The two teams started off slowly as they shook off the rust, but it was UBC who found the early opportunities. While they weren't converted, Manitoba would be rewarded just before the midway point of the period when Aimee Patrick found Molly Kunnas with a good pass for a breakaway, and Kunnas went shelf over Hugens at 9:34 for her second goal of the season as Manitoba took the 1-0 lead. That lead wouldn't last long, though, as Sophie Gaskell's blast from the point got through Relf to lie behind her and Mackenzie McCallum gave the puck the push it needed to count as McCallum's seventh goal made it a 1-1 game at 14:55. That score would hold through to the horn with UBC holding a 14-2 edge in shots.
You had to know that giving a team like UBC that many chances would eventually come back to bite you hard, right? The second period was when that happened as Annalise Wong scored her second goal of the season from the slot on the power-play at 7:21 to put UBC up 2-1. 3:13 after that, Joelle Fiala deflected Jaylyn Morris's shot past Relf to make it 3-1 on her fourth goal of the season. 5:36 after Fiala's goal was on the board, Grace Elliott redirected a pass from Wong past Relf for her eighth goal at 16:10, and Sophia Gaskell would tee up a rocket from the blue line for her sixth goal goal just 19 seconds after Elliott's marker. That would end Relf's night as Kimmie Davidson replaced her in the Manitoba net, but the damage had been done as the period would down with UBC leading 5-1 and holding a 32-11 margin in shots.
The third period was quiet as UBC still carried the play, but they didn't press as often. No goals were scored in the final frame, and the scoreboard showed that 5-1 score when the final horn sounded. Elise Hugens picked up her tenth win with a 13-save effort while Meagan Relf was tagged with the loss after stopping 24 shots in 36:29 of play. For the statistical records, Kimmie Davidson was a perfect 12-for-12 in shots stopped in her 23:31 of play.
UBC doesn't do highlights, and my 2024 attitude is I'm not going to post funny stuff when people suck at their jobs. In saying that, here's the new theme for those who don't post highlights.
SATURDAY: UBC was literally one point from clinching a playoff spot after their win on Friday, so they had a clear goal entering the game. Of course, sweeping the Bisons in the season series doesn't hurt either, but the Bisons were determined not to let that happen. Kimmie Davidson got the nod for the Bisons in this one while Reese Hiddleston occupied the UBC net!
Just as they did on Friday, UBC owned the first period when it came to chances. The difference, though, was that they made good on those chances early. Karine Sandilands put the Thunderbirds up a goal with her second marker of the season at 3:01, and that lead would be 2-0 just 70 seconds later when Jacquelyn Fleming potted a backhander in front of the net on the power-play for her third goal of the season. That second goal seemed to snap the Bisons out of their early slumber, though, as they pushed back in looking to cut the deficit in which they found themselves. A couple of key saves from Hiddleston kept the two-goal lead intact as the horn sounded, and the T-Birds took their lead and a 14-5 edge in shots to the room.
UBC ran into some penalty problems early in the second period, and that gave Manitoba the break they needed. With a two-player advantage, Ashley Keller found room past Hiddleston for her fifth goal, cutting the lead in half to 2-1 at the 3:45 mark. Manitoba continued to pressure the Thunderbirds through the period while limiting UBC's looks, but that would be as close as the Bisons would get in this frame as the 2-1 score in favour of UBC carried into the second break with UBC holding a 22-12 lead in shots.
UBC would find their footing again in the third period as they turned up the pressure once more. That would result in Joelle Fiala scoring her fifth goal at 10:50, and UBC was back in front with a two-goal lead again. Manitoba wouldn't go quietly into the night, though, as Sadie Keller scored her first Canada West goal after tipping a Brenna Nicol shot at 14:47, making it a 3-2 game. The final five minutes saw a flurry of activity in the UBC zone as Manitoba pulled their goalie, but the Thunderbirds would survive the pressure to lock down the 3-2 victory! Reese Hiddleston made 18 stops for her second win of the season while Kimmie Davidson made 32 saves in the setback.
Again, I'm done with Canada West schools showing zero respect to their athletes by not even doing the bare minimum, so expect to see a lot of the following message today and moving forward until people start doing their jobs. Make highlights reels and it will end!
The Pandas weren't willing to sit back and ease into the weekend, but the Spartans got their opportunities through the first period as well. It would take virtually the entire period to find a goal or two, but we'd see Maia Ehmann break the stalemate at 17:51 with her third goal of the season to make it 1-0 for Alberta. The score would double literally before the horn as Abby Soyko found the back of the net at 19:59 for her fourth goal, and the Pandas went into the break leading 2-0 and holding a 14-8 edge in shots.
Early in the second period, the shutout streak held by Alberta finally came to an end (more on this below) when Jace Scott teed up a puck that found its way through traffic in front of Oswald and dented twine for her second goal at 4:17, and the Spartans cut the lead to 2-1. Both teams were looking for more as the period wore on, but both defences and netminders did their part until late in the period. Madison Willan beat Fawcett for her fourth goal at 18:49, and we were back to an Alberta two-goal lead. That's how the period would finish with Alberta up 23-15 in shots.
A fairly-even third period wa splayed between these two teams, but opportunities were still found. Alberta could not solve Fawcett for a fourth time, but the Spartans would get one back. Kyra McDonald finished off a 3-on-1 midway through the period with her third goal at 11:39, and the Alberta lead was cut to 3-2. That would be as close the Spartans would come in this game, though, as the Alberta Pandas stood tall at the final horn with a 3-2 win over Trinity Western! Halle Oswald made 22 stops to secure her ninth win of the season while Kate Fawcett made 29 saves in the loss.
Trinity Western, as we've seen, only makes highlight reels for their own players so I'll post that, but it doesn't mean they're off the hook when it comes to doing their jobs. Get yourself together, Trinity Western, and make proper highlight reels with both teams!
SATURDAY: With a win on Saturday combined with a Manitoba loss, Alberta could mathematically clinch a playoff spot as well. With the shutout streak over, the Pandas only had to focus on winning now, but the Spartans weren't about to roll over and let the Pandas head home with four points without a fight. Halle Oswald was back in the blue paint for the Pandas while Mabel Maltais got the nod for TWU.
The two teams came out ready for battle as they played some tight-checking hockey. The only puck that found any success when sent towards a net was when Natalie Kieser beat Maltais at 8:45 for her eighth goal of the season, and Alberta grabbed the 1-0 lead. The struggle between these two teams continued after the Alberta goal, and neither side would light a lamp through to the end of the period. After 20 minutes, Alberta led 1-0 with Trinity Western holding an 8-7 lead in shots.
The second period saw a pile of goals scored in the opening half of the frame. Cassidy Maplethorpe notched her fifth goal when she beat Maltais at 4:52 to put Alberta up 2-0, and Madison Willan would make it a 3-0 game at 6:53 when she potted her fifth goal of the campaign. Trinity Western would get one of those back when Mackenzie Mayo's shot found its way through traffic and under the bar for her first goal of the season at the 10:00 mark, and we had a 3-1 game on our hands. Alberta looked for more in the latter half of the period, but Maltais was solid in defending her net. Oswald was her usual steady self as the Spartans pushed back, and we'd hit the second intermission with Alberta up 3-1 and holding a 16-15 edge in shots.
In the third period, it seems that Payton Laumbach played the role of mortician for the Pandas as she scored her fourth goal at 1:48 of the frame before capping off the scoring with an empty-netter at 18:19 for her fifth goal of the season as she drove the nails in the coffin in this game. Alberta captured victory with a 5-1 win over the Trinity Western Spartans! Halle Oswald picked up her tenth win by stopping 20 shots while Mabel Maltais stopped 27 pucks in the setback.
Enjoy your one-goal highlight reel, folks. Seriously, what's the point of this? Why make the effort only to show one side of the story?
It didn't take long for the Griffins to get their second half started as Letta Mattheos scooped up a turnover and turned it into a goal as she beat Durante just 2:40 into the game for her first career Canada West goal, putting MacEwan up 1-0! Calgary would respond a few minutes later when Elizabeth Lang dented twine behind Johnson for her seventh goal of the season, and the game was tied 1-1 at the 4:40 mark. Calgary continued to pepper the MacEwan net with shots, but the Griffins would hit the target just past the midway point of the period when Claire Hobbs notched her first of the season at 13:14 to put MacEwan up 2-1! That's how the first period would end as the Griffins held the led on the scoreboard, but the Dinos held the lead on the shot counter by a 12-6 count.
MacEwan struck early in the second period once again as Mila Verbicky's second goal of the season was an end-to-end rush that she capped up with a tally at 3:48 to make it 3-1 for MacEwan. Calgary, though, continued to pour shots on the MacEwan net, so it was only a matter of time before one reached twine. Late in the frame, Sydney Mercier zipped a puck past Johnson from the slot for her sixth goal at 16:34, and we were back to a one-goal game. At the end of two periods, MacEwan held the 3-2 lead, but Calgary was carrying the offence with a 26-12 advantage in shots.
Calgary needed a goal in the final frame if they were to pick up points, but the Griffins played a little more stout as blocked shots and defence were emphasized. However, Courtney Kollman wouldn't be denied midway through the frame as she buried her sixth goal while wide open in the slot at 9:40, and this game was tied up at 3-3! The teams would battle through to the horn, and we'd get some free hockey to begin 2024 with the game tied at 3-3 and Calgary leading 35-17 in shots!
Overtime didn't last long thanks to Caitlyn Perlinger as she rushed the puck down the ice down the left side, cut to the middle into the high slot, and unleashed a wrister that beat Johnson high for her second goal just 67 seconds into extra time, and the Calgary Dinos prevailed over the MacEwan Griffins in overtime by a 4-3 score! Gabriella Durante picked up her sixth win in a 14-save performance while Lindsey Johnson made 33 stops in the overtime defeat.
Since MacEwan can't be bothered to put up highlights of anything women's hockey in over a decade, we already know they suck at their job. Instead, here's how Perlinger's goal looked on the Canada West call. See MacEwan? Not hard to do with the tiniest bit of effort.
Calgary continued to bring the heat offensively in this game as most of the opeing period was played in the Griffins' zone. That would help the Dinos as they would break the goose egg midway through the period when Brooke Dennett backhanded a Jada Johns' rebound past Sank for her second goal of the season, and the Dinos led 1-0 at 11:23. A late power-play would help Calgary double the lead as Sydney Mercier spotted Courtney Kollman on the backdoor from the right circle, and Kollman finished off the pass with her seventh goal at 18:41 as the power-play marker made it 2-0 for the Dinos. The period would end with the two-goal lead on the Dinos' side of the scoreboard, and they also held a 17-5 lead in shots.
Calgary continued to push the pace in the second period while MacEwan tried to convert on the changes they had. Neither side was feeling particularly generous, but Calgary would find another goal later in the frame. Brooklin Fry sent the original shot towards the net that took a couple of bounces, but she followed her shot and potted the rebound for her fourth goal of the season, and Calgary owned a 3-0 lead at 14:23. That's the score that we'd see at the second break as the Dinos held a three-goal advantage and a 29-12 shot margin.
A couple of early power-plays handed to MacEwan in third period were killed by the Dinos, and that might have ended any chance of a comeback. It certainly didn't help when Courtney Kollman zipped home her second power-play goal from the right faceoff dot for her eighth goal of the season at 15:42, but it was enough for Calgary to take four points on the weekend from the Griffins with the 4-0 win! Gabriella Durante earned her seventh win and first shutout by stopping all 22 shots she faced while Brianna Sank was on the wrong side of a 31-save night.
Calgary has consistently produced highlight reels of every game played at home, and that tradition continues into 2024. At this point, they're the only school of the nine in Canada West who gets a passing grade when it comes to marketing its student-athletes. They are the example that every other school should want to be. Well done, Dinos!
It was the visitors who got a jump in this one, but that early push by the Cougars was denied by the Huskies' defence and some solid netminding from Drever. The Huskies began to figure out this hockey stuff following an unsuccessful power-play, and Kara Kondrat's drive to the net would be finished off by Mallory Dyer's sixth goal when she potted the rebound at 16:02 for the 1-0 lead. They'd double the lead 73 seconds later when Jacquelyne Chief hammered a shot under the bar on Kliewer for her second of the season, and the Huskies led 2-0 after 20 minutes despite being outshot 12-8 by Regina.
The second period saw Regina carry the play once more, but Drever was on her game as she made a handful of key saves in the frame. Regina had a couple of power-plays that saw no goals scored, Kliewer made an outstanding save on Brown on a breakaway, and the Huskies defended well enough to hit the second intermission with that 2-0 lead intact even though Regina had a 28-18 edge in shots.
The third period felt a lot more like Huskies-style hockey as they closed down the Cougars on everty rush and made getting pucks to the net very difficult. One of the pucks that did get through was a late breakaway for Paige Hubbard, but Camryn Drever stared her down and made the save to keep the Cougars off the board. That may have sparked the Huskies a little because Kara Kondrat hit the empty net with 1:45 to play for her fourth goal of the season, sending the Saskatchewan Huskies to the 3-0 win over the Regina Cougars! Camryn Drever won her tenth game with her fourth clean sheet this season as she stopped all 30 shots sent her way while Arden Kliewer made 21 stops in the setback.
Saskatchewan has some of the best players in the conference and nation playing for them, yet they continually refuse to make highlight reels despite cutting up all the game film for Twitter and Instagram highlights. Is it really that hard to put them together and upload them to YouTube? Hint: it's not. So get it together and do it.
Both teams came out of their respective tunnels ready to roll as defence was on display in the first period. The few good chances at either end of the ice were negated by defence and goaltending, and the power-play awarded to Regina resulted in nothing on the scoreboard. A late penalty to the Cougars would carry over into the second period, but the horn sounded on a goalless first period as these teams went to the rooms tied at 0-0 with Regina holding a 7-6 edge in shots.
Regina would kill off the penalty that bled into the middle frame, and they'd kill off two more penalties as well as the Huskies simply couldn't find the time nor space to get one past Kliewer. The Huskies certainly had their looks, but Regina survived the bend-don't-break defence they were employing as the second period closed with the teams still knotted up at 0-0 while Saskatchewan held a 20-13 count in shots.
Another early power-play for the Huskies in the third period would finally catch up to the Cougars as Sophie Lalor buried her eighth goal while on the advantage, and the Huskies took the 1-0 lead at 3:47. 1:23 after that goal, Kennedy Brown potted her second goal of the season to push the score to 2-0 as the Huskies looked like they may salt this one away. However, seconds after a Saskatchewan penalty expired, Olivia Leggett fired the puck home for her second goal to bring the Cougars back within one at 12:06, and grips tightened on sticks once again. Time ticked down, though, and the Huskies played solid defence to help Wilson close this game out as the Huskies downed the Cougars by a 2-1 score! Wilson picked up her second win of the season on a 17-save night while Kliewer was on the wrong end of a 26-save performance.
Normally, there aren't games on Sundays, so I'll grant Regina a little leniency on this one being that it's Sunday and they were playing in a rink they normally don't call home. Considering these factors, I'm not normally one to skip highlights and...
| School | Record | Points | GF | GA | Streak | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UBC | 15-1-1-3 | 35 | 81 | 26 | W5 | @ MAC |
| Alberta | 14-2-2-2 | 34 | 59 | 18 | W8 | vs CAL |
| Mount Royal | 9-4-5-0 | 28 | 54 | 34 | W1 | @ MAN |
| Saskatchewan | 11-4-1-2 | 26 | 44 | 29 | W2 | vs TWU |
| Calgary | 6-11-2-1 | 17 | 50 | 59 | W4 | @ ALB |
| Trinity Western | 6-11-0-1 | 13 | 40 | 53 | L6 | @ SAS |
| Manitoba | 6-11-0-1 | 13 | 35 | 62 | L4 | vs MRU |
| Regina | 4-13-1-2 | 12 | 31 | 65 | L5 | BYE |
| MacEwan | 2-16-1-1 | 7 | 30 | 78 | L4 | vs UBC |
He Said It - Part II
"We made some adjustments with our game play, and I thought they responded well to it overall. We asked them to buy into blocking shots and we had a ton of blocked shots tonight. I think we did a lot of good things; they just capitalized on their scoring chances and doubled us up in shots. But the goals we got, I thought we created some scoring chances and offensive opportunities for ourselves, which we've been working on."That's the kind of message that players need to hear, and I'll credit MacEwan Griffins head coach Chris Leeming for his comments following the 4-3 overtime loss because those are words on which he can build and repair the relationships with his players. I had called him out in Week 10 for his comments that raised a lot of eyebrows, but Leeming's words this weekend can help mend fences as long as he continues to instill confidence in his team, even when things don't turn out how they want.
Before anyone tries to credit me for calling him out, I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to Leeming that he realized the error of his ways prior to or during the break. Admitting one was wrong isn't weakness, but a strength, and good leadership means finding positives when things don't go right to facilitate learning and building on strengths. That's good coaching in a nutshell!
A Long Time
The one guarantee with all streaks is that they will come to an end, and we saw the Alberta Pandas' shutout streak come to an end at the hands of the Trinity Western Spartans this weekend. The last goal they officially surrendered before this weekend was at 17:59 of the third period on November 11, 2023 before going zeroes for the next six games. In total, they went an incredible 391 minutes and 18 seconds without surrendering a goal in regulation play, and 384:17 since losing to Mount Royal on November 11 in the shootout!I'd love to tell you where that ranks in the Canada West history books because it certainly would be among some of the best shutout streaks in conference history, but Canada West never restored their page featuring their historical records after they redesigned their site. Once again, I feel like the people who are supposed to care about promoting the players and the game are doing the least in that regard. Because of this, allow me to drop some info on Canada West.
Alumni Points
You may have missed the post from Friday where I spent some time highlighting the efforts by players not playing in the PWHL who are former U SPORTS players. Frankly, there are a lot of players who have spent time in Canada West who are playing across Europe right now, and eight of the nine schools in Canada West are represented. The one that isn't? The Saskatchewan Huskies, but they have Kaitlin Willoughby on the PWHL Toronto roster so no complaints there.In any case, take a peek at the great things that a pile of alumni are doing by clicking the above link and be prepared to be wowed by the volume of players that U SPORTS can boast playing professionally while being bewildered why no one at the schools, no one at the conferences, and no one at U SPORTS ever mentions these alumni. I'm not wasting a GIF on U SPORTS - you already know my feelings.
The Last Word
Some of you may believe that my usage of the GIFs above may be a little harsh when it comes to the athletics departments of the schools, but I'll contest that opinion each and every time it's brought up because there's a professional hockey league that will be drafting players again this summer and we have a university league in U SPORTS that has at least a dozen players who should be getting a call at the draft. Of those dozen players, at least a few will hopefully be from Canada West as I believe there are players who could make an immediate impact with how they play the game.If you're a regular reader of The Rundown, you likely know these names as they come up often - Kordic, Bergesen, Kollman, MacKinnon, Brown, Oswald, Lalor - but if you asked anyone at the Canadian-based PWHL games, it's very likely no one will have heard of these players. Granted, a lot of them may not have heard of the NCAA's graduating players either, but names like Britta Curl, Danielle Serdachny, Julia Gosling, and Sarah Fillier are likely a little more well-known thanks to their appearances with their respective national teams.
The women's hockey landscape changed dramatically on January 1, and it seems that U SPORTS' response to that change was "meh, no big deal" based on how much marketing their doing for the players who chose to attend a Canadian university. Being one of the lone platforms on the internet to talk about Canadian university women's hockey means I'm trying to amplify these names, but none of U SPORTS, Canada West, nor any of the schools seem equipped or want to spend marketing dollars on trying to boost these women's profiles so PWHL general managers takes notice.
I don't know what else I can do to try and give these women a bigger stage, so I'm open to ideas because I truly want to see more U SPORTS players ascending to the top professional women's league on the planet. I feel it will take a coordinated effort from all levels within U SPORTS to make any sort of difference, but I'm open to any ideas you may have. Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email if you have an idea because we should see a few U SPORTS players being drafted in the summer of 2024.
If that doesn't happen, what exactly is the purpose of U SPORTS as an organization if it's not helping these young women achieve their dreams of playing professional hockey?
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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