The Rundown - Week 3
There was no scoring in the first period where as Regina held a 9-7 edge in shots after 20 minutes, but Paige Hubbard would put the Cougars on the board just 38 seconds into the second period as a Paige Hubbard outraced everyone, picked up the loose puck, and went high glove-side on a breakaway to give Regina the 1-0 lead! The Cougars would surrender a power-play goal late, though, as this game was tied 1-1 heading into the third period.
Five minutes into the final frame, the Cougars surrendered a second power-play goal as they fell behind 2-1, and it was a lead they could not overcome despite many chances over the final five minutes of play. When the horn sounded, the Regina Cougars were the second-place team in a 2-1 loss. Natalie Williamson stopped 18 shots in the loss despite playing brilliantly at times.
Just like their ability to negotiate in good faith, the Fluffy Cows fall short in the highlights department as well. Should we be surprised? Hint: NO. Instead, let's check out Hubbard's goal.
SATURDAY: The Cougars were looking for a bounce-back game after dropping Friday night's contest while scoring a single goal. Unless they expect to shut out every team they face, they'll need more offence to make a run at a playoff spot. Arden Kliewer was in the net for the Regina Cougars on Saturday afternoon.
Regina fell behind in the first period in this game before dropping into a two-goal deficit after surrendering an early power-play goal in the second period. Hubbard, however, would get one of those goals back with Regina on the power-play when she dented twine in potting a rebound of a Jenna Merk shot from the top of the circle!
That power-play goal made it a 2-1 game, but the Cougars would find themselves down by two goals once more before the end of the middle frame. If they had hopes of winning this game, they had to find some offence!
Regina would use the power-play midway through the final frame to cut the deficit to one goal again when Hannah Pennell teed up a blocked shot that found twine just under the bar!
Pennell's power-play marker with less than nine minutes to play certainly made things a little closer, but, despite another frantic finish, the Cougars found themselves on the wrong side of a 3-2 final score. Arden Kliewer made 29 saves on the afternoon, but it wasn't enough for the win.
The highlights are above because we already established the Fluffy Cows care not for highlights, so let's learn a little about cougars in nature from Planet Earth's David Attenborough.
Grace Elliott kicked things off the Thunderbirds when she potted a feed from Chanreet Bassi as UBC's top line made it 1-0 at the 7:48 mark. The Huskies would respond on the power-play, though, as Taylor Wilkinson scored her first Canada West goal from Kate Ball at 12:27 on a two-player advantage as she adds a puck to her collection! Despite the teams trading power-play chances later in the frame, no other goals would be recorded as the 1-1 tie carried into the second period with Saskatchewan holding a 12-11 edge in shots.
The second period was more of a defensive battle as both teams settled into playing a more controlled game, but UBC would catch a break later in the period when Ireland Perrott found enough space to beat Drever at 17:35 to put the T-Birds up by a 2-1 score. Despite Saskatchewan having three power-play opportunities in the period, they could not convert on any of them. Would that come back to haunt them? UBC led 2-1 through 40 minutes, but the Huskies had the slim 21-19 lead in shots.
The third period saw Saskatchewan push the for equalizer, but UBC played solid defence is helping their goaltender out by preventing shots from getting to Hugens. However, Emily Holmes would put the Saskatchewan team on her shoulders by going end-to-end against the T-Birds before capping off the drive with a shot that beat Hugens at 11:24 to make it a 2-2 game! The final eight minutes of this game was intense as both teams had power-play opportunities to take the lead, but it was not to be as we'd need overtime in the third-straight game featuring extra time at Merlis Belsher Place to find a winner!
We didn't need long to find a winner as Kennedy Brown won a face-off back to Kendra Zuchotzki, and the defender zipped a shot past Hugens at 3:13 of the extra frame to give Saskatchewan the 3-2 overtime win over UBC! Camryn Drever picks up her second win in 63:13 of work as she stopped 27 shots on the night while Elise Hugens stopped 27 shots in a losing effort.
Of course, there are no highlights because Saskatchewan is still doing the "Get-Paid" Plays of the Week clip that they post. I'm not sure why highlights of a big win can't be posted along with a Plays of the Week feature, but "dollar dollar bills, y'all".
SATURDAY: After a big win the night before, Saskatchewan was seeking a sweep of the defending Canada West champs. UBC, meanwhile, was looking to get back in the win column while heading home with three points after the single point earned on Friday. The Thunderbirds would turn to Kate Stuart to defend their cage while Camryn Drever got her second-straight start for the Huskies.
Saturday's contest started somewhat defensively before UBC took a penalty, and that seemed to refocus the west coast squad. Two power-plays were awarded to the Thunderbirds as they began to skate, and it would be on the second advantage where Mackenzie Kordic made Saskatchewan pay when she beat Drever at 17:02 for the power-play marker that gave UBC a 1-0 lead. That would be the only goal of the opening frame as UBC carried the 1-0 lead into the second period while leading 12-7 in shots.
UBC ran into early penalty problems in the second period as they were down two players just 3:12 into the frame. That allowed Saskatchewan to capitalize as Sara Kendall's slapshot found room past Stuart at 3:27 to tie the game at 1-1! The teams would begin a parade to the penalty box midway through the frame, and the stoppages seemed to break up the offensive pushes by both squads. When the horn sounded on the second period, that 1-1 score stood tall with UBC holding a 19-15 edge in shots.
The third period saw UBC's Rylind MacKinnon pick up a natural hat trick in penalties as she was flagged three times within the first 14:11 of the third period, forcing UBC to the penalty kill for six of those minutes. Surprisingly, both sides were very good defensively as neither were allowing many pucks to reach their respective netminders as it seemed like offence was put on the back-burner for this period. With just three shots apiece, no one scored so we were off to overtime for a fourth-straight game in Saskatoon still tied 1-1!
The first overtime period solved nothing, so we'll jump to the three-on-three period of action where we'd find a winner at 2:51 when Chanreet Bassi's quick shot beat Drever to give UBC the 2-1 double-overtime victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies! Kate Stuart was solid in stopping 18 shots for her second win of the season while Camryn Drever stopped 24 shots in 67:51 of action.
As stated, you'll just have to wait until Saskatchewan gets paid.
I'm never one to celebrate a blowout, and this game started off with one team finding the net often. Lyndsey Janes got things started at 3:11 with a goal before Aliya Jomha added a second goal for Mount Royal at 9:54. Mackenzie Butz dented twine at 15:29 to make it 3-0 for MRU before Courtney Kollman added a fourth goal for the Cougars at 17:06. That spelled the end of the night for Durante as head coach Carla MacLeod had seen enough, and rookie Amelia Awad replaced Durante in the crease. She'd hold the fort for the remainder of the opening frame, but the damage had been done as Mount Royal held a 4-0 lead after outshooting Calgary 12-10 in the period.
Lyndsey Janes made it a 5-0 game at 6:49 of the second period before Jordyn Burgar got one back for the Dinos at 13:27, but the hill for Calgary to clumb only got steeper in the third period when Laura Cook found the back of the net at 8:21. Ross didn't need much more offence as she held the Dinos at bay in helping the Mount Royal Cougar defeat the Calgary Dinos by that 6-1 score. Ross stopped 20 shots for her second win of the season while Gabriella Durante took the loss after stopping six shots in her 17:06 of work. For the record, Amelia Awad stopped 20 of 22 shots she faced in her 42:54 of action.
Calgary gets full marks for me for having highlights ready!
It was certainly a different feeling for this game as the opening period moved forward. Both Mount Royal and Calgary played fast, up-tempo hockey as the goaltenders were ready for every shot, even if it took Calgary some 15 minutes to put a puck into Ross. Outside of a Calgary penalty midway through the frame, there was no other ink needed for the scoresheet as the 0-0 tie held through 20 minutes despite Mount Royal holding an 8-3 shot advantage.
Mount Royal would continue to cause the Dinos' offence problems as they seemingly could not get shots in Ross. When they did, Ross was there to stonewall the Dinos in keeping the game goalless. The parade to the penalty box seemed to alternate through this period, but we'd see some good four-on-four play late in the frame when Emma Bergesen's slap-pass towards Camryn Amundsen was redirected by Amundsen up high and past Durante to give Mount Royal the 1-0 lead at 15:11! Despite one additional power-play opportunity before the horn, Mount Royal found no other goals as they held that one-goal lead through 40 minutes despite outshooting Calgary 17-6 in those two periods.
The Dinos brought the heat in the final period as they looked to tie the game, and they'd be given that chance on a power-play before the midway mark. Following a battle behind the net, Alli Borrow caught Ross moving the wrong way as she banged the puck home, and the Calgary power-play goal at 8:40 tied the game at 1-1! The two teams continued to battle for a victory as Calgary found ways to pepper Ross while Mount Royal continued their assault on Durante. The player sitting in the box while Borrow scored, Tatum Amy, would make up for her indiscretion in the biggest way when she threw a puck on net that Durante could not handle as the puck ended up in the back of the net with nine seconds to play! That Tatum Amy goal was your game-winner as the Mount Royal Cougars grabbed the 2-1 victory over the Calgary Dinos! Kaitlyn Ross made 16 stops for her third win of the season while Gabriella Durante bounced back with 24 saves, but it wasn't enough for the win.
Mount Royal continues to ignore the opportunity to showcase their athletes by refusing to post highlights, so we're going to continue to use their space to check out funny hockey commercials. Here's Geico, the American insurance company, with a good one!
Both teams came out of the tunnels with good jump, and the pace reflected that. While neither could find the net in the opening ten minutes, we'd see goals in the latter half of the period. Jordyn Matthews carried the puck into the Alberta zone off a neutral zone face-off before dishing it off to the pinching Chelsea Debusschere who went high past Oswald's shoulder to put Trinity Western up 1-0 at 11:54 despite Brooklyn Anderson being credited with the assist! Alberta would respond 58 seconds later when Isabelle Lajoie beat Fawcett, and we were tied up at 1-1! A power-play for TWU went unfulfilled as Alberta took the only penalty of the period, so we'd move to the second period with the game tied at 1-1 and Alberta holding a 9-6 edge in shots.
The second period saw more of the back-and-forth action as both sides pushed for more goals. The goaltenders were just as ready, though, as they held the score at 1-1 until late in the period when Megan Wilson's giveaway to Amy Potomak in the middle of the Alberta zone allowed the Spartans' sniper to deke around Oswald's outstretched left leg to make it 2-1 for Trinity Western with 2:59 to play in the frame! The horn would sound on the second period, and Trinity Western took that 2-1 lead to the room with Alberta holding a 15-14 advantage in shots.
An early Alberta penalty was weathered by the Pandas as they looked for the equalizer in the final frame, but Amy Potomak made things a little more difficult for Alberta when her initial shot was stopped, but the puck bounced around Oswald's crease before Potomak followed her up her shot by shoveling home the rebound for the 3-1 lead at 10:54! With nine minutes to play, the Pandas turned up the heat, but they ran into a stiff Spartans defence down the stretch as Trinity Western claimed its first-ever victory over the Alberta Pandas with that 3-1 score! Kate Fawcett stopped 19 shots for her first career Canada West win and her first win of the season while Halle Oswald stopped 17 shots as Alberta came up short in this game.
Here are only the Trinity Western goals because Trinity Western only posts highlight reels of Trinity Western plays. Go Spartans?
SATURDAY: For the first time ever, I have the honour of writing that the Trinity Western Spartans entered Saturday's game looking for a sweep of the Alberta Pandas. As weird as that is to write, the Pandas needed to find a split if they hoped to keep pace with the other top teams in Canada West. We'd get the same two netminders as we saw on Friday with Halle Oswald in the Pandas' crease for her sixth-straight start while Kate Fawcett was looking to extend both her personal and the team's winning streaks to two games.
Once more, the pace started off well as both sides look to establish their offences early. A penalty to Trinity Western midway through the period gave Alberta the power-play, but Amy Potomak caught the Alberta defence in a bit of a miscommunication behind the net, stole the puck, and wrapped it around into the cage before Oswald could recover for the shorthanded marker at 9:43 as the Spartans jumped out to the 1-0 lead! Alberta wouldn't find a goal on that power-play or in any other moment of the first period as Trinity Western carried the 1-0 lead into the break despite Alberta leading 9-6 in shots.
Alberta received an early power-play in the second period only to have it negated 80 seconds after it started with a penalty of their own. The back-end of that Alberta penalty yielded no TWU goals, so the 1-0 lead held until the 12:45 mark when a scramble in front of Oswald following a blocked shot saw Brooklyn Anderson snap a shot past Oswald as she looked for the puck as the Spartans jumped ahead by a 2-0 score! The remainder of the period was rather uneventful in terms of scoresheet events, so it was 2-0 for Trinity Western through 40 minutes with Alberta holding a 14-12 lead in shots.
The Alberta power-play would finally come alive in the third period when Natalie Kieser found twne behind Fawcett at the 8:01 mark, but they'd only score on one of the four advantages they had in the period. To make matters worse, the Pandas pulled the goaltender late in the game to go six-on-four on a late power-play where TWU's Mackenzie Mayo fired the puck down the ice at the open net and missed, but Brooklyn Anderson raced down the ice and beat Sara Kazeil to the loose puck for the tap-in shorthanded marker to make it 3-1 for the Spartans with 1:18 to play! Amy Potomak would add one more with the empty net with 29 seconds to play, and the Trinity Western Spartans recorded the 4-1 win over the Alberta Pandas! Kate Fawcett stopped 25 shots for her second win of the season while Halle Oswald was on the wrong side of a 14-save night.
I'll have more on this game and Friday's game below, but here are Saturday's Spartans highlights because it's all TWU all the time!
| School | Record | Points | GF | GA | Streak | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal | 5-0-0-1 | 11 | 22 | 11 | W5 | @ MAC |
| UBC | 3-1-1-1 | 9 | 21 | 12 | W1 | BYE |
| Saskatchewan | 1-1-2-2 | 8 | 10 | 8 | L1 | @ ALB |
| Trinity Western | 3-3-0-0 | 6 | 14 | 14 | W2 | @ MAN |
| Alberta | 2-3-1-0 | 6 | 11 | 14 | L2 | vs SAS |
| Calgary | 1-3-1-1 | 5 | 9 | 15 | L2 | @ REG |
| Manitoba | 2-2-0-0 | 4 | 8 | 15 | W2 | vs TWU |
| Regina | 1-2-0-1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | L3 | vs CAL |
| MacEwan | 0-3-1-0 | 2 | 5 | 10 | L2 | vs MRU |
Get The Brooms
If you had asked me before this season started against which team would be the one that Trinity Western recorded their first sweep, I don't think Alberta would have been in my top-five answers. As it stands, the Spartans have now officially beaten Saskatchewan twice, Regina, and Alberta twice in their short Canada West history. Kudos for the Spartans for not backing down to anyone.For the first time, they defeated a team from the province of Alberta, they completed a four-point sweep, they won both games of the sweep in regulation, and they're on their very first two-game winning streak. No one is here to hand Trinity Western the Canada West championship banner, but I think it's fair to say that the second-year team from Langley has improved from last year's two-win squad.
Shorthanded
If you were surprised that Alberta lost both games to Trinity Western, you're not alone. However, there was something peculiar that should be noted for this weekend's games and it may go to explaining why Trinity Western was able to skate with the usually-strong Pandas.Among the notable Alberta players that were missing from the trip to Langley were Hayleigh Craig, Cassidy Maplethorpe, Abby Soyko, and Taylor Kezama while defender Taylor Catcher only dressed on Friday. It appears that Howie Draper dressed just one goaltender - Halle Oswald - as both Ellie Boyko and Misty Rey were not in the lineups on Saturday despite Boyko dressing on Friday. There were no reasons given for the absences by these players, but one has to wonder if the Pandas' dressing room was hit with illness of some kind. Those skaters are big pieces of the Alberta offence, and one has to wonder if Oswald was 100% as well if there some sort of bug running through the team.
I'm not here to make excuses for the Pandas as they still iced a solid team, but dressing just five defenders and one goalie on Saturday is very un-Howie Draper-like in his approach to games. We'll keep an eye on the Pandas' roster when they host Saskatchewan next weekend, but one hopes this isn't another outbreak of COVID-19 that the Pandas are facing.
What Exactly Do You Do?
I'm not here to rip on the work done by athletics departments across Canada West, but how hard would you think it is to prepare highlight reels for each and every home game those teams play? Canadian universities always lament the fact that no one pays attention to their sports teams, yet Canada West teams make it nearly impossible for me to highlight and show everyone how good these athletes are simply because the athletics departments in western Canada are either too lazy or uninterested in making highlight packages.I'll give full credit to Alberta and Calgary for making highlight reels - they're consistent. Trinity Western gets half the credit because they only show their own highlights in their packages. The other six schools apparently don't care about elevating the profiles of their student-athletes by showing off how good they are at their chosen sport; in this case, women's hockey.
The last time I checked my pay statement for the work I do here in promoting your schools and athletes, it showed "he doesn't get paid". I'm not spending my time cutting game film to make highlight reels when that's what Canada West has mandated. Maybe they changed that rule for this year, but that seems awfully stupid on their part if they did, so I doubt they'd make that change.
The too long-didn't read in this part? Get off your keisters, Canada West athletic departments, and make highlight reels that people can watch. You're only doing your program and your student-athletes a disservice if you don't.
Death By Bye Week
For those keeping track at home, teams who were on a bye week are now 0-4 in returning to action. The Fluffy Cows lost both to UBC following a Week One bye, and Regina lost both to the Fluffy Cows this week following a Week Two bye. MacEwan was on the bye week this week, and they have a home-and-home with first-place Mount Royal next week. I'm not here to jinx anyone, but that bye week stat could be oh-and-six if MacEwan isn't ready for the Cougars.And just to have a little more fun? MacEwan hosts UBC in Week Five after the Thunderbirds take a week off.
Alumna Update
Before we get out of here, we always need a little good news to end the week on, so let's visit Saskatoon where there's a new chapter in a hockey career that's about to be written! This story actually broke in Sweden on Wednesday, but I respected the wishes of the Saskatchewan Huskies who asked that it not be reported until they could publish a story.
"Last season I finished my college career, but I knew at the same time that I didn't want to stop competing," Bourassa told Jon Häggqvist of MoDo. "I have been training with my previous team every week and now I am very happy to be able to continue professionally with MoDo Hockey. I am very much looking forward to making the trip to Örnsköldsvik and getting to know the team and staff all around."
With players like Bourassa, Magwood, Anna Purschke, Hannah Clayton-Carroll, and Lindsey Post skating in the SDHL, Canada West is well-represented in the Swedish women's league! My advice? Tune in for a game and see these amazing women play professional hockey!
The Last Word
I'm not saying we should read into special teams too much early into the season, but MacEwan might want to start working on those aspects of their game. MacEwan is the only team without a power-play goal this season, and they sit tied for last with the Fluffy Cows in penalty-killing efficiency at 75.0%, having allowed six power-play goals on 24 shorthanded situations. If the Griffins want any shot at making the playoffs this season, they better improve both of those numbers in a hurry.Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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