The Rundown - Semifinals

Eight teams would start the day, but only six teams would move on to Sunday to compete in the three final series at the 2024 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship. By the end of the day, we'd know who would be competing for the three different medals and for fifth-place while the bottom-two teams would see their tournaments end as there is no seventh-place game. In saying that, let's get into the action on Semifinal Saturday as the 2024 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship continues here on The Rundown!

The fifth-seeded StFX X-Women and the eighth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies met at 10am on Saturday morning as the first consolation semifinal went earlier than the usual game times at which these women play. Would that affect their play? Neither wanted to go home early, so they'd need to show up for this one! Camryn Drever was between the pipes for the Huskies while the X-Women went back to Amaya Giraudier for their puck-stopping needs.

StFX and Saskatchewan had never met prior to this game at a National Championship, and it seemed like both sides were looking for breakdowns as the first period was played. Neither side would find that needed space in the first period as both goalies were perfect in the opening 20 minutes, but both sides had chances.

A late penalty in that opening frame was the difference that the Huskies needed as Kelsey Hall punched a power-play goal home at 1:13 to put Saskatchewan up 1-0. It became 2-0 just 2:09 later when Sophie Lalor dented twine, and Brooklyn Stevely made it 3-0 on the power-play when she teed up a puck at the 6:06 mark. The Huskies were rolling in the middle frame and looked to take the three-goal cushion to the room, but Ashlyn Garnett wasn't happy about that so she made it 3-1 with 45 seconds to play, giving StFX some life as they looked to the third period.

The Huskies decided they were happy with the score as they locked down their defensive zone while seeking more chances, but neither side would find the back of the net in the final frame. As the final horn sounded, the Saskatchewan Huskies had defeated the StFX X-Women by that 3-1 score. Camryn Drever stopped 37 shots in the win while Amaya Giraudier made 18 saves as her season comes to a close.

Saskatchewan advances to the consolation final on Sunday while the StFX X-Women saw their tournament comes to an end.

CBC refuses to do highlights, so here's the full game once again.

The second-ranked UBC Thunderbirds likely never expected to be playing in the consolation semifinal, but the same could be said for the third-seeded UNB Reds. After both teams were upset on Friday, they met on Saturday midway through the day to determine who play one more game this season. Kendra Woodland got the start for the Reds while Elise Hugens was guarding the UBC net in this one.

This game was decidely in one team's favour, and the Canada West champions were firing on all cylinders as Joelle Fiala opened the scoring at the 13:06 mark of the first period to put UBC up 1-0. Chanreet Bassi would announce her arrival with a power-play goal at 2:14 and an even-strength goal at 11:30 in the second period to push this game to a 3-0 score. Sierra LaPlante would add a fourth UBC goal at 2:49 of the third period.

I'm not here to pile on UNB because they have certainly won their way to Nationals in three-straight seasons, but one has to wonder what goes through goaltender Kendra Woodland's head after a game like today. More on this below, but UBC defeated UNB by that 4-0 score in this game. Elise Hugens stopped 17 shots for the win and the shutout while Kendra Woodland made 40 stops in her final game of her university career.

UBC advances to the consolation final on Sunday while the UNB Reds saw their tournament comes to an end.

Again, no highlights, so here's the full game.

The top-seeded Concordia Stingers were looking to take one step closer to their ultimate goal of winning the Golden Path Trophy while the fourth-seeded Waterloo Warriors were looking to make a little more magic happen in their first visit to Nationals in program history. Obviously, there's no history between these two teams at the big dance, but I can say that Concordia is 10-2 against OUA teams so it seems like Concordia should be the favorite in all statistical measurements. Mikayla Schnarr was guarding the Waterloo net while Jordyn Verbeek was in the Concordia blue paint.

The Stingers got on the board first when Zoe Thibault found the back of the net at 5:15 to put Concordia up 1-0, and they'd take a 2-0 lead into the break when Courtney Rice dented twine with 1:48 to play in the frame. I know Waterloo is the new kid on the block in this tournament, but there were certainly times where you could see the polished play of a three-time Nationals finalist compared to how the Warriors looked, but credit to Schnarr for keeping Waterloo in this one when it seemed like it might get away.

The second period was much better for Waterloo as they seemed to find their confidence once again, but a couple of penalties allowed Concordia to flex their offensive muscles. The Warriors would deny them, though, and we'd head to the third period with that 2-0 score intact. Tatum James made things very interesting when she scored a power-play goal after a Concordia penalty carried over from the second period, and Waterloo was back in the game as they cut the deficit in half at 2-1.

That goal seemed to lift Waterloo as they looked for an equalizer, but it wasn't to be on this night as Jessymaude Drapeau netted a shorthanded goal with 1:20 to play as the Concordia Stingers shut down the Waterloo Warriors for the majority of the third period in defeating them 3-1. Jordyn Verbeek made 19 saves to send her team back to the gold-medal final while Mikayla Schnarr stopped 37 shots as Waterloo will play for the third-place honours.

The Concordia Stingers advance to the gold-medal final on Sunday while the Waterloo Warriors will move to the bronze-medal game.

CBC and highlights are like oil and water. Here's the full game between Concordia and Waterloo for your enjoyment.

With Hockey Night in Canada being an institution on Saturday nights in Canada, it's only fitting that we get a Montreal-Toronto game on this night. The sixth-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues met the seventh-seeded Montreal Carabins for the right to play in the big game, but there isn't much history between these two teams outside of a 2013 game where Montreal won 1-0. A chapter was to be written with Aube Racine in net for the Carabins while Erica Fryer took the crease for the Varsity Blues.

These two teams played with a solid pace early on, and Toronto would be the first to capitalize when Kalie Chan found room for a goal as Toronto went up 1-0 at 9:55. Both sides settled into their defensive structure after that as neither side gave up a lot of room despite chances being seen. We'd have to move to the latter stages of the third period before Montreal pulled Racine to add an attacker, and it would be a good move as Juliette Rolland scored with seconds remaining to tie the game at 1-1!

Overtime was needed, but it solved nothing. As you may know if you've followed these tournaments for a while, the berth in the final would be determined by a shootout which is pretty much the dumbest rule enforced by U SPORTS. Because of this rule, the teams organized themselves for the skills competition which saw Toronto shoot first. Five rounds of shooters would come up empty before Toronto's Ashley Delahey beat Racine over the glove, and that meant that Amélie Poiré-Lehoux had to score. She could not, and the Toronto Varsity Blues claimed the 2-1 shootout win over the Montreal Carabins to advance to the gold-medal final. Erica Fryer stopped 25 shots plus six more in the shootout for the victory while Aube Racine made 23 saves while stopping five of six in the shootout loss.

The Toronto Varsity Blues advance to the gold-medal final on Sunday while the Montreal Carabins go to the bronze-medal game.

Here's the full game including the shootout from CBC.

The Bracket

Here are Sunday's matchups and the stakes for each team.

The Rankings

I mentioned above about Kendra Woodland and her game today, but we really should take a closer look. After she wins a FISU gold medal, was named the 2023 U SPORTS Player of the Year, and has gone 36-13 in AUS play over the last three seasons in helping UNB get to Nationals three times, she arrives at Nationals where she and her UNB teammates are a combined 1-6 while being outscored 24-8 in those games. Her AUS numbers would put her among the best to have ever protected a net, but I'm not here to question how good of a player Kendra Woodland is because she clearly can win on the big stage as evidenced by her work at the FISU Universiade Games.

What I do question, though, is the stupidity of the national ranking system that U SPORTS employs each and every year when AUS teams that have appeared at Nationals since 1998 - UNB, Dalhousie, Moncton, UPEI, St. Thomas, Saint Mary's, and StFX - are a collective 24-81 against the rest of Canada. That's a .229 winning percentage at Nationals, yet U SPORTS expects me to believe that StFX was better than Toronto and Montreal this year?

To make matters even worse, would you believe that the AUS team with the best winning percentage hasn't played at a National Championship since 2015? The Moncton Aigles Bleues are the AUS team with the best record at Nationals, and they can't even get out of their conference any longer. Since 2015 when the field expanded to eight teams at Nationals, Saint Mary's is the AUS team with the best record, yet they haven't played on the big stage since 2018 when they finished in seventh-place.

Here's a thought: stop ranking the teams throughout the year unless you organize more interconference tournaments because the current format should never see an AUS team ranked in the weekly top-ten rankings ever again. The AUS champion has been upset in four of the last five completed tournaments, so putting them as a top-four team is virtually asking for an upset to occur just as it did this year. Either fix the system or stop ranking teams because it's very clear that the system is broken.

The Goal

There may be goals that win championships this season, but I'm not sure you'll ever see a goal as important as this one.
That's Brooklyn Stevely scoring on the power-play in her second game after returning to the Huskies' lineup following treatments for ovarian cancer. If that doesn't move the heart strings just a little to see Brooklyn score that goal after battling cancer and returning for Nationals, you may want to see a cardiac surgeon.

Forget game-winners because Stevely's goal was the biggest win this season in my books. I love this moment for Brooklyn and her teammates, and it might be my favorite moment from this year's tournament just because of how personal it is for her and knowing how much she loves the game. You can't keep a kid like her down, so congratulations, Brooklyn, and here's hoping you've beat cancer like the Huskies have beat so many teams over the years!

The People In Charge

All you'll hear on this one is a long sigh while I shake my head.

The Last Word

The same two teams who decided the very first National Championship in 1998 will decide this year's event in 2024. In that game, Concordia defeated Toronto 4-1, so we'll see which side prevails in this year's tournament. Clearly, the Stingers are on a mission to capture the Golden Path Trophy after losing in overtime last season to Mount Royal and being ranked as the top team for the majority of the year this year, but the Varsity Blues have shown themselves to be plucky while scoring timely goals. Tomorrow's final should be a good one.

The other two contests should be fun as well as a Canada West rivalry will heat up one last time in this 2023-24 season as UBC and Saskatchewan tangle while the bronze-medal contest will see Waterloo attempt to bring home its first-ever medal in women's hockey against a Montreal team that has two bronze-medal finishes since 2015.

Catch all the action tomorrow at Merlis Belsher Place or on CBC Sports' website as the final day of action for the 2023-24 season is played in Saskatoon!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!