The Rundown - Canada West Final

The Canada West 2024-25 season came down to two teams that were seeking a championship before heading east to Ontario for the National Championship. UBC and Alberta were the top-two teams in the conference this season, and they met in Vancouver to determine which program would be crowned as champion, which school would get a new wall decoration, and which program would be ranked in the top-half of the Nationals seeding. Clearly, there was a lot riding on this series, so let's find out which program prevailed to win the west on this final Canada West version of The Rundown!

The Format Stays

Since a grand total of zero people left a comment on the new format I introduced last weekend, I am sticking with it. You may ask why, but I do enjoy a three-minute video of highlights more than five or six paragraphs of written recaps, and the new format also allows me to experiment with video more. You'll actually see something I added to the video this week that the Canada West highlights didn't have, so being able to learn how to do this kind of stuff can potentially make future options for video even better. In short, the Headline Sports-style highlight package for the games will remain thanks to my preference for it.

Let's go to the Canada West Headline Sports highlights!

Weekend Highlights

March 6, 2025
UBC 0-1 Alberta
Highlights on Youtube

March 7, 2025
UBC 1-2 Alberta
Highlights on Youtube

Alberta wins the series 2-0 over UBC.

To The Victors

There's something to be said for consistency, and the Pandas have shown it for a long stretch this season. This Alberta Pandas team is currently on a 23-0-2 run after winning the Canada West championship, and they don't appear content to allow anyone to defeat them in regulation time. The Pandas didn't allow the Thunderbirds' big players score thanks to some solid defence and good goaltending, and they got clutch performances from at least two players who lifted the Pandas when they needed it.

Beyond the clutch performances, this Pandas team stood up to the Thunderbirds, rallied when down against the Cougars, and showed Canada West that their regular season was for real. They'll likely enter the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship as one of the top-two seeds at the event, and they should scare the teams out east as they are the best defensive team entering the event. And you know what they say about defences and championships. We'll see if that saying holds water when Nationals ends.

It was a hard-fought series that required extra time in both games and extra time in four of five total playoff games, but congratulations go out to the Alberta Pandas, your 2025 Canada West champions!

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 actually two players whose their contributions cannot be overlooked in this year's Canada West Final as Alberta Pandas forward Abby Soyko and Alberta Pandas goaltender Grace Glover played significant roles in helping the Alberta Pandas win their 15th Canada West championship banner!

I almost picked Soyko for her role in helping the Pandas get by the Cougars last week, but this week's effort proved she deserved to be added. She led Canada West in scoring in the playoffs with four goals and seven points, and her confidence with the puck allowed her to push the play when she was on the ice while creating space for herself and her teammates in the offensive zone. Her two game-winning goals were the result of her creativity with the puck, and those game-winners came at the most important of times as both were scored in overtime. Abby Soyko was a force in these playoffs for Alberta, and that's how she adds her name to the list!

Statsitically, Grace Glover was the best goaltender this season which earned her the Canada West Goaltender of the Year Award, but the playoffs are a different sort of pressure. Glover rose to the occasion once again, going 4-0-1 in the five playoff games Alberta played while sporting a 1.10 GAA and a .956 save percentage. What was even more impressive was her work in the Canada West Final where she stopped 70 of 71 shots UBC sent her way as she shut down the conference's best shooting team. A .986 save percentage means that goaltender's team has a better-than-good chance to win, and Pandas certainly did that. That's how Grace Glover adds her name to the list!

Going To The Dance

The eight-team roster for the National Championship has also been set thanks to games being played this week and into this weekend. All four conferences have their finalists, so we know the eight teams who will be heading to Elmira, Ontario for the biggest tournament in Canadian women's university hockey. Those eight teams are:

• CANADA WEST: Alberta and UBC
• OUA: Waterloo (host) and Toronto
• RSEQ: Concordia and Bishop's
• AUS: UNB and StFX

Based on how finals end for these conferences, there's still seedings to be decided, but it's pretty clear that Alberta will be a top-two seed while UBC will be ranked as the fifth-seeded team entering Nationals play. At the time of publication, Concordia and Bishop's were tied 1-1 in their best-of-three final with the third game happening at 5pm ET in Montreal today. The OUA's McCaw Cup will be decided on March 15 between Toronto and Waterloo, and the AUS final best-of-three series starts on Monday with StFX visiting UNB.

Assuming all the higher-seeded and/or higher-ranked teams win, Nationals could look something like this when they open on Thursday, March 20 at the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, Ontario:

• #1 Concordia Stingers vs. #8 StFX X-Women
• #2 Alberta Pandas vs. #7 Bishop's Gaiters
• #3 UNB Reds vs. #6 Toronto Varsity Blues
• #4 Waterloo Warriors vs. #5 UBC Thunderbirds

There are very good teams from across Canada headed to Elmira. The 2025 U SPORTS National Championship should be a beauty!

Last Chance For Comments

Are you a fan of the Headline Sports-style highlight packages I've been doing over the last two weeks? Submit your comments below and let me know. Had Canada West mandated that teams make the highlight reels (including visitor's goals, Trinity Western), I could have been doing them all season long. If you don't like it and want me to go back to writing the recaps, tell me why. Either way, make your voice heard since you're coming here for this news!

The Last Word

Another Canada West season has come to a close with the Pandas standing atop the mountain. There were incredible performances, record-setting nights, phenomenal efforts, and highlight-deserving plays made every week this year in Canada West women's hockey, and my hope is you were at a rink to catch at least one game this season. These women were dynamite on the ice each and every week.

To the award winners who had outstanding individual seasons, congratulations to each and every one of you. Your efforts made the season that much more fun to watch and to cover, and each of you deserve the honour bestowed upon you. Grace Elliott, Jaylyn Morris, and Elise Hugens from UBC were impact players and people both on and off the ice; Grace Glover from Alberta made stopping pucks look easy; Jules Stokes and Brandy West-McMaster have the Regina Cougars moving in the right direction as they build towards prominence again; Norah Collins of Manitoba has made the penalty box a foreign land despite her name landing on the scoresheet so often. Each of you made Canada West hockey into must-watch events this year, so congratulations to each of you!

Congratulations to the Alberta Pandas and chins up to the UBC Thunderbirds. Both of you have a chance to bring the Golden Path Trophy back to the best conference in women's hockey, so start the preparations for Nationals now. Practice hard, get mentally ready, and bring your A-games to Ontario like you did all season. There's no reason why either team can't bring home the hardware, and we'll be cheering for you as you progress in the tournament.

For the seven teams in Canada West who will be watching from home, you saw the effort put forth by UBC and Alberta all season. It's your job to match that effort and dedication. That work starts now, and it will be bolstered by the new recruits that join you in trying to win the 2026 Catherwood Cup. Cheer loudly for your colleagues from Alberta and UBC in their efforts to bring home the National Championship to western Canada, and start to put in the work over the summer that's needed to win the west.

The Rundown will be back next week with a preview of Nationals and the eight teams going to the tournament, so we'll see you here next week in getting set for the final four days of Canadian women's university hockey this season! It should be an exciting finish!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!