This is one of the big signs found at the Hershey chocolate and candy factory found in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I have nothing against Hershey whatsoever, and I happen to think they do a great job in being confectioners when it comes to their products. I'm sure there are some who feel differently, but that's neither here nor there when it comes to this article because this one is more about the hockey team that calls the city of Hershey home. Specifically, it's about their new jerseys.
Some of you may be aware that the hockey team known as the Hershey Bears was originally called the "B'ars" when they played as an amateur team. That name was a reference to Milton S. Hershey's chocolate bar who brought the team to Hershey in order to entertain factory workers during their non-work hours. The amateur B'ars would eventually become the Bears when they entered the American Hockey League in 1938. The name change happened, in part, due to "sports writers who said the B'ars was not an imposing nickname".
Name history aside, the Hershey Bears have never let go of their confectionary beginnings as they still wear brown as one of their primary colours to represent Hershey's chocolate. I'm never one to tell a team to abandon its history because that history has so many stories woven into it, but sometimes there are misses when trying to add new chapters to that history.
The Bears' new alternate jersey is one of those misses.
There's are reasons why Philadelphia isn't "Cheesesteak City", why Montreal isn't "Poutineville", and why Buffalo isn't "Wingburgh". While all of those cities are known for the respective foods I've attached to them, those cities are so much more than just those foods.
Hershey, though, is kind of like DisneyWorld where everything in the commercial center is themed around the chocolatier's business right down to the Hershey Kiss-shaped street lamps. The Bears are owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company, but the Giant Center where they play is owned by Derry Township Industrial and Commercial Development Authority. Unsurprisingly, the arena is managed by the Hershey Entertainment Group.
What I'm saying is that I get the reasons for the "Chocolatetown" jersey. What I don't get is why the Bears are forced to wear that stupid name across their chests on this new alternate jersey.
"But Teebz," I hear you saying, "what about 'Habs' and 'Leafs' and 'Wings'? Those are all nicknames."
They are, but they've never been worn as a primary name or logo on a jersey. It's why the Penguins don't wear "Pens" and the Avalanche don't wear "Avs". Yes, those names are used in conversation and in informal situations, but they are professional hockey clubs who use their professional names on their uniforms and in professional settings. There are no exceptions because that's their branding.
If you don't know anything about Hershey, Pennsylvania, the "Chocolatetown" name makes no sense. While the Hershey company is certainly part of their legacy and history, the Bears have as many ties to Hershey chocolate today as the Pittsburgh Penguins do to Boston. That is to say that the only tie they share are both are owned by groups from those respective cities, and the Penguins have never referred to their home as "Steel City" in a professional setting.
Again, a segment of readers might be saying, "Teebz, this is a weird hill to die on," and you wouldn't be wrong. I get that I feel strongly about this and that others may not agree with this stance, but the Hershey Bears have more than enough hockey history to be something more than a marketing tool for the largest employer in Hershey. The Bears will argue that this was never the intention and they're just having a little fun with their civic name, but Hershey's Chocolatetown is the amusement park owned by Hershey. It's not even a fun name for the city of Hershey nor has it been used in the past to reference Hershey, Pennsylvania. It simply makes no sense.
Beyond my strong dislike of the name, the collegiate aesthetics of the script name across the front of the jersey just doesn't work. I know this style of jersey was used in the past by the Bears, but the length of the "Chocolatetown" name plus the generic script font just makes this feel like a big miss. I do like the fantastic shoulder patch they'll be wearing on this jersey, but I can't get past how much I dislike "Chocolatetown" for me to like or appreciate this jersey.
While the chocolate may be sweet, the Chocolatetown jersey is not. It may just be me who is bitter, but this jersey, in my view, is missing key ingredients to make it palatable.
The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is on a pre-recorded episode tonight, but it shouldn't be too out-of-date as our hosts recorded everything on Wednesday. Why, you ask? Well, they're calling games at the 2025 Female World Sport School Challenge this evening, and the Flames Prep Hockey team is playing the Sherwood Park Reign at the same time as the show airs! Since the lads can't be in two places at once, this was their solution to that problem until they can figure out ethical cloning or multidimensional existences. Since they haven't achieved either of those yet, you get the episode they recorded last night tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
Since Teebz and Jason haven't figured out how to mimic the Spider-Man meme to the left, they recorded their thoughts about the Female World Sports School Challenge, Jaromir Jagr's sale of the Kladno Knights, the ECHL's Greensboro Gargoyles, no Yetis in Utah, and the mess that is the Vancouver Canucks after Jim Rutherford went ahead and threw gasoline on the fire. While the discussion about the Canucks is sure to rankle some Canucks fans, the two hosts dig into the stories above to find the good, bad, and somewhat crazy details for a rather enlightening episode. Hear those details and more tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!
If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.
If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about good hockey, new owners, new teams, bad names, big messes, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
As much as everyone wanted it to be true, there are no such things as Yetis. That's a fact both in life and in the NHL, it seems, as it was reported today that the Utah Hockey Club's attempt to secure the name "Yeti" or "Yetis" for the hockey club is now dead on the mountain. We already knew that there was a very good chance that the USPTO wouldn't approve the name due to the Yeti Coolers LLC having a solid claim to the trademark, but the Utah Hockey Club made it clear that Yetis was out of the running as the team name for the hockey club over the trademark confusion and/or controversy.
"We engaged deeply with Yeti Cooler Company and worked with them over a process to see if there was some coexistence agreement that we could engage with them on," Smith Entertainment Group's Mike Maughan said in the Utah Hockey Club's statement. "They have a unique and strong trademark on anything published Yeti or Yetis. We did not have a coexistence agreement with Yeti and therefore have decided to move on from that name."
And just like their counterparts in nature, the NHL Yetis have disappeared without anyone seeing them. The Utah Hockey Club will need to go back to the drawing board for another potential name, but they didn't waste a lot of time in that process as they already pushed forward by announcing that they'll be asking their fans to vote for one of three names at upcoming games. Those names include:
UTAH HOCKEY CLUB: This one might be the hardest to explain since the USPTO already rejected it due to the team being unable to trademark the word "Utah". The "hockey club" name is so generic that it literally will be denied as an application by the USPTO due to every other hockey club using that phrase.
UTAH MAMMOTH: The Mammoth could be a fun name for a hockey club given the size and strength of the animal, but there's this National Lacrosse franchise one state away who also has that name. They could challenge the trademark application made by the Utah franchise if this one is chosen.
UTAH WASATCH: This is a reference to Utah's Wasatch mountain range. The idea is that the Wasatch would have a Yeti-like logo and mascot who would be the "mountain defender". Reportedly, this idea has already been bounced around internally with the Utah club.
Frankly, there's only one proper name and logo of those three that could be acceptable. "Hockey Club" and "Wasatch" are so bad that they shouldn't even be on the list for consideration. And what happened to Outlaws? That name could have worked well too, yet it seems to be gone from the finalist options. Someone better be looking into that oversight as I write this.
The first round of voting will happen tonight as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Delta Centre, and there will be tablets set up around the arena concourse where fans can log their votes on which name they like best for their hockey team. Depending on voting and feedback on the names, there could be multiple rounds of voting done by the Utah Hockey Club to determine what path they'll take moving forward. From what Maughn indicated, voting on these three names will happen over the next few home games with further voting being determined by what is gathered during these games.
In short, we don't know what the Utah Hockey Club will be called at this point, but we do know that it won't be Yetis and that it could be one of "Hockey Club", "Mammoth", or "Wasatch". If there's any hope of a write-in vote on these tablets, feel free to add "Outlaws" to the list. With characters like Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, and the Wild Bunch calling Utah home for a considerable length of time, it would seem like the "Outlaws" would feel right at home!
There have been lots of Canada West-related stories to report this week, so I'm glad that the conference is doing its best in writing great pieces about all these players and events happening in their conference! As I pull my tongue out of my cheek after saying that, one player who is having an outstanding season over in Sweden is former Saskatchewan Huskies goaltender Camryn Drever. The Skellefteå AIK netminder has been posting solid numbers all season with the recently-promoted SDHL club, and her work in the crease has helped the club climb the standings. This past week was no exception, so let's take a look!
On January 11, Skellefteå started the day with a 7-12-1-7 record. The team sat just ahead of HV71 of the standings in eighth-place, holding the final playoff spot as they looked upward at teams they needed to catch. That evening saw them take that first step forward as they beat seventh-place Djurgården by a 1-0 score with Drever recording the 19-save shutout in the process.
That effort got Drever onto the SDHL's Save of the Week voting as she had a few key saves in the 1-0 victory, and Drever won 52.2% of the vote on the SDHL site with the save made in the third period below!
Clearly, SDHL voters recognized the importance of Drever's save in denying Djurgården's Linnea Adelbertson on the brief two-on-one. Again, that save preserved the 1-0 victory for Skellefteå, so Drever certainly earned those deserved honours from voters.
January 16 saw Skellefteå meet HV71 as Skellefteå looked to widen the gap between the two teams in the standings. This game was far from being low scoring as both sides came out firing pucks and finding twine as the goaltenders were under siege. After Skellefteå fell behind 1-0 in the first period and 2-1 in the second period, they rattled off five-straight goals before HV71 scored a couple of tallies late, but Skellefteå held on for the win by a 6-4 score. Drever stopped 21 of 25 shots she faced, but a second-straight victory would erase any thoughts of a rough night for the netminder.
Skellefteå moved on to face Frölunda, and Drever was given the night off by her coach. The two-game winning streak would come to an end, unfortunately, as Frölunda found the back of the net six times in a 6-2 victory. Drever did play in relief following an outburst of three goals in two minutes by Frölunda at the start of the second period, but her presence could not spark her team in this game.
Despite resting for one game, Camryn Drever earned two Save of the Week nominations from the SDHL for her efforts against HV71. Fans voted once again for which save from the four goalies featured was the best, and Drever captured the vote for a second-straight week with 63.5% of the votes! Check out this amazing save below!
HV71's Hilda Svensson had that goal taken away from her by Drever with an incredible kick save late in the January 16 game to help preserve the 6-4 win. As a fun fact, Drever also captured the second-place vote with 26.4% of the votes for a save she made against Frölunda, so Drever had the top-two saves from the week!
SDE was the next team waiting for Skellefteå on January 23, and Camryn Drever was back between the pipes for this one as they looked to take down the fifth-place team. Drever was once again solid as she stopped 26 of 27 shots, and her team helped her with their offensive output as Skellefteå picked up the 4-1 victory! With the teams ahead of them dropping recent games, Skellefteå began to close the gap between themselves and the teams ahead of them!
Skellefteå met Leksands IF on January 26 in their most recent game, and this was a game that Skellefteå needed to win against the worst team in the SDHL. Drever was back in the blue paint as this one got underway, and Drever delivered another masterful performance as she stopped all 20 shots she faced for the shutout in Skellefteå's 3-0 win. That marked the fourth-straight win for Drever in games she's started, and Skellefteå enters Thursday's game against the powerful MoDo club having won four of their last five games. MoDo is in a battle for second-place, so Skellefteå will need to be ready to play.
The upturn in Skellefteå's season has seen them move within ten points of fourth-place while they sit just three points back of sixth-place Linköping HC in the standings. All teams have played 32 games thus far so no one has any games in-hand they can use to help them, but Skellefteå might be entering their toughest run of the schedule with MoDo, Brynäs IF, and Luleå back-to-back to end the regular season. If they don't improve their standing, they'll be looking at a playoff series with Luleå as well, so Skellefteå might be in tough regarding the end of their first SDHL season.
What can't be denied, though, is that Camryn Drever is having herself an incredible season. She sits with a 10-10-0 record while holding down a 2.04 GAA and a .932 save percentage. That goals-against average puts her seventh-overall and her save percentage puts her as sthe sixth-best goalie in Sweden's top league. She's only allowed 43 goals in 22 games thus far, and she's a big reason why Skellefteå is poised to make the SDHL playoffs this season.
That's a heckuva season for a rookie goaltender in Sweden's professional league, and I suspect there may be a few teams calling about her availability for next season unless Skellefteå does the smart thing and re-signs her as soon as possible!
For as rare as goalie goals are, NHL teams are getting better when it comes to managing their goaltending needs so that zamboni drivers aren't needed to win games. However, there are still circumstances where EBUGs are needed, and if you don't recognize the Edmonton Oilers goaltender to the left that's likely because you're not watching enough Canada West hockey. Tyler Palmer is normally wearing the colours of the Alberta Golden Bears when stopping pucks, but he got a call today when Chloe Skinner, wife of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, went into labour with their second child. Palmer normally would have been preparing for a weekend clash with the Trinity Western Spartans this weekend, but he grabbed his gear and headed down to Rogers Place as the Oilers needed a goalie in quick fashion for tonight's contest!
As stated above, Palmer should have been on NHL radars based on his season and career stats. The former Victoria Royals and Everett Silvertips netminder was solid in the WHL where he played 140 games, posting a 66-56-8 record, a 3.24 GAA, and a .902 save percentage. While those numbers don't jump off the page at you, the Fernie-born netminder had an incredible 20 year-old season with Everett where he was 30-9-5 with a 2.57 GAA and a .907 save percentage in 47 games.
While Palmer attended Seattle Kraken training camps, the University of Alberta called Palmer with an offer as the Golden Bears wanted him to stop pucks for them. They saw the talent he possessed, and he's brought that in spades to Canada West as Palmer is 11-4-0 with a 2.21 GAA and a .912 save percentage as Alberta is one of the top teams in the Canadian university conference again. Those numbers were certainly good enough for the Oilers to give him a quick look, though, and they signed Palmer as their EBUG in Skinner's absence!
Being named an EBUG is certainly an honour, but getting to wear the jersey on the bench is the big attraction as there's a chance the EBUG could play. So the question has to be asked: did Tyler Palmer make his NHL debut tonight for the Edmonton Oilers?
Well, the Seattle Kraken, who were visiting the Oilers tonight, gave Tyler Palmer the "star treatment" with a cool piece they produced!
While EBUGs have been given mentions on broadcasts before, it isn't often that a Canadian university's hockey program is mentioned on US TV. Palmer's experiences with the Kraken led to a cool intersection in his career, though, so I'm glad the Kraken gave Palmer his credit for almost being a goalie in their system. Perhaps he still could be one.
In any case, Tyler Palmer didn't play tonight despite him looking like a professional goalie in his #40 Oilers jersey. He was part of the Oilers' 4-2 win over the Kraken, though, and he got to fist-bump Connor McDavid following McDavid's goal to make it a 2-2 game. Calvin Pickard made 26 saves to earn the win, and he had some high praise for the young netminder when talking to reporters.
The world usually has to shift for a former Seattle Thunderbirds netminder to compliment a former Everett Silvertips goalie, but it was cool to see Pickard give Palmer some praise after knowing how often Pickard bounced between the AHL and NHL for so long. That's not to say that Palmer will have the same success as Pickard, but that was a classy move by Pickard to build Palmer up a little.
Obviously, all the best go out to Stuart and Chloe Skinner on their family getting a little bigger as that's always a special occasion, but that absence allowed Tyler Palmer a pretty incredible moment in his career. If you're heading down to Clare Drake Arena this weekend for the weekend series between the Golden Bears and Spartans, there's a better-than-good chance you'll see an NHL goalie in between the pipes for the home side as Tyler Palmer will be back with the team and looking for more success at the Canada West level!
Might we see an invitation to Oilers training camp for Palmer in the future? Based on his play this season, I wouldn't rule it out!
With the playoffs approaching, there were a number of teams that simply needed as many points as possible each and every weekend moving forward. Whether it be to keep slim playoff hopes alive or to lock down a playoff seeding, gathering points in any manner should be the focus until the end of the week. There were opportunities for points this weekend for those wanting and needing them, and a handful of teams would finish the weekend with as few as four games remaining. Would we see any movement in the standings based on this week's results? Let's find out on this edition of The Rundown!
FRIDAY: This weekend's series between the Spartans and Dinos could almost be considered a playoff series as the Dinos needed to beat the Spartans to get back into the race for the final playoff spot that Trinity Western currently holds. Beyond that, Calgary desperately needed to break their eight-game slide while a Spartans sweep would make every game moving forward for Calgary into "must-win" games. Clearly, this was a big weekend for both teams as Kate Fawcett got the start for the Spartans while Amelia Awad defended the Dinos' net!
These two teams opened the game looking for a quick strike as both sides threw pucks towards the other's net through the first half of the frame. The Dinos missed out on two power-play opportunities, and it seemed like Trinity Western would miss out on power-play chances of their own late in the frame. However, with 37 seconds left in the frame and after a 5-on-3 had expired, Jordyn Matthews cleaned up a rebound off what looked like a deflection, but Matthews' goal sent the Spartans to the first intermission up 1-0 and leading 10-7 in shots!
Both teams stepped up the pace in the second period as there was good north-south action up and down the ice. Trinity Western began finding some good looks, though, and they'd capitalize when Kyra McDonald's second shot from in close found room between Awad and the post as the Spartans took a 2-0 lead at the 8:28 mark. That lead would grow again 43 seconds later when Matthews pounced on a rebound off a shot by McDonald, putting the Spartans were up 3-0.
That goal seemed to kick the Dinos into another gear as they pushed back hard with a solid forecheck, and it would pay off when Jolie Nafziger along the goal line spotted Rebecca Clarke in the slot, and she found twine as her goal made it 3-1 at the 13:10 mark. The Spartans matched the pace of the Dinos, though, and Kyra McDonald settled a pinballing puck in the slot for her second goal of the game at 14:09 to make it a 4-1 game. That's how the middle frame would end as the Spartans also had a 22-19 edge in shots.
If you were thinking comeback, I have some bad news for you. The Spartans would find the back of the net twice in this period as Olivia Leier dented twine at 7:06 and Charlotte Swanton netted her fifth goal at 10:17 to push the lead to 6-1. Calgary had a couple of power-play chances and they tried to get pucks to the net, but the Spartans stood strong as they claimed the 6-1 victory over the Dinos on this night. Kate Fawcett stopped 25 shots for her seventh win of the season while Amelia Awad stopped 22 shots in 47:06 of play. Rebecca Boswell came on in relief for Awad, and she stopped seven shots on eight shots she faced in 12:54 of action.
Highlights of this game are below! Thanks, Dinos!
SATURDAY: The result one night earlier wasn't what the Dinos wanted, but they could erase the two points they gave up with a win on Saturday. The Spartans, as mentioned above, were looking to move their magic number to one with another win, so it was expected that they'd come into this game fired up and ready to roll. Olivia Davidson was in the Spartans' blue paint while Amelia Awad was between the pipes for the Dinos in this one!
This period saw both sides play a little more conservative as shots were more difficult in getting through to the nets, but the Dinos were struggling to stay out of the penalty box. Four consecutive penalties throughout the frame gave the Spartans a handful of chances, but it wasn't until Kyra McDonald walked off the half-boards into the slot on the fourth power-play that we a goal scored as her shot found twine with 17 seconds remaining. The Spartans took the one-goal lead and the 9-5 edge in shots into the intermission.
Calgary was given an early power-play opportunity in the second period, but they could not convert. During a rush down the ice, the Dinos turned the puck over as players were heading to the Spartans' zone, and Kyra McDonald spotted Kara Yackel coming back. McDonald hit Yackel with a pass as she circled back towards the Dinos' zone, and Yackel would convert the breakaway at 8:43 to make it a 2-0 game. Calgary would get one back off fresh legs as Hannah Reagh jumped off the bench, stripped the puck from a Spartans defender, and wired a puck inside the post on the glove side from the slot as her goal cut the lead to 2-1 at the 14:16 mark.
However, that two-goal advantage would be restored on the power-play when Kyra McDonald, wide-open at the side of the net, swept a loose puck into the cage at the 16:00 mark. Trinity Western would carry that 3-1 lead into the break as they held a 24-15 lead in shots.
The third period was all about the Spartans locking down a win as they chose to protect the defensive zone whenever necessary. Again, an early power-play in the period for the Dinos passed without a goal, and the Spartans seemed to build on that momentum. Kyra McDonald would ice this game with 2:14 to play when she scored her hat trick goal into an empty net, and the Trinity Western Spartans downed the Calgary Dinos by a 4-1 score. Olivia Davidson collected her second win of the season with a 22-save effort while Amelia Awad was on the on the wrong side of a 27-save night.
Highlights of this game are below! Thanks again, Dinos!
FRIDAY: The Huskies made their way to Edmonton for a date with the Pandas as they needed wins to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. The Pandas came into the weekend with points earned in 14-straight games, so they weren't about to let Saskatchewan walk away with points if they weren't earned. Alberta already has first-place in the East Division wrapped up, so they were looking to spoil the Huskies' weekend. Of course, you can't watch any of it because the Pandas don't do highlights, so here's the scoring summary instead.
Result: 3-0 victory for Alberta over Saskatchewan.
SATURDAY: The Pandas certainly showed why they're at the top of the class on Friday with a dominant performance on home ice, and they were looking for the same on Saturday. Saskatchewan was looking to generate more offence while limiting chances for the Pandas, and they needed to weather a few storms at times. Again, zero highlights from the Pandas, so we'll rely on the scoring summary.
Result: 3-0 victory for Alberta over Saskatchewan.
FRIDAY: The Bisons headed to Edmonton to meet the Griffins as Manitoba was looking to put some space between themselves and the Regina Cougars in the battle for second-place in the East Division. MacEwan was in spoiler mode this weekend as they could, mathematically, still make the playoffs, but they were trying to upend the Bisons in their efforts to lock down second-place. MacEwan's refusal to do anything highlight-related continues, so here's the scoring summary in place of the highlights.
Griffins goals: Joie Simon (2), Kori Paterson (3)
Griffins assists: Jaida Powell (1), Shaelyn Hopkins (1), Sydney Olsen (4)
Griffins netminder: Brianna Sank (30/32)
SATURDAY: Manitoba entered Saturday's game looking for the sweep as four points would help them inch closer to locking down a home playoff series. MacEwan, while needing a miracle, still was not eliminated from the playoffs, but everything was must-win from Saturday to the end of the season. Points mattered to both teams in this one, but we still have no highlights from MacEwan so it's just another summary rather than seeing all the goals.
Griffins goals: Joie Simon (3), Joie Simon (4)
Griffins assists: Robyn Short (3), Sydney Olsen (5), Jennifer Andrash (6), Robyn Short (4)
Griffins netminder: Mikayla Christmann (32/32)
FRIDAY: The Regina Cougars made their way to Vancouver for a weekend series with the UBC Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds were on a mission to lock down first-place in the West Division, so they were hunting for points this weekend. The Cougars, meanwhile, were looking to overtake Manitoba and move back into second-place in the East Division. Both sides came into this weekend knowing what they had to do. Highlights would be great, but UBC only posts every individual goal on social media. Instead, here's the summary.
Cougars goals: none
Cougars assists: none
Cougars netminders: Natalie Williamson (12/15) in 24:10; Arden Kliewer (8/12) in 35:50
Result: 7-0 victory for UBC over Regina.
SATURDAY: I'm not here to celebrate blowout scores, so Regina simply needed to forget about Friday's game altogether. They were looking for the split while UBC was aiming for a sweep as points still mattered to both teams. Again, no highlights because UBC would rather do 15 individual social media posts than one post with the highlights. In any case, here's the scoring summary.
No, I'm not doing the stupid East and West Divisions on the standings board. One conference, nine teams, let's see who is best.
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S HOCKEY
School
Record
Points
GF
GA
Streak
Next
UBC
18-2-3-1
43
89
32
W10
BYE
Alberta
16-3-4-1
41
63
24
W9
@ TWU
Mount Royal
13-4-2-3
33
62
38
W2
@ CAL
Manitoba
9-8-3-2
26
47
49
L1
vs REG
Trinity Western
10-11-2-1
25
53
49
W2
vs ALB
Regina
5-9-4-4
22
34
46
L4
@ MAN
Calgary
5-14-1-2
14
39
64
L10
vs MRU
Saskatchewan
3-13-1-5
13
26
54
L3
vs MAC
MacEwan
1-16-2-3
9
19
76
W1
@ SAS
Honour Roll
Each week on The Rundown, I highlight the best performances from the weekend's games. It won't always be the top scorer or the best goalie, but I'll have a reason for who gets picked each week. This week's Honour Roll candidate absolutely went off this weekend, scoring points on 80% of her team's goals as she put her team on her shoulders! With five goals and three assists, Trinity Western's Kyra McDonald absolutely exploded for offence this weekend!
In her first three seasons, McDonald was finding her spots to jump into plays and get scoring chances. That's been erased this season as she's looking entirely more confident in the offensive zone while letting her play do the talking. McDonald scored five goals and three assists this weekend which matched her entire total from last season, and her 17 points this season is more than her first three seasons combined. She's been an impact player for the Spartans this season, and she'll look to bring that offence to the playoffs!
What makes her story even better is that she's the lone player in Canada West from the Northwest Territories, and I'm pretty sure she's making her team, her school, and her hometown proud with her play!
I don't know if anyone had Kyra McDonald as Trinity Western's goal and point leader this season, but she's taking a run at those honours and the Spartans are certainly benefitting from her output. She proved that this weekend in Calgary where she basically doubled her goals and points this season, and the Spartans will want more of that scoring as they hit the playoffs! After an incredible weekend of scoring, that's how Kyra McDonald added her name to the list!
Amateur Hour
If anyone from Canada West is reading this, get your acts together.
This has been going on for over a month now. At some point, you'd think that someone from the media would alert them, right? Unless, of course, no one gives a hoot about Canada West hockey which could be entirely true. All I know is that every week that passes without this being fixed just reinforces how useless Canada West is.
Second-Half Warriors
We've always heard "it's not how you start, but how you finish" when it comes to determining success, so I decided to take a look at the last four seasons to see how the trend holds up. I'm not saying that how one plays in January and February will determine one's playoff fate, but it seems there are a couple of teams who should be favorites based on their last four years of second-half play. Here's the list and points percentages for each team:
UBC - 31-3-0 = .912
Alberta - 30-3-3 = .875
Mount Royal - 22-9-3 = .691
Saskatchewan - 20-15-1 = .569
Calgary - 17-15-2 = .529
Manitoba - 17-19-2 = .474
Regina - 9-26-1 = .264
Trinity Western - 7-26-3 = .236
MacEwan - 6-27-3 = .208
Is there any wonder why two of UBC, Alberta, and Mount Royal always seem to be in the Canada West Final? It should also be noted that no one below Calgary has won a playoff series in the last four years. Could it be that the best second-half teams also have the best chance of winning in the playoffs? It seems to hold some truth based on the numbers above, so we'll keep an eye on this.
Is There Another Gear?
You may notice in the list above that Manitoba and Regina - currently second- and third-place in the Canada West East Division - have sub-.500 second-half results. Regina was 4-4-0 in 2021-22, but have since posted no more than two wins in any of the next three seasons including a 1-5-0 mark currently in their second half. Manitoba was 5-3-0 in 2021-22, but haven't been above .500 since that season unless they can keep their 3-2-1 record going this season.
What should concern these two teams is that they don't seem to have another gear based upon the trends we're seeing. Combined, these two teams are 5-5 against the MacEwan Griffins in the second half of the season, and MacEwan only has six second-half wins total in the last four seasons. Everyone gets excited for the big games, but these two seem to slump in the second half against the weaker teams.
With Manitoba potentially facing the Spartans and Regina looking at a Mount Royal series in the playoffs, both of these teams will need to find another gear if they want a deeper run in the playoffs. Next week's series between them might be the panacea one of them needs in finding that next gear, so we'll see who has fire in their skates.
Another Banner Year?
Just for some fun, the UBC Thunderbirds are currently riding a 27-0-0 streak in the second halves of the last four seasons. The last time they dropped a second-half game? February 18, 2022 against the Regina Cougars who beat the Thunderbirds by a 2-1 score on a pair of goals by Jordan Kulbida. Since then? They have yet to drop a game or point in the second halves of seasons.
It should be noted that UBC was 4-0 in the playoffs in 2022, but went 4-2 in each of the 2023 and 2024 playoffs after the streak started. I'm not saying losses are necessary, but UBC seems to do better when they drop a few games in the second half of the season.
A Slight Delay
Next week's edition of The Rundown will be published on Monday thanks to my involvement with UMFM's broadcast of the 2025 Female World Sport School Classic. Twelve teams featuring a number of already-recruited players and potential future recruits will descend upon Winnipeg's Hockey For All Centre for four days where they'll look to capture the gold medal in the competition! Sunday morning features the bronze and gold medal games, and UMFM will have the gold medal game live on the UMFM Second Stream!
UMFM will be calling all the games featured on the PCL Arena at the Hockey For All Centre starting on Thursday, January 30, and we'll have nine games in total that we'll broadcast. We'll get to see a pile of great teams and great players duirng this hockey action, so we hope you'll join us for the action on your internet-enabled device! If nothing else, join us for the gold medal game on February 2 at 10am CT and find out who stands atop the mountain at the 2025 Female World Sport School Classic!
The Last Word
We're getting closer to playoff spots being locked down and teams knowing where they're going when it comes to their travel plans. While the math hasn't officially eliminated anyone from the playoffs at this point, there are teams who have clinched playoff spots. All of UBC, Alberta, Mount Royal, and Manitoba are in the dance while Trinity Western and Regina are mere steps from joining those four teams. The math for those first teams means that they cannot be caught by any of the teams sitting outside a playoff spot now, but only three of those teams are locked into their playoff seedings at this point. They'll be focusing on what they need to do to be successful when the playoffs open on February 22.
For the three teams who are dangerously close to missing out on mid-February hockey, I would have expected some recruiting announcements in an effort to start building for next year, but it seems only Saskatchewan has announced recruits. And that's not to say that MacEwan and Calgary have none - they certainly do - but this is like Draft Day to the players coming in where the announcement of them joining the next level of hockey is a big one. I fail to understand why there's such little chatter about the women being asked to come to those schools and play hockey for those programs.
If you want to build excitement for your program, let's start getting names and information out about the people who fans come to see. I'm not just talking about "hey, Player X will attend the University of Wherever next season" announcemnts either; instead, let's do features and post interviews with the players teams are adding. Yes, it requires an effort to do something like this, but if I have nothing to be excited about when it comes to watching your teams next season, why would I come and watch? The worst thing about being talked about is not being talked about.
While all nine schools have excellent academic programs for which they should be proud, those programs are nothing without the people who attend those classes. The same goes for the hockey programs, yet teams seem to guard recruitment announcements like they're nuclear codes, and that baffles me when I'd be beyond excited about having top-level talent joining my team. I get that there's paperwork to do and people are cautious about making an announcement while that paperwork is being processed, but celebrating the people who want to help your program win is something that should be embraced by all nine Canada West hockey programs.
Of course, that would take an effort and staffing and everything else these nine athletic departments say they don't have or can't afford to have, so I guess the singular social media post announcing a prized recruit is the best we'll get. Which is a very low bar to meet.
While I usually am busy on Friday and Saturday nights with life events, I'll occasionally stop for a hockey game. This weekend would have been one of those times if I lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but I did my best to catch as much of the action as I could last night with the Huskies men's hockey team looking a little spiffier than they normally do. There are a variety of reasons why teams opt to wear different uniforms, but some of the best reasons are due to a team's history. The Saksatchewan Huskies dipped into their past to find their latest heritage jersey design, and the threads looked pretty sweet out on the ice as they battled the Golden Bears!
The weird thing is that I can't find any specific reason why the Huskies opted for the new "old jerseys" on the right. Normally, we see teams crafting a heritage jersey if they're playing an outdoor game or there's some sort of special anniversary they're celebrating, but this just seems like a heritage jersey for a heritage jersey's sake. Make no mistake that they look good and the Huskies should be proud of this jersey, but I was hoping to find a reason for them designing and wearing these jerseys. In any case, let's look deeper into these heritage jerseys.
The cream-coloutred jerseys as heritage jerseys have been done to death, but the simplicity of a two-colour jersey works really well here. The green and the cream colours blend nicely without needing a lot of accent colours, and that simplicity is something we don't see a lot any longer. The throwback logo with the "hustlin' Huskie" on the front is used most often by the men's alumni team, but the logo gets a bigger stage this season with it becoming the chest logo on heritage jersey. The names and numbers on the back are clean and easy to read, but I'm not sold on the captaincy letters being contrasted with cream-on-green. That seems unnecessary.
I am disappointed that everything on the jersey is sublimated rather than getting a fully-embroidered masterpiece. Everything on this jersey screams for an old-school embroidery job, but the players took the ice with logos, names, and numbers sublimated onto their jerseys. Again, I get that there's a significant cost if these jerseys were going to feature embroidered work, but why not do this jersey right? It looks fantastic, so give it the full old-time hockey treatment. That seems like a big miss here.
There are some who have mentioned that this jersey is simply a "Saskatchewan-ized" version of the Calgary Flames' heritage jersey worn at the 2023 NHL Heritage Classic. I can't really deny that as the jerseys are almost thread-for-thread similar in their designs, but the green and cream colours on the Huskies jerseys work so much better together than the Flames' red and nearly-white did. People can dump on the Huskies if they want, but the contrast is what makes their jerseys better than what Calgary wore at the 2023 Heritage Classic.
If there's a plus for these new Huskies throwback jerseys, it's that the team is 2-0 in them after they swept the Alberta Golden Bears by 4-3 and 4-1 scores. The wins put the Huskies atop the Canada West East Division with an 18-4-0 record with two games in-hand on the Golden Bears who own an 18-6-0 record. Even more impressive is the nine-game winning streak that Saskatchewan currently owns, and they'll put that on the line next week in Edmonton against MacEwan. Might we see them wear these jerseys again after the sweep?
The Huskies get a thumbs-up to these jerseys, but there's still room for improvement. I wouldn't say these are perfect by any means, but they are aesthetically well-designed. Assuming the saying is true that if one looks good, one plays good, the Saskatchewan Huskies are living proof of it being verifiably true!
Whether NHL fans like them or not, it's pretty clear that the digital board ads are not going away. Even if they were to glitch out and not work for an entire game, the NHL would not want to walk away from the revenue they generate, and we know the NHL will do just about anything to add another dollar to its bottom line. In knowing that they're non-negotiable when it comes to the NHL's revenue streams, it would serve us better to know a little more about them.
CBS News Minnesota went investigating this new phenomenon, and the information they found was pretty interesting. Jeff Wagner filed the report, but he doesn't really get into the "how" as much as he does the "why". Here's Jeff's report from the Xcel Energy Center.
Again, I don't fault Wagner for not getting into the technology side of things as I'm sure the NHL doesn't want their technology being shown to the world, but the "how" wasn't really shown. I still have many questions on how things work, but that will have to wait until the NHL allows someone else to do a deeper dive. For now, we do know that all 32 teams are using this technology and that only the cameras at center ice display the digital board advertisements.
Bryan Bellows, the man interviewed in the piece, is Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Minnesota Wild, and he dropped the name "Supponor" in the piece. Supponor, according to their website, "provide a virtual advertising technology solution that replaces and creates in-venue brand placements with real time authentic digital overlays" that can be projected onto any surface - ice, plexiglass, and boards as examples - during TV broadcasts.
I should note that TGI Sport, "the global leader in sports technology and media rights", acquired Supponor on July 11, 2024 for €100 million ($108 million USD) as one of the world's leading sports technology company's only gets bigger and more diversified in its offerings. TGI Sport's pitch is that they are "a tech-led sports media company that exists to deliver optimal commercial value for all stakeholders through our pioneering technology solutions, global media rights expertise and leading sports marketing knowledge."
Without know how the magic is done behind the scenes, though, all Wagner's report seems to do is reinforce the idea that digital board ads are here to stay. I'm not criticizing this strategy, but I often wonder how many times a company is told "I saw your digital board ads during an NHL game" when talking to customers. I can't imagine it's been said all that often, so I'd like to see feedback and research on their effectiveness in helping a company sell its widgets.
"There's plenty of folks that think it's a much better viewing experience to watch the game," Keith Wachtel, the NHL's chief business officer and executive vice president of global partnerships, told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski in 2023. "The overwhelming sentiment was that the cleanliness of the boards is less jarring for the viewership. That it blends in more. Other than when they might change where people notice it, the prevailing thought is that they're kind of in the background."
I'm not a business owner, but, if I was investing that much money into NHL advertising, I'd want my business to be more noticeable rather than being "kind of in the background". As stated above, that would seem to indicate that people aren't noticing the ads or ignoring them altogether, and that's a hefty price tag not to be noticed. What's worse is the fact that all 32 teams are using these digital boards to send specific ads back to their home market, so the businesses who have bought in are looking for a boost in that market.
If there's one constant in all of this, it's simply that digital board ads aren't going anywhere. The businesses who use them to advertise their widgets will come and go, but the NHL will use this technology to continue to boost its revenue streams in some form or another. And I'm not here complaining about digital ads on the boards as a whole as we've had static ads on boards in rinks for forty years, but I struggle to justify in any meaningful way how plenty of folks "think it's a much better viewing experience" as per Keith Wachtel.
Frankly, if there's one thing that the CBS News Minnesota piece did confirm, it's that money at any cost is the sole driver of any and all NHL business. And that outlook isn't going to change in the future.
The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back once again with a full house tonight as we continue to built towards the 2025 Female World Sport School Challenge happening at the Hockey For All Centre from January 30 until Febraury 2! As a reminder, UMFM will be calling games at the tournament, and one of the teams of whom we'll see a lot on the PCL rink is the Flames prep hockey team. Because we're going to see them often, it's a good idea to get to know some of their stars, so four more players stop by the studio to chat hockey, life, the tournament, and more tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason meet alternate captains Camryn Falloon and Hannah Marks-Arnold, defender Mullen McIntyre, and forward Jakiah Curle as these four women look to put their best games on display at the 2025 Female World Sport School Challenge! Our hosts will chat with them about their hockey careers, how their seasons are going, penalty minutes, being a Flames player, and much more! These four women have extremely bright futures, and we'll go over all the amazing things they've done and what they may have their sights set on next as they move forward in their careers! We'll hear their stories and experiences tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!
If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.
If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason meet Camryn Falloon, Hannah Marks-Arnold, Mullen McIntyre, and Jakiah Curle from the Flames prep hockey team as they chat hockey, life, and getting set for the 2025 Female World Sport School Challenge exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
While the title of this article could be misheard as the title of a romance novel when said aloud, it seems that there's a major shake-up happening in the Czech Extraliga as the Rytíři Kladno, aka the Kladno Knights, are about to change ownership. As you may know, the Knights are currently owned by hockey legend and Kladno native Jaromir Jagr, but it seems he's getting out of the hockey ownership game after it was announced today that Jagr will sell a majority stake in the club to Czech businessman Tomáš Drastil who wants to restore the glory of the Kladno franchise and its youth team. This may seem like big news, but it seems this may have been coming sooner than later.
According to the idnes.cz website, Drastil "will acquire 80 percent of the club, while Jágr is to keep 20 percent" once the business deal is complete. Nothing has been signed or completed yet, but both Drastil and Jagr will start the process in the near future with the hopes that this deal can be completed quickly. News broke in late November that Drastil was interested in buying the hockey club from Jagr, and it appears that will now happen.
Drastil confirmed in an interview with Rudolf Muzika of denik.cz on November 27, 2024 that "he has made a specific offer to the current 100% owner of the Knights, Jaromír Jágr" and was waiting on a response from the former NHL star. Muzika also confirmed the rumoured rift between Jagr and the city with Kladno mayor Milan Volf telling Muzika that he was in favour of a change in ownership.
Speaking about Jagr's comments that the city had stopped supporting the club, Volf matter-of-factly told Muzika,
"I'll repeat for the last time that this is nonsense. We only stopped the five million subsidy for the A-team of adults, because it basically doesn't matter if we put it there or not, the result is always the same. We subsidize the youth with 8.5 million, we pay thirty million for the operation of the stadium, which we also renovated. By a sober estimate, the income from the stadium generates roughly 10 million for hockey, where we are talking not only about ice rentals, but also, for example, skyboxes, VIP and representative areas or public skating. We also pay security and organizers for matches, but the money earned from entrance fees or the sale of refreshments goes to the club's treasury. That's good, we want to help, but then no one can accuse us of not supporting them."
Based on today's news, it appears that Volf will get his wish as Jagr will take a backseat to Drastil in the club's ownership, and it seems the Czech businessman has a plan for the Kladno Knights when he takes over operations. Drastil told denik.cz on November 22, 2024,
"My vision is based primarily on long-term work with youth and the return of youth hockey to where it belongs. Kladno has always and historically raised successful representatives and if the club is to be successful in the long term, it must be successful in working with youth. And when I see how our teamwork with youth in Slaný has been successful, I believe that I will be able to assemble the right team of hockey professionals and enthusiasts in Kladno and to cement that team. Kladno needs to become a catchment club again, which can be achieved by creating a so-called umbrella and cooperating with smaller clubs in the surrounding area."
Drastil is also on record as saying that the Kladno Knights will not move out of the city, stating that "[i]t is the biggest diamond in the city of Kladno and must stay". He will need to negotiate a new arena lease deal with the city of Kladno, but Volf appears willing to work with Drastil after his past experiences in working with Jagr.
"With all due respect to Jaromír Jágr for what he has achieved in his career, but he is in charge of the hockey stick, not hockey. Negotiations with him are very complicated, almost impossible for me, because we are not moving anywhere and I only see an outstretched hand. Jarda and I met for the last time before the play-offs and then I waited in vain for him to come and solve the situation," Volf told Muzika.
Business aside, we already know that Jagr has committed to making this season his last as a player, but it would appear that he's going to leave the hockey spotlight altogether with the sale of the Knights to Drastil. According to the idnes.cz article, "Jágr's family has been managing the traditional Kladno club since the autumn of 1994, and he himself has been managing it since 2011. Six years later, he became a 100% owner. Since then, Kladno has spent a total of three seasons in the first league, and in the last three extra league seasons, they have always ended up in the relegation zone."
Perhaps that last part about relegation will change under new management as Drastil is a 44 year-old businessman who "is a partner in a number of companies and currently does business abroad, mainly in the United States." Drastil's son, Simon, plays hockey with the Dallas Stars Elite 15-Only team where he's a defender while Tomáš's TGM Fotbal company "purchased a forty percent stake in the joint-stock company that owns the Vysočina Jihlava football club". In short, it would appear that Tomáš Drastil is well-connected and well-funded as he looks to add the Knights hockey club to his portfolio.
When questioned about the financial commitment needed to raise the Kladno Knights back to prominence, Drastil was clear about having the necessary means to realize his vision, telling denik.cz, "Yes, otherwise I wouldn't go into it and enter into negotiations." With a deal reportedly struck between Drastil and Jagr, it appears we're going to find out if that vision will bear fruit in the coming years.
Much like another Penguins superstar who sold his majority stake in a hockey club, the Kladno Knights will have a new boss beginning next season. Jagr will still be involved thanks to his 20% ownership stake, but, like Mario Lemieux, he'll play a far smaller role in the operations and decision-making process than before. Tomáš Drastil will sit at the desk in the big office and we'll see where he leads the Knights.
Maybe we'll see Jaromir Jagr actually retire and enjoy the game from the other side of the glass now? Time will tell!
As everyone waits in anticipation for the Utah Hockey Club to finally select a team name so it can brand itself and have a unique identity, a report surfaced today that threw cold water on a number of potential names over which the Utah franchise had been mulling. As we know, there's been a big push for names like Yetis and Blizzard by fans as the team narrows its choices, but Ryan Miller of KSL.com published a story today about the struggles that the Utah Hockey Club is having in trying to trademark specific names.
The image above is of the Abominable Snowman from Disney's Monsters At Work, but they needn't worry about the Utah Hockey Club using a similar image for its logo because the United States Patent and Trademark Office denied Utah's application for the name "Yetis" over a "likelihood of confusion" with the Yeti brand that makes drinkware, clothings, and other merchandise.
As Miller's article states, the USPTO wrote, "In the present case, the wording 'Utah' in the applied-for mark is merely descriptive of or generic for applicant's goods. Thus, this wording is less significant in terms of affecting the mark's commercial impression, and renders the wording 'YETIS' the more dominant element of the mark."
In short, because the Utah Yetis and the Yeti brand are wanting to sell similar items despite being separate businesses, the names are "identical in sound, appearance, meaning, and commercial impression, and thus the marks are confusingly similar". Therefore, the Utah Yetis will not be happening at this time because the Yeti brand is already a thriving brand and business. But not all hope is lost for the Yeti fans out there as the team can re-apply.
According to the rules, the Utah Hockey Club now has three months from January 9 - the date of the ruling - to produce more evidence and make a case for the Utah Yetis trademark to be unique and non-similar to the drinkware company. If nothing else, Utah should be using the Stanley Cup as its example because the trophy awarded by the NHL has the exact same name as Stanley cups, the thermal drinkware made by Stanley 1913. In any case, there are multiple instances of professional sports teams with the same team names that aren't affected by the other's existence, so I'd expect Utah make a formal re-application at some point before May 9, 2025.
It should be noted that Yetis wasn't the only name that was shot down by the USPTO that had been proposed by the Utah Hockey Club. All of "Blizzard", "Venom", and "Utah Hockey Club" were denied as well with the first two being rejected due to the "likelihood of confusion" with other brands while the last one was denied because "the applied-for mark is primarily geographically descriptive of the origin of applicant's goods and/or services". In short, the Utah Hockey Club cannot trademark the name "Utah".
Two names that weren't denied, but require a little more paperwork, were "Mammoth" and "Outlaws". Both names could be fun, but I'm not certain it's better than "Yetis" when it comes to the branding that Utah could have. My hope is that the Utah franchise will regroup, make a better case, and re-apply for the Yetis trademark over the next few months, but we'll see what Ryan Smith decides.
We already know that Utah is in the process of creating jerseys with logos for next season, so they'll have to decide what to do quickly if they hope to have the branding in place by the time the hockey season starts in October 2025. My guess is that they'll re-apply with a far more robust package that shows similar names and brands that aren't affected by each side's existence, and this setback today is more of a window of three months they can use to get their presentation polished. If there's one thing that Ryan Smith has shown, it's that once he sets his mind on something, it usually happens.
If that holds true, we may see Yetis on the ice in Utah next season.
It was a sight that not many dressed in red and white expected to see, but the celebration from the Czechia women was pure, ecstatic joy after they captured a 2-1 overtime win over Canada as the Canadians' defence of their FISU gold medal fell just short. That's not to say that the Canadians didn't play well enough to win - they did - but Czechia's Julie Pejsova was a wall in her net while the plucky Czechia women in front of her blocked shots, jumped on opportunities, and found just enough offence to be crowned as champions for their first time in just their second FISU women's ice hockey event!
Before we get to the champions, though, the silver medal-winning Canadian squad played this tournament extremely well through every game including the final. It isn't often that a team can outshoot their opponents 52-16 and only record one goal, but that happened to Canada today. On any other day, the effort shown today would have won them the game with ease thanks to the chances seen, but Czechia's netminder Julie Pejsova was otherworldly today. That's how the puck bounces sometimes in big games where it's winner-takes-all, but the Canadian women shouldn't hang their heads for any reason.
The Canadians showed a little bit of everything in their effort to defend gold as they scored goals, played some solid defence, got great goaltending, and were gritty when they had to be. If there was one area where the team may look back and wish things were different, it would be their power-play as the Canadians failed to score with the extra attacker throughout the entire tournament. Beyond that baffling stat, I'm proud of each and every one of the women who wore the Canada logo in Torino, and my hope is they are too because they were excellent ambassadors in Italy.
Well done, ladies, and thank you for giving up a few U SPORTS games to represent your country so well on the international stage!
To the victors, though, go the spoils, and Czechia's win today is more proof that what the Czechs are doing in their country to promote, develop, and encourage girls to play hockey is working. While no one will put their senior national women's team on the same level of Canada or the US just yet, Czechia's U18 programs have produced medal winners at the U18 Women's World Championship, and we'r enow seeing those girls moving into post-secondary education where they're taking their talents to professional teams in Europe while representing their country internationally at FISU Universiades.
Anna Vanickova scored the winning goal with 3:39 left in the first overtime period, and that set off the celebration. Vanickova has played for HPK in Finland's Auroraliiga and for HC Baník Příbram in Czechia's Women's Extraliga, but she also has been a member of the Czechia U18 women's team for a couple of years. While she attends the University of West Bohemia, it's pretty clear she's been on Czechia's international radar for a long time.
Czechia's other scorer in the game was Barbora Bartakova, and she's played a pile of international games for her country at the U16 and U18 levels. The 20 year-old forward has graduated to the pro game with HC Baník Příbram in Czechia's Women's Extraliga, but she's showing that she needa a bigger stage. In three seasons with Příbram, Bartakova has scored 53 goals and 91 assists in 37 games - that's nearly four points per game in the country's highest league! She was the leading goal scorer and the leading scorer at this year's Universiade, and the University of Economics student is one of those players who will continue to push Czechia higher if she continues playing hockey once her university studies are complete.
The star of today's game, Julie Pejsova, is also a star netminder with HC Baník Příbram, and the 21 year-old showed the world why the Czechs should be feared in years to come. Pejsova made 51 stops in the victory today, and at least a dozen were of the elite goaltending variety. Despite being enrolled in the Centre for Higher Education Studies, she still has time to play professionally where she has a 0.60 GAA in eight games with Příbram. She also has a pile of international experience thanks to her play at the U16 and U18 levels, and she may be one of the best netminders not playing in the NCAA right now.
"I had a lot of saves, but every game I'm trying to give my girls a chance to win," Pejsova said after the game. "I think I've done that today. It doesn’t matter if I have five or 100 saves, I just want to win the game. We know each other for ten years, maybe more, and we played together for our whole lives. I love them so much, and I've done that for them. After a second place in the European cup, I told them 'One day we are going to win something big'."
Add in the likes of twin sisters Alexandra and Sandra Halounova, Hana Haasova, and Patricie Skorpikova, and Czechia's university-aged women are poised to be big players for Czechia in the near future. The Czechs won bronze in 2023 at Lake Placid, and they've now added a gold medal in their second appearance at the FISU games. Czechia's not just a competitor at future FISU women's hockey events, but they should be gold medal considered a favorite alongside the likes of Canada and Japan!
Seeing another country emerge as a legitimate gold medallist is good for the game in a number of ways, and we're seeing Czechia's growth as a women's hockey nation on a number of fronts. This should help their senior women's program as players mature and replace veterans, and it couldn't come at a better time with the Olympics just over a year away. Could the Czechs win in Italy again?
It's not hard to imagine that they could, and a few of the players we saw with FISU gold medals around their necks could be in the Czechia lineup when the Olympics begin next February. The Czechs have something special with their women's hockey program, and Julie Pejsova may have identified what makes them special when she said, "We are not the fastest, and probably not the most skilled or the best team either. But we Czechs always find a way to win, it doesn't matter against who."
Canada would certainly agree with that assessment today.
The schedule was all over the map this week as there were games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so things were a little more spread out than the eight games we normally see over two days. Hockey Day in Canada saw two Alberta-based teams playing in Canmore, Alberta. The BC-based teams participated in UBC's Winter Classic. The other four teams playing were using Pride Tape and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. In short, it was a busy weekend in western Canada. Let's check out who did what this week on The Rundown!
THURSDAY: We'll start with the Battle of British Columbia as the UBC Thunderbirds headed south to Langley where the Trinity Western Spartans were waiting. With Calgary idle, the Spartans were looking to sink the Dinos into a deep hole in the standings, but the Thunderbirds weren't going to help as they needed to keep their lead intact over the Mount Royal Cougars. Since the Spartans only post highlights of their players, we'll rely on the scoring summary.
FRIDAY: The series shifted back to the UBC campus, and UBC was looking to add more points to their total after their win the night before guaranteed them a home playoff series. Trinity Western was looking to derail UBC's plans a little with a victory of their own, but any points would help them inch closer to a playoff spot. There were rumours that the T-Birds sold this game out, but UBC doesn't bother doing highlight reels so we're back to the scoring summary.
Result: 4-3 overtime victory for UBC over Trinity Western.
THURSDAY: The Mount Royal Cougars rolled into Edmonton on a Thursday night as they prepared to play the MacEwan Griffins. The Griffins needed wins of any kind if they hoped to play spoiler in this series while the Cougars were looking to track down the UBC Thunderbirds. Mount Royal was still missing three of their players to a tournament in Italy (more on that below), so we'd have to see if the depth of the Cougars could hold off the Griffins. No highlights as usual from MacEwan, so let's roll with the summary.
Griffins goals: Joie Simon (1), Jennifer Andrash (2)
Griffins assists: Jennifer Andrash (5), Sydney Olsen (3), Tess Collier (3)
Griffins netminders: Lindsey Johnson (13/18) in 31:52; Brianna Sank (9/10) in 28:08
SATURDAY: Both teams had Friday off before heading to Canmore, Alberta for a battle on Hockey Day in Canada inside Alex Kaleta Rink at the Canmore Recreation Centre. While it wasn't one of the usual rinks these teams normally play in, they both were looking for wins on a big day in the town of Canmore. With the game being shown for free on Canada West TV, there was a good crowd on-hand in the rink to watch these two teams battle! With neither side doing highlights, though, here's the summary because why show off a special game?
Cougars goals: Kaia Borbandy (1), Abigail Borbandy (3), Gabby Lindsay (3), Lyndsey Janes (6), Ashley Grice (2), Kaia Borbandy (2), Jerzey Watteyne (7)
Cougars assists: Jordyn Hutt (3), Breanne Comte (5), Ashley Grice (1), Julia Duke (5), Summer Fomradas (9), Sydney Benko (9), Kaia Borbandy (1), Dara Thompson (4), Dara Thompson (5), Sydney Benko (10)
Cougars netminder: Scout Anderson (13/13)
FRIDAY: The Alberta Pandas headed southeast to the Saskatchewan capital where the Regina Cougars were looking to take points off the division leaders. Regina was tied with Manitoba in points coming into this game, but found themselves in third-place due to the tiebreaker, so they needed points. Alberta, meanwhile, was looking for wins in an effort to lock down first-place in the Eastern Division. As usual, no highlights from the Cougars, so we'll go to the summary.
Pandas goals: Natalie Kieser (5), Allison Reich (2)
Pandas assists: Payton Laumbach (7), Izzy Lajoie (7), Annie King (2), Alexandra Black (2)
Pandas netminder: Grace Glover (27/28)
Result: 2-1 victory for Alberta over Regina.
SATURDAY: While Regina did mostly everything right on Friday, the end result wasn't what they wanted. They were looking to right that aspect on Saturday, but the Alberta wasn't about to let Regina spoil 13-straight games with points. Both sides came in wanting for points, but only one would leave with two points. Regina's no-highlight routine continues, so it's off to the scoring summary!
FRIDAY: The Manitoba Bisons welcomed the Saskatchewan Huskies to Wayne Fleming Arena on Friday as they were looking for wins to pull away from Regina in the battle for second-place in the East Division. Saskatchewan always seems to play well in Winnipeg, though, so they were looking to beat the Bisons to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Both sides wanted wins, but Manitoba doesn't provide highlights of this. Instead, we get another scoring summary!
Huskies goals: Julianna Herman (1), Ava Bergman (1)
Huskies assists: Jessica Patterson (1), Jayde Cadieux (6), Ashlee Wolfe (2)
Huskies netminder: Colby Wilson (35/35)
Result: 2-0 victory for Saskatchewan over Manitoba.
SATURDAY: The Huskies were riding high as they came into Saturday's game after shutting out the Bisons on home ice. They were looking for the sweep to take home, but the Bisons weren't about to let them ride off with all the points. They needed to find the back of the net if they hoped to claim second-place in the East Division. Again, there are no highlights because the Bisons don't seem to care, so we'll stick with the eighth scoring summary of the day.
Bisons goals: Camryn Gillis (2), Kylie Lesuk (3), Kylie Lesuk (4)
Bisons assists: Julia Bilous (2), Sophia Anderson (3), Dana Goertzen (5), Rachel Gottfried (3), Aimee Patrick (8)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (9/11) in 64:00
Huskies goals: Avery Gottselig (3), Brownyn Boucher (6)
Huskies assists: Julianna Herman (1), Jaiyana Nurani (4), Brooklyn Stevely (4)
Huskies netminder: Colby Wilson (50/53) in 64:01
Result: 3-2 overtime victory for Manitoba over Saskatchewan.
No, I'm not doing the stupid East and West Divisions on the standings board. One conference, nine teams, let's see who is best.
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S HOCKEY
School
Record
Points
GF
GA
Streak
Next
UBC
16-2-3-1
39
80
31
W8
vs REG
Alberta
14-3-4-1
37
57
24
W7
vs SAS
Mount Royal
13-4-2-3
33
62
38
W2
BYE
Manitoba
8-7-3-2
24
44
45
W1
@ MAC
Regina
5-7-4-4
22
33
37
L2
@ UBC
Trinity Western
8-11-2-1
21
43
47
L2
@ CAL
Calgary
5-12-1-2
14
37
54
L8
vs TWU
Saskatchewan
3-11-1-5
13
26
48
L1
@ ALB
MacEwan
0-15-2-3
7
15
73
L6
vs MAN
Honour Roll
Each week on The Rundown, I highlight the best performances from the weekend's games. It won't always be the top scorer or the best goalie, but I'll have a reason for who gets picked each week. This week's Honour Roll candidate is someone whose defensive play often gets heralded, but Annalise Wong is showing why she was such a dynamic player in BC before jumping to the university level!
While she's been a Swiss Army knife-type player for the Thunderbirds over the last few seasons, Wong is showing all sorts of jump offensively this season as she's finding scoring spots and jumping into plays. She's an excellent penalty-killer and is responsible defensively, but three assists this weekend shows she's good all over the ice. She never takes a shift off, she's the embodiment of hustle, and it's paying off this season as she equaled her season-high in goals, assists, and points this weekend with six games to play!
The diminutive winger stands tall among her teammates as she's often doing the dirty work, but it's her relentless pursuit of the puck that makes her so dangerous. She's a key part of the UBC squad as she plays in all situations while contributing all season long. After another solid weekend where she was good on both sides of the puck, that's how Annalise Wong added her name to the list!
My Kingdom For A Stats Package
Back on December 16, I had asked Canada West to fix their media stats as every time one clicked on that link off the HockeyTech site, it redirected to men's hockey's stats. It's very clear these two things do not relate as shown below in my rudimentary illustration.
It's now January 19 and there's been zero change when one clicks the media stats link. It's almost like Canada West doesn't give two hoots about women's hockey based on their void of social media unless it benefits them directly, their complete ignorance of this problem, and their total lack of coordinating their schools for a more team-like approach in promotions and marketing.
I had a plan to present a few trends this week which may explain some numbers we're seeing in Canada West, but this complete whiff on posting correct stats on their partner site makes that virtually impossible. And spare me the garbage about lack of resources or staffing - this is one weblink that needs to be fixed, and it hasn't been touched in over a month. Any excuse at this point is just proof of the completely unprofessional way this conference's overseers operate. If this was a real business, it would already be bankrupt.
Allow Bob and Bob from Office Space to ask the obvious question.
Andiamo, Canada!
Canada ran into a spunky Japan team yesterday at the FISU World University games in Torino, Italy, but a two-point day from Nipissing's Madison Desmarais plus a goal and some inspired play - and possibly a missed assist? - by Mount Royal's Alex Spence helped to pace the Canadians to a 3-0 win over the Japanese squad that earned silver in Lake Placid. Canada will now play for the gold medal on Monday!
In the later game, it was a bttle between two long-time rivals and former countrywomen as Czechia and Slovakia met in the second semi-final. After Slovakia tied the game early in the second period at 1-1, Barbora Bartakova scored the game-winner at 10:22 while Alexandra Halounova added an insurance marker in the third period to give Czechia the 3-1 win over Slovakia. They will move on to play Canada on Monday as gold medals hang in the balance.
If you missed yesterday's game, you can watch the women battle Japan here as FISU.tv has the game available on-demand. The gold medal game's link here is here as FISU.tv has that already available, and that game will be played live at 1pm CT if you're wanting to watch. I'll be watching because I'm proud of what these women have accomplished. Let's cheer them on tomorrow!
Into International Waters
I'm always shocked that more Canada West teams aren't using their international roster spots to find players. We've seen UBC do it well with Mathea Fischer and Vannessa Schaefer in recent memory, Mount Royal had Emma Bergesen on their blue line, Manitoba boasted Venla Hovi, and Calgary has both Iya Gavrilova and Sasha Vafina on their roster with all of these players making differences. Yes, not every player adapts to Canadian school life and Canadian life in general, but Canada West schools have done seemingly well when recruiting international talent. Hint: we should do this more.
In saying that, we may see another international star find her game in a big way at a Canada West school as the Saskatchewan Huskies officially announced on Wednesday that Peppi Virtanen was set to join the women's hockey program in 2025-26! The 20 year-old forward from Jyväskylä, Finland comes to the Huskies after playing this season in the Auroraliiga with HPK where she's currently sitting with six goals and 13 assists in 27 games. She's a former member of Finland's U18 Women's World Championship team as well, so she's had some exposure to Canadian hockey, albeit not Canada West hockey.
You might be saying, "Hold on, Teebz, but didn't HPK Kiekkonaiset play the Regina Cougars in the preseason this year?" and you'd be correct. However, Virtanen didn't dress for that game, so I'm not sure she developed any dislike for the Cougars which would prompt her to join their interprovincial rivals. She will be given every opportunity to grow that dislike for them once she lands in Saskatoon, though.
Congratulations to the Saskatchewan Huskies on their recruiting of a solid international player, and I look forward to see what Peppi Virtanen can do once she's a Huskies player!
Recruiting Season
Let's be very honest: with the calendar firmly into 2025, it's recruiting season. As we know, recruiting is vitally important to both the success of sports programs and the health of education programs at Canadian universities with enrolment, but it seems like all the best talent looks elsewhere before looking in their own backyards. This isn't news by any means, but things could be better if some organizations actually gave a damn.
In multiple cases of players to whom I've spoken, U SPORTS is not the first league they mention. In some cases, it's not even the second league. U SPORTS and its member schools have to know this, and they're either wildly ignorant or delusional if they say otherwise. I'm not saying that any school needs to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into their athletic programs, but they can and should be important marketing tools for any school when it comes to attracting and retaining academic and athletic talent. There's a reason why North Carolina basketball or Notre Dame football or Wisconsin women's hockey plays an important role in those schools attracting talent - people want to be associated with winners. That includes sponsors and benefactors as well, and attracting more people to support any program in any way is basic Marketing 101.
Not every player will commit for various reasons, but not even asking is a choice that one has to make and it seems like U SPORTS has a lot of "not even trying" when it comes to attracting the best talent it can find. There are exceptional academic programs at any and all universities in Canada, but perhaps there's another reason why U SPORTS programs don't go after the best players. Read on.
Food For Thought
Kudos go to David Amber and Sportsnet for the following piece on Sophie Jovanovic who is making history in Ontario as a member of the U16 Toronto Marlies club which has produced NHL talent!
It seems pretty clear that Jovanovic is a special player with all sorts of talent, and I'm happy Sportsnet told her story so she can inspire other girls to push limits, break barriers, and play at the highest levels they can. Well done, Sophie!
Now I'm not saying that she's destined for an NCAA program, but Canadian universities need to push hard in working to keep talent like Jovanovic in Canada. Hockey Canada could help, but the problem is that Hockey Canada is certainly aware that the NCAA has the best talent where Jovanovic would develop so they're not going to do much to prevent American schools from recruiting her.
Of course, now would be a good time for Hockey Canada to start working on that promise to help promote U SPORTS programs in some sort of meaningful way, but they really won't. We're likely going to see Jovanovic head south like so many other talented Canadian players have, and I'm certain that Hockey Canada wants that player development to continue so they have no reason to promote U SPORTS beyond their current table scraps. Perhaps if U SPORTS had done more to help itself in the past, things would be different.
The Last Word
I'm proud of the 802 people who came out in Vancouver to fill the stands for the Winter Classic Trinity Western-UBC game. I'm proud of the fans who put as many bums in seats in Canmore, Alberta to watch MacEwan and Mount Royal. It sounds like there will be a packed house in the Saddledome for the Crowchild Classic in a couple of weeks as well, and it makes me proud that more people are coming out to see Canadian university hockey more often.
The problem? These special games shouldn't be the only reason to come out and watch the women of Canada West show off their skills and talents. This happens every week across cities in western Canada, and I'm often baffled at how there's no one in the stands. As an example, Regina had less than 500 people combined at their games this weekend while Manitoba boasted less than 400 fans combined at their games. MacEwan had just 73 people at their game on Thursday night while the Spartans had just 115 fans in the stands.
As Canadians, we like to pound our chests and proclaim that hockey is our sport, but I'm starting to think that we only show up for big events. I'm not here to criticize people being busy - that's part of life. But it seems like this country has zero room in their entertainment budgets for university hockey, and that's just one of many sports struggling at the university level.
I don't know what it takes to convince people to come and watch good university hockey, but everything being done doesn't seem to be enough. Here's hoping crowds grow in all seven western Canadian cities after good showings in Vancouver and Canmore, but I doubt we'll see the needle move in any significant way.