Quarto scored her first goal for her country as she put France up 3-2. Anaé Simon would make it 4-2 before the intermission as France double the lead they had at the first intermission, leaving the Bisons with work to do entering the final frame. They wouldn't find that needed boost, though, as Simon scored her second of the game to round out the scoring as the 12th-ranked team on the planet in Team France downed the Bisons by a 5-2 score.

The hosts certainly were less hospitable on Saturday when the Bisons returned for the second-half of the back-to-back with Team France in Strasbourg. Picking up right where they left off from Friday, the Frenchwomen scored often on Saturday as well. There was no score through the first period which seemed to bode well for the Bisons in playing a sound defensive period, but Estelle Duvin scored five minutes into the second period, former Northeastern Huskies forward Chloé Aurard added a second goal 30 seconds later, and Duvin added her second goal later in the frame to make it a 3-0 game. Aurard added her second goal in the third period, Duvin notched the hat trick with her third goal of the game, and former MoDo star and former Montreal Carabins star Lore Baudrit, named as France's new captain days earlier, rounded out the scoring in this game as Team France downed Manitoba by a 6-0 score.

If you're asking, Team France didn't post the boxscores for who scored from Manitoba nor how the goaltending splits went, so I can't give you much in the way of stats in either game outside of Team France talking about their own players. Because I can't find any video or any recaps of the games anywhere on the internet, we're left without knowing who did what for the Bisons in those games. C'est la vie in the world of hockey friendlies, I guess.

The Bisons moved to the Netherlands for today's game against the Dutch National Women's Ice Hockey Team, and the 19th-ranked team on the planet was playing a little shorthanded when it came to the contest today. According to reports, a number of the women who make up the national team had already moved to their respective club teams across Europe, making them unavailable for today's game. The Dutch dressed just 14 skaters and two goalies, but that didn't take the wind out of the Dutch squad's sails, though, as that group went toe-to-toe with the Bisons!

The Dutch were able to skate with the Bisons through the opening frame, and they broke the draw when Nicky Tjin-A-Ton found room past Meagan Relf to make it a 1-0 game at the 17:37 mark. The Bisons would rally, though, as Kate Gregoire would even the score when she beat Eline Gabriele at 19:08 with Sarah Dennehy and Rachel Gottfried earning helpers on the play. The 1-1 score would carry into the second period where Brenna Nicol put the Bisons up a goal at 1:40 when she beat Gabriele with Kylie Lesuk and Jena Barscello picking up assists. Less than four minutes later, rookie Dana Goertzen found room past Gabriele with her shot at 5:25 as the Bisons claimed a 3-1 lead with Trechelle Bunn recording the helper. Savine Wielenga, who plays for Brynas in the SDHL, would find twine behind Relf at the 8:30 mark to bring the Dutchwomen back within a goal.

The 9:45 mark of the second period saw both teams swap netminders as the Dutch squad brought in 19 year-old Emma Fondse to replace Gabriele while the Bisons saw Kimmy Davidson take the crease after Relf's solid outing. The final 30:15 of the game saw these two netminders dual in a battle of clean sheets with neither goalie giving up any further goals. In knowing that fact, the Bisons claimed victory in Tillburg with a 3-2 victory over the Oranje!

If you're looking for the boxscore on this one, the Dutch Ice Hockey Federation's page has it here, and it seems the Bisons were guilty of a few infractions as well as they racked up six minor penalties for 12 minutes of time in the sin bin, but it seems the top-ranked penalty-killing squad from last season was doing a good job at getting ready for this season as they killed all six infractions off including 31 seconds of 5-on-3 action. Perhaps a little concerning is the oh-fer-two showing on the power-play, but it's not even September yet as the Bisons still have lots of time to work on that aspect of their game.

I can say that the two forwards that Jon Rempel recruited seem to be doing their part as goal scorers for the Bisons. Dana Goertzen, as mentioned above, had the game-winning goal against the Dutch squad as per the boxscore, and a social media post revealed that Norah Collins also scored a Bisons goal on the European trip, which could possibly be one of the two goals against the French team. It seems the rookie class for the Herd are fitting in quite nicely when it comes to bulging twine so far!

There will be one last stop this week as the team moves to England where they'll land in Bracknell for a game against the Queen Bees. The Queen Bees aren't a team should be taken lightly as they play in Women's Elite League where they are the six-time defending champions of the Women's Elite League. Among the many great things the Queen Bees have done is that they have expanded their hockey reach in England since being founded in 1987 as they now run the Women's Elite Queen Bees team, the Fire Bees of the Women's Premier League, and the Ice Bees of the Girls U16 South League. Being that they're as successful as they are, they supply a vast number of women to Great Britain's National Women's Ice Hockey Teams including eight players who suited up for the Olympic qualifying games in 2022.

Among those to keep an eye on in this game, assuming all have returned from last season, would be leading goal scorer and overall scorer Rachel Cartwright who had 23 goals and 33 points in 18 games last season. Katherine Gale and Chrissie Newman had 15 goals apiece as well, so they'll be lurking in the Manitoba zone in Thursday's game. Ellie Wakeling and Abbie Sylvester led the blue line in scoring with 22 and 21 points, respectively, so they'll play a role in the Queen Bees' success against Manitoba, and I would assume that Naomi Healey will return to backstop the Queen Bees after a successful campaign where she posted a .915 save percentage and four shutouts in 13 games.

I struggle to understand why the Bisons haven't posted any of this information on the Bisons Sports website nor have they had any players write a journal of some sort about their experiences in Europe. You would think that this could generate some real chatter among parents, family, friends, and fans of the program, but I guess I'll have to make up the difference on this blog once more. Being the place to get Canada West women's hockey news isn't something I started this blog to be, but it's evolved into that with the coverage Bisons Sports is giving in to its women's hockey team.

The Bisons will come home and get set to play the Saskatchewan Huskies in Yorkton, Saskatchewan on September 17 and 18 - also not on the Bisons Sports website - as they get set for the 2022-23 season. Beyond that, I haven't heard of any other games being scheduled for the Bisons, but I'd expect at least a couple more before they open their season following a bye week in Vancouver against the defending Canada West champions in the UBC Thunderbirds. We'll see how everything stacks up before then, but you know where to find news about the Bisons if you're seeking it.

Since they won't do it on gobisons.ca, check back on HBIC for updates as it seems this is only place to find them!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!