The Rundown - It Starts Anew

With schools being closed until the following weekend when hockey will start back up and classes will resume on that Monday, my hope is that everyone had a happy holiday whether one celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any of the other celebrations that landed over the last week. Everyone will start with a new calendar on Wednesday, and that means that the slates are wiped clean when it comes to everything that happened in 2024. Yes, some of those events will affect how 2025 starts for some teams, but a number of teams already have recruits signed and are planning for the future.

What will 2025 hold for the nine Canada West teams and the rest of the U SPORTS field? Who will stand atop the mountain in Kitchener, Ontario and hoist the Golden Path Trophy? Who is making preparations for that opportunity in future years? Some of these questions can be answered, but others will need three more months of hockey to determine. What I can tell you is that I'm going to light some fires with this article. Let's jump into the final edition of The Rundown for 2024 as we get set for everything 2025 will bring.

As Seen On TSN

Before we get into looking forward, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention an incredible intermission piece shown on TSN during the second intermission of the Canada-Straubing game at the Spengler Cup on Saturday. As you're likely aware thanks to the effort I made last weekend, former Calgary Dinos forwards Elizabeth Lang and Courtney Kollman are ripping up the league with their scoring talents, and TSN sat down with them in Davos to talk to them about their experience playing there and how they got to Switzerland for hockey!
Seriously, how cool is that? Pete Buchanan is the person responsible for posting this as he had it on his Instagram feed, so full credit to him and TSN for that incredible video with Lang and Kollman!

If this isn't being used by the Calgary Dinos and the Mount Royal Cougars to recruit players, I'm not sure what those programs are doing. Lang leads the SWHL in scoring while Kollman sits in third-place, so it's pretty clear that there's exceptional talent coming out of those schools. Add in the fact that Kollman won a National Championship with Mount Royal and is now trying to help Davos win the SWHL, and both programs should be shouting as loudly as they can about how they prepared these two alumnae for bigger things.

For Elizabeth and Courtney, keep up the great work, ladies. I'm going to follow you every step of the way as you hunt down an SWHL championship, and it is truly an honour to have watched you play in Canada West. Keep up the great work! We're all cheering for you!

Western Schedules

There's always a look ahead at who will make the playoffs and who will miss, and the next few weeks could go a long way in determining those fates for teams. Some teams have little to worry about with them being far enough ahead, so they can continue building towards a solid playoff run. Others may have faded or are fading from the playoff races and can assume the roles of spoiler. In the end, who plays whom could matter a lot, so let's take a look at who each West Division team has on their schedules as we turn to 2025 and how it may affect the playoff races in that division.

UBC: Bye, at Mount Royal, home-and-home with Trinity Western, vs Regina, Bye, at Saskatchewan, vs Calgary.

MOUNT ROYAL: home-and-home with Calgary, vs UBC, home-and-home with MacEwan, Bye, home-and-home with Calgary, at Regina, vs Trinity Western.

TRINITY WESTERN: Bye, vs Manitoba, home-and-home with UBC, at Calgary, vs Alberta, Bye, at Mount Royal.

CALGARY: home-and-home with Mount Royal, home-and-home with Alberta, Bye, vs Trinity Western, home-and-home with Mount Royal, home-and-home with MacEwan, at UBC.

Calgary sits at the bottom of the division right now, trailing Trinity Western by four points with two games in-hand. The good news is they get MacEwan for a weekend, so they can likely close that gap if they can defeat the Griffins. The bad news is that every other game in the second-half of the season will be a playoff game as Trinity Western holds the tie-breakers over Calgary right now. Eight games out of twelve against the top-three teams in Canada West is a brutal second-half schedule.

It's no picnic for Trinity Western either as they have four playoff teams scheduled on their five weekends of play. That four-point gap that Trinity Western has over Calgary could be made larger in the series they play against each other, so that has to be a weekend both teams have circled on the calendar. Whoever wins that series could very well end up being the third-place team in the West Division.

Eastern Schedules

Just like it was stated above, teams will make the playoffs and a few will miss, and the next few weeks could go a long way in determining those fates. There are two teams in the East Division who will play the roles of spoiler, so this race may be for who gets home-ice advantage in the opening round. Again, who plays whom will matter, so let's take a look at who each East Division team has on their schedules and how it may affect the playoff races in that division.

ALBERTA: home-and-home with MacEwan, home-and-home with Calgary, at Regina, vs Saskatchewan, at Trinity Western, vs Manitoba, Bye.

REGINA: Bye, home-and-home with Saskatchewan, vs Alberta, at UBC, at Manitoba, vs Mount Royal, at MacEwan.

MANITOBA: Bye, at Trinity Western, vs Saskatchewan, at MacEwan, vs Regina, at Alberta, vs Saskatchewan.

SASKATCHEWAN: Bye, home-and-home with Regina, at Manitoba, at Alberta, vs MacEwan, vs UBC, at Manitoba.

MACEWAN: home-and-home with Alberta, Bye, home-and-home with Mount Royal, vs Manitoba, at Saskatchewan, home-and-home with Calgary, vs Regina.

Regina has the top-three teams on their twelve-game second-half schedule, but they also have the bottom two teams and a series against the Bisons. This is where Regina has to beat a couple of good teams to prove that they can make some noise in the playoffs. Winning against Manitoba in Winnipeg would also go a long way in helping them host a playoff series.

The Bisons arguably have a much better schedule with only Alberta as one of the more elite teams on their schedule. There are back-to-back series against Saskatchewan and MacEwan, and it should be noted that Manitoba has lost key games to both teams in the second halves of schedules in past years. Beating Trinity Western and then carrying that momentum through to the Regina series would be ideal if the Bisons want to host a playoff series this season.

A Scheduling Note

The games being played on February 1 and 2 will not see The Rundown posted until Monday as I have been booked from January 30 to February 2 for the Female World Sport School Classic. UMFM will partner with the St. Mary's Academy Flames once again to call games via the UMFM Second Stream and on the FWSSC website for the tournament for sixth year, I believe, and we're excited to be back!

Last year, we got to see Holly Magnus win a gold medal with the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers before she headed off to the University of Alberta to join the Pandas, and this tournament always has a ton of future university stars for schools on both sides of the border. The 2025 lineup has yet to be announced, but my hope is that there is good representation from a number of provinces.

We know Manitoba will have AAA and CSSHL teams, but perhaps we'll see a JWHL team or two as well. Alberta always sends good teams as does BC, Ontario's Thunder Bay Queens are annual participants, and we've even had a few US teams come for the event. In short, the talent is amazing and the hockey is great!

You may be asking how can you catch the action? LiveBarn carried all the action, but UMFM will air the radio broadcasts for free! More on this as we get closer, so keep your eyes on this blog for details!

The Last Word

Over the last month, I have been posting a lot of stuff on Twitter where former U SPORTS players have been honoured by teams and/or leagues, and I've been anxiously waiting to see if the schools those players attended did the same or even if the conferences or U SPORTS itself would make mention of those players and the honours they received. For the most part, that has not happened which makes me wonder what the purpose of U SPORTS and its members is if not to celebrate the athletes that keep them relevant.

I know Hockey Canada came out and said they need to do more to help U SPORTS be more than it currently is, but I struggle with having Hockey Canada involved if U SPORTS itself won't lift a finger to help itself be more than it is. U SPORTS and its members cry poor and claim that there isn't enough money, staffing, or resources available for it to do more, but these are easy wins being served up by leagues like the ECHL, the PWHL, the SWHL, and other leagues that U SPORTS seemingly ignores entirely. How is this possible?

I'm not a team. I'm one guy who admittedly watches a lot of hockey, but why is it that I can post more relevant Canada West and U SPORTS news on my blog and on social media than the Canada West and U SPORTS accounts? Yes, I'm aware that they have other sports to which they're responsible outside of hockey, but I'm not generating a ton of news. I'm simply pointing out things like former Montreal Carabins forward Alexandra Labelle getting a PWHL game puck for her effort or former Manitoba Bisons forward Brett Davis being named ECHL Player of the Week.

I joked in the past that Canada West should be renamed "Canada Waste" since they do little for athletes past or present, but it seems to be a systemic thing because U SPORTS is really starting to put the "U" in "useless". I'm not excluding the individual schools or programs from this observation either, but when the conferences and league don't seem to give a hoot, why would the member schools?

Maybe things can be better in 2025. I doubt it, but hope springs eternal, right? Alberta's four teams will kick off the second-half schedule next weekend, and The Rundown will be back for that fun. After that, we'll mix in some FISU chatter and that should take us into the Female World Sport School Challenge. In short, it's a busy January and The Rundown will work to cover as much as possible!

Happy New Year, folks! See you next year!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!