The Rundown - Quarterfinals

Four teams take the ice this weekend in Canada West women's hockey as the playoffs get underway. Not joining the fun are the Saskatchewan's Cougars, the Griffins, and the Fluffy Cows who failed to make the cut while both the Thunderbirds and Pandas earned a week off by finishing atop the standings. That left the Spartans, Alberta's Cougars, the Huskies, and the Dinos to sort out who would be travelling to Vancouver and Edmonton next week. These four teams needed to be in win-now mode as they kicked off the Canada West playoffs this weekend, so let's find who is moving on and who is going home on this week's edition of The Rundown!

Here's a quick reminder of the playoff setup in terms of matchups.

Normally, I'd mention how we were off to so-and-so city for the first set of recaps, but both of these series were played in Calgary so off to Calgary we go for The Rundown as the Canada West playoffs start!

The fifth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies made the trek to Calgary to battle the fourth-seeded Calgary Dinos in one of two quarterfinal series in Canada West. Both teams were 0-0-2-2 this season against one another, and both teams had won one overtime game in Calgary. I'm not saying home-ice advantage doesn't matter, but it may not be a factor in this series. Calgary boasted the conference's best goal scorer in Alli Borrow, but the Huskies gave up the fewest goals all season long. Those elements would certainly factor in as Camryn Drever was in net for the Huskies while Gabriella Durante stood between the pipes for the Dinos!

The Huskies got things going early in this one as Kara Kondrat came in on the right side with a shot that was turned away by Durante. The puck landed on the stick of Sara Kendall who threw it cross-crease, and Kondrat, who had circled the net, received the pass and wired a high shot inside the post past Durante's blocker at 3:56 to put the Huskies up 1-0! Calgary would even things up midway through the opening frame courtesy the power-play when Alli Borrow spotted Rebecca Clarke in the slot who had defenders switching on their checks, and that allowed Clarke to zip a shot blocker-side past Drever to make it 1-1! Defence wins championships?

Just 32 seconds after the Calgary power-play goal, Emily Holmes wound up behind her net and went end-to-end before firing a high wrist shot on the blocker-side of Durante that found the back of the net to put Saskatchewan back in front at 2-1. 2:09 after that, the Huskies' power-play went to work as Sophie Lalor's pass from the top of the left circle deflected off a body in front and found twine, and the Huskies led 3-1 at 13:42. That score would hold into the break as these two teams threw caution to the wind in the opening frame with Saskatchewan up by a pair of goals and leading 9-8 in shots.

An early bench minor on Saskatchewan in the second period saw Calgary miss an opportunity, but they'd make up for it just before the midway point of the period. Alli Borrow won a puck battle behind the Huskies' net before spinning and passing the puck out front, and that move may have caught Drever looking the wrong way as Rebecca Clarke corralled the pass and sniped her second goal of the game at 9:45 to cut the Huskies' lead to 3-2!

The Huskies would answer back a few minutes later, though, when Jasper Desmarais' centering pass got all the way back to the point to Emily Holmes, and Holmes' wrist shot found its way through traffic high on the blocker side as Saskatchewan went back up by a pair of goals at 14:17! In a period where Calgary certainly carried the play, they didn't get the results they wanted as Saskatchewan led 4-2 depite trailing 20-12 in shots at the second break.

The third period was all about protecting the lead for the Huskies, and they nearly ran into trouble as they gave the Dinos a couple of power-plays in the period. The good news is that the Huskies' penalty-killing units were up to the task in the final frame. With 3:43 to go in the game, Calgary pulled Durante, but the threat would be erased when Isabella Pozzi hit the vacated net with a shot at 17:07. The Huskies would prevent any further damage in the final three minutes as they skated to the Game One victory over the Dinos by a 5-2 score! Camryn Drever stopped 26 shots for the win while Gabriella Durante made 15 stops in the setback.

With the victory, Saskatchewan holds a 1-0 series lead over Calgary.

Highlights of this game are below! Thank you, Dinos!

Calgary entered Saturday night's game with their collective backs against the wall. They knew there were some elements to their game that would have to be better, so they looked to tighten things up against the Huskies. The Huskies knew the importance of closing out a series after their run last season, so I expected a better effort from them as well. Before the game started, it was announced that Alli Borrow, Calgary's top point producer, was going to miss this game, so it became that much more important that Calgary got off to a good start. As they were one night before, Camryn Drever was in Saskatchewan's blue paint while Gabriella Durante was looking to bounce back in the Dinos' net.

The Dinos were on the same wavelength as I because they got things started early. Sydney Mercier threw a backhanded pass into the middle of the ice from the right half-boards where Brette Kerley grabbed the pass, went to the net on her backhand, and slid a low shot past Drever at 2:49 to put the Dinos up 1-0!

The Huskies killed off a penalty a few minutes later, and they started to get their game going. They'd be rewarded for their efforts at 10:49 when Sara Kendall broke into the Dinos zone one-on-one and ripped a wrister past Durante on the blocker side to make it 1-1! The Huskies kept coming through the second-half of the period, and they'd grab a lead late when Kendra Zuchotzki's shot pinballed its way to the back of the net at 17:35! The Huskies would hold that 2-1 lead into the break as they were up 10-6 in shots.

The second saw five minor penalties handed out to both teams, but only one would factor into the scoring. Calgary would kill off a pair of penalties early before Saskatchewan killed off one of their own, but the third Calgary penalty saw the red lamp lit. Isabella Pozzi's high shot to the glove side eluded the bodies in front of a screen Durante, and the Huskies owned a 3-1 lead at the 12:55 mark. A late power-play for the Dinos did nothing to change the score, so the 3-1 lead held into the second intermission with the teams tied at 15 shots.

Obviously, there was 20 minutes left in Calgary's season unless they found a way to score goals, but Saskatchewan wasn't making it easy. An early Calgary power-play might be one of those opportunities the Dinos will regret, but the Huskies survived the penalty with the two-goal lead intact. The Dinos continued to press, but they could not solve Drever. Durante would head to the bench with 3:42 to play, and the Dinos would finally be rewarded when Keagan Goulet spotted Rebecca Clarke on the backdoor who redirected the pass past Drever with 2:08 to play to make it 3-2!

After the reset, the Dinos would pull Durante for the final 56 seconds of the game, but it was not to be on this night as the Huskies emerged victorious with a 3-2 win! Camryn Drever picked up her second win with a 26-save night while Gabriella Durante will finish her season with a 15-save effort.

With the victory, Saskatchewan eliminates Calgary to advance to the semifinal. They'll know their semifinal opponent based on the results from the other quarterfinal series.

The final set of highlights from the Calgary Dinos are below!

The sixth-seeded Trinity Western Spartans were making their Canada West playoff debut against the third-seeded Mount Royal Cougars in the other Canada West quarterfinal series. Mount Royal held the regular season edge as they were 3-0-1-0 against the Spartans, but 2-0-0 at home where they had outscored the Spartans 8-5 in those games. Perhaps this series would be closer than it seemed on the surface based on those goal-scoring numbers. Trinity Western boasted one of the best goal scorers in Canada West in Amy Potomak, but Mount Royal boasted the top-scoring line in the conference with Amy-Kollman-Jomha. It seemed like we could be in for a lot of goals in this series as Kate Fawcett got the call for Trinity Western's first-ever Canada West playoff game while Kaitlyn Ross guarded the Cougars' cage.

Trinity Western, Canada West's second-most penalized team this season, decided they were going to continue to play with fire in this game as they were called for four penalties resulting in three power-plays for Mount Royal in the opening frame. The good news is that the Spartans' penalty-killers were up to the challenge as they killed off all three power-play opportunities. It didn't result in any major momentum shifts, but the Spartans and Cougars went to the first break tied at 0-0 with Mount Royal holding a 13-5 advantage in shots.

The parade to the penalty box continued in the second period as the Spartans picked up two more penalties while Mount Royal was whistled for one. Neither team could dent twine on the power-play, but we would see a goal with less than five minutes to go in the period. Athena Hauck carried the puck in on the right side before making a great move to get by Chelsea Debusschere, and she finished off the play by going under Fawcett's glove as the goalie slide across the crease to give the Cougars the 1-0 lead at 16:06! Despite Mount Royal giving up one more power-play while Trinity Western gave up an extended power-play, that 1-0 lead would carry into the third period with Mount Royal holding a 26-16 edge in shots.

The third period saw the penalties slow as the Spartans were the only team to commit an infraction. Mount Royal couldn't capitalize again - they'd finish oh-for-8 in this game - but the score still favoured them. Time became the enemy of the Spartans as the period wound down, and Fawcett would head to the bench with 1:31 to play. Despite the extra attacker, Trinity Western couldn't find any cracks in the Mount Royal defence as the horn sounded on the 1-0 Mount Royal victory! Kaitlyn Ross stopped 21 shots for her first win and shutout of the playoffs while Kate Fawcett likely deserved a better fate after stopping 32 shots in her playoff debut.

With the victory, Mount Royal holds a 1-0 lead over Trinity Western in this best-of-three quarterfinal series.

Mount Royal produced a highlight reel! Here are the visuals!

Trinity Western entered Saturday's game with their backs against the wall and needing to record their first-ever Canada West playoff win if they hoped to send this series to a third game on Sunday. Mount Royal was looking to close this series out and book their trip to Edmonton next week. Neither team was looking past this game, though, as there was work to do before the next steps could be taken. It would be the same netminders as the previous night with Kate Fawcett between the pipes for the Spartans while Kaitlyn Ross stood in the Cougars' blue paint.

The first period saw both teams break the rules and sit in the sin bin as Mount Royal was whistled for a penalty first before Trinity Western took two consecutive penalties. The power-play units for both sides were unable to dent twine on their opportunities, so it was a quiet frame on the goal-scoring front. What did stand out was the physical play on both sides with Kaitlyn Ross seemingly under siege all period with players driving the net. However, depite killing two penalties, Trinity Western held a 7-4 edge in shots through the opening twenty minutes with the score locked at 0-0.

The second period continued with the tough play, but the Cougars were the first to battle through it as they came out aggressively. Tatum Amy circled from the left face-off circle into the slot where she got a wrister away, but it was deflected in front by Aliya Jomha and past Fawcett at 4:49 to put the Cougars up 1-0! Trinity Western needed a bounce-back as they were under some serious pressure from Mount Royal, and they'd find it after killing a penalty as they went to the power-play twice with the second one counting on the scoreboard. Amy Potomak's blast from the point went high on Ross for the equalizer with 22 seconds to play in the frame, and Trinity Western's first-ever playoff goal tied this game up at 1-1 through 40 minutes with Mount Royal holding a 23-15 margin in shots.

The third period was fast, exciting, physical, and defensively sound as neither side was willing to give an inch when it came to winning this game. There were chances, but the netminders said no. Even when they were beaten, the iron came into play. A clean period of play saw no goals, no penalties, and no winner found as Game Two between the Spartans and Cougars was heading to overtime tied at 1-1 with Mount Royal holding a 26-21 lead in shots.

Trinity Western decided that overtime wasn't fun enough in the playoffs playing five-vs-five, so they opted to take two penalties within the first minute of the extra period to give Mount Royal a 5-on-3 power-play for 1:49. Between blocked shots, good pressure, and a couple of key clears, the Spartans withstood the Cougars' attack to keep overtime going. And it's probably a good thing they did because Kate Klassen would take a pass from Lainie Nichols at the Mount Royal blue line, escape the stick-checks of Ava Metzger, and pot the overtime game-winner on the backhand over Ross' right pad to give Trinity Western the 2-1 overtime victory at 3:25! Kate Fawcett stopped 29 shots for Trinity Western's first-ever playoff win while Kaitlyn Ross was on the losing end of a 21-save night.

With the victory, the Spartans and Cougars are tied at 1-1 and will require a Game Three in this best-of-three quarterfinal series.

Highlights of this historic Spartans win are below!

Sunday was win-or-go-home day. Do-or-die day. Win-and-you're-still-in day. Rhyming aside, the Spartans and Cougars met in Game Three of their best-of-three series. Both teams had scored twice in the series. Mount Royal was oh-for-13 on the power-play. Trinity Western had scored once in regulation. All of those stats, though, go out the window in a deciding game. Kate Fawcett was back in the Spartans' crease while Kaitlyn Ross stood in front of the Cougars' net.

If there's one thing that Trinity Western shouldn't do, it's tempt fate. Astoundingly, they came out in this game and put three more minor penalties on the board in the first period, but Mount Royal's struggles with the extra player continued. Chances were seen at both ends, but the goalies and defenders were quick to recover to limit second chances. When the horn sounded on the opening frame, the 0-0 score held, Mount Royal led 10-9 in shots, and the Cougars would start the second period with 1:15 of power-play time.

The foreshadowing I did in the previous paragraph should have been a clue that something was about to change. Athena Hauck one-timed a feed from Aliya Jomha from the left face-off dot, and she got enough of it to squeeze it between the post and Fawcett to put the Cougars up 1-0 on the power-play just 45 seconds into the period! Mount Royal took a penalty minutes later, but Trinity Western could not convert. The back-and-forth action continued through the frame, and a late Mount Royal ppwer-play was negated by a penalty of their own. At the end of forty minutes, the Cougars led 1-0 and held a 20-10 advantage in shots. Yes, the Spartans only managed one shot on net in that period despite having solid zone time.

Early in the the third period, Mount Royal decided to make things interesting as they were whistled for a four-minute double-minor penalty, and that was the opening that Trinity Western needed. Amy Potomak threw a low shot-pass towards the net that Kate Klassen redirected past Ross at 3:17 while on the power-play, and the game was tied at 1-1. Minutes later, the Cougars put on a clinic for drop passes as Jori Hansen-Young brought the puck across the line into Spartans territory before dropping a pass to Kaia Borbandy who skated into the slot before dropping a pass to Ava Metzger who wired a wrist shot past Fawcett at 6:54 to put the Cougars up 2-1!

Another penalty taken by Mount Royal was killed off as Trinity Western missed a glorious opportunity to pull even, and they'd pay for it minutes later while killing a penalty of their own when Breanne Trotter, at the side of the net, chipped the puck past the post and over Fawcett's pad on power-play at 14:16 to make it 3-1 for the Cougars. Mount Royal would take one final penalty with 1:20 to play, and the Spartans went to a 6-on-4 for the final minute. The Cougars, though, wouldn't falter as the final horn sounded on a 3-1 Mount Royal win over the Trinity Western Spartans! Kaitlyn Ross picked up her second win of the playoffs aftr stopping 17 shots while Kate Fawcett made 28 stops in her final game of the 2022-23 season.

With the victory, Mount Royal eliminates Trinity Western to advance to the semifinal. They'll move on to play the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton while the Saskatchewan Huskies, by virtue of this result, will head to Vancouver to tangle with the UBC Thunderbirds.

Highlights of the deciding game in this series are below!

The Bracket

With both Saskatchewan and Mount Royal advancing, we'll see a rematch of the Canada West Final from last season take place in Vancouver as the Huskies and Thunderbirds renew acquaintances. The Cougars will make the trek north to Edmonton to tangle with Pandas. It should be noted that the two teams that win either series will automatically qualify as the Canada West teams who will go to the U SPORTS National Championship in Montreal!

The times shown on the image above are the times shown on the UBC schedule, so I'd take them as being the official game times for each of the three games. Those times, of course, as in Pacific Time.

Alberta has yet to post times, but they'll need to coordinate with the men's team who are hosting UBC in that semifinal. That schedule will be released later this week.

The Numbers

It should be noted that the Huskies are heading to Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena where the T-Birds are 14-0 this season, and 19-0 including playoffs last season. Nothing will come easy for the Huskies, but they can take comfort in being one team that defeated the Thunderbirds this season. Back on October 14, they recorded a 3-2 win in Saskatoon, so there is some hope that Huskies fans can have in this series. After a week of rest and practice, though, the Thunderbirds might be more dangerous than ever.

In the other series, Alberta was 2-0 against Mount Royal on home ice this season, and 3-1 overall in the season series. The Cougars were two of the eleven-straight wins that the Pandas recorded this season, so the Pandas likely will be looking to tack another couple of losses on the Cougars' record. Where things might be troublesome for the Cougars is that they've never beaten the Pandas twice on the same weekend in their history, meaning that they're going to have to do it for the first time if they want to go to Nationals this season.

The Last Word

This likely won't be the last we hear from Calgary and Trinity Western over the next few seasons. Calgary has a solid foundation on which they're building, and Trinity Western gained a pile of experience this season after their run to the playoffs. Getting a taste of the playoffs is never enough, so I expect both teams to use this experience to prepare for next season.

Mount Royal found enough secondary scoring in their series to overcome a lack of scoring by their top line. That bodes well against the Pandas as everyone needs to be capitalizing on opportunities when it comes to beating Alberta. The Pandas, meanwhile, will need to come out ready for their battle with the Cougars. Alberta lost a pair of games to UBC in Week 8 following a bye week, and they split with the Fluffy Cows in the final week following their second bye. Going 1-3 after bye weeks isn't the best trend to have, so the Pandas will need to be ready to play next weekend.

Saskatchewan showed all sorts of scoring and defence in their games against Calgary, and they're still without Kennedy Brown who brings another bag of tricks with her. If she can return this week, that will help in their battle against UBC immensely. UBC posted a 4-0 record - including going 2-0 at home against Saskatchewan - following their bye weeks, so don't look for a trend there. Instead, the Thunderbirds need to keep their opponents off balance with their quick transitions and solid special teams. If the games slow down, that favours Saskatchewan and we saw that happen in their four losses prior to November 26 this season.

One weekend is in the books. Four teams remain. The action was incredible this week, and we'll do it all over again next weekend with Saskatchewan meeting UBC and Mount Royal visiting Alberta. Playoff hockey is the best hockey, and it starts again next Friday!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!