The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is out in the big world, broadcasting from the Hockey For All Centre in west Winnipeg tonight as part of the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge! The tournament games are beign broadcast on the UMFM Second Stream internet stream all weekend, but we'll dive back onto the radio frequency with an on-location show! Live radio means anything can happen, so be ready for some fun tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
We've already got confirmation that we'll be joined by the young lady to the left as Teebz and Jason will chat with Balmoral Hall Blazers defender Lucy Ring about her career and the tournament! We'll get her thoughts on the Blazers' first game against the Winnipeg Avros, we'll chat about her future aspirations, we'll talk about Carter George's record-0setting night last night and how awesome goalie goals are, and we'll discuss Balmoral Hall's chances at a gold medal this weekend and in the CSSHL playoffs! If Lucy is joined by another player, we'll pose the same questions to her as well, but Teebz and Jason will chatting hockey at the Hockey For All Centre 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 UMFM website's 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.
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 with Balmoral Hall Blazers defender Lucy Ring about the tournament, her season, her future goals, goalie goals, gold medal chances, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
As someone who has been doing radio for a number of years, I tend to listen to commercials more than I should probably admit. It's not the messaging that I'm interested in nor the product being sold, but it's how the commercial is selling the product that catches me. I say this because hockey games on the radio have a lot of time where commercials can be run, and companies need to have effective messaging for their advertisement to be catchy. In preapring commercials for sponsors of the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge, I've found that a large number of companies are only producing video commercials that have few, if any, voiceovers.
I get that visual media often doesn't need a lot of words when imagery does the trick. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? But when it comes to looking for radio commercials for companies, there aren't a lot of audio databases like YouTube or iSpot where audio commercials are held. With no database like that, I've had to use visual media for some of those commercials and there are a lot of ads where the words appear on the screen with no voiceover.
For the last three days, I have spent an exhausting amount of time creating radio commercials for companies who produce excellent visual media, but terrible audio media. One company has dozens of commercials on their YouTube account with all sorts of information and products, but this company rarely uses a voiceover to help promote their products. Heck, this company doesn't even mention its own name other than posting their logo at the end of the commercial. Again, this helps for visual media, but it's awful for people who may need the audio portion for things to make sense.
As a person who has 20/20 vision, it never occurred to me how vitally important the audio was in commercials until I began encountering more and more commercials that had none. This led me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how people with visual impairments may experience these commercials, and I landed on a page for the American Council for the Blind where Yvonne B. Garris gave an account of what it's like for her when she's watching television.
She makes one statement that I completely agree with, stating,
After hearing your ad, do you know what the commercial is for? If not, please change the commercial.
Honestly, I cannot disagree with her. There were lots of times over the last 72 hours where I sat with my eyes closed as a commercial played through my headphones, and I had no idea what the company was selling nor what company it was had I not been looking for them.
I'm not here to call out any of these companies for producing the advertisements they have. They're far more successful than I so whatever they're doing seems to work. However, they can be better as Miss Garris states and I support, and I hope that her statement above serves as a reminder for companies moving forward that there is a segment of the population with great influence and buying power that is often underserved by these companies' advertisements.
If you're in marketing or advertising and you're reading this, my hope is that this resonates with you. As someone with no visual impairments, I know I often take for granted that commercials and advertisements cater to those who can see. Selfishly, I could use more chatter in visual advertising to make creating radio ads easier, but I'm the last person to whom companies should be catering. Instead, I'm advocating for Miss Gerris whose simple request would make a huge difference in her life and, in turn, assist me.
In a world where communicating is supposed to be easier, we seem to be talking less and less. Use your words, folks. They matter.
If there's one thing that I enjoy more than anything when doing radio, it's participating at live events. Live radio has a certain unpredictability to it that is unlike anything else except for live television, and it's that unpredictability that makes covering events a bit of a thrill. It is with great honour that UMFM has been invited to cover the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge once again, and we are proud to working with the great people at Balmoral Hall School to bring these broadcasts to hockey fans once again! That will all happen this weekend, so let's see why you may want to tune in or watch in-person at the Hockey For All Centre in Winnipeg!
As you you may recall from past tournaments, this tournament was always run by the St. Mary's Academy Flames. After they decided to cut their prep hockey program, the tournament was in jeopardy of being eliminated from the hockey scene, but Balmoral Hall School stepped in to fill the void left by the Flames' absence. That effort will see the tournament continue this weekend from January 22-25 as nine teams battle for the gold medal and bragging rights!
This year's tournament will have a very local flavour as all nine teams are from Manitoba. There were a number of non-Manitoba AAA and CSSHL teams that couldn't squeeze the tournament into their schedules, but they have expressed interest in participating next season. That being said, Balmoral Hall decided to make this year's event into a showcase of the best women's hockey this province has to offer as six MFHL teams and all three Manitoba-based CSSHL teams will participate! If you wanted a best-on-best format, you got it!
UMFM will be broadcasting from the PCL Arena once again this year, and that gives us the honour of calling nine FWSSC games. All games being broadcast can be heard on the UMFM Second Stream internet stream beginning Thursday afternoon while your favorite programming continues on the 101.5 FM frequency. We are excited for the action, so here are the games you'll hear:
2:15pm January 22 - Balmoral Hall vs. Winnipeg Avros
7:30pm January 22 - Interlake Lightning vs. Pilot Mound
9:00am January 23 - Winnipeg Ice vs. Pilot Mound
5:00pm January 23 - Balmoral Hall vs. Westman Wildcats
9:15am January 24 - Interlake Lightning vs. Winnipeg Ice
2:05pm Janaury 24 - Pilot Mound vs. Pembina Valley Hawks
5:30pm January 24 - SKILLS COMPETITION!
9:00am January 25 - Championship semifinal
11:30am January 25 - 5th-place game
2:00pm January 25 - FWSSC Gold Medal Game
In total, there will be nine games plus the special event on Saturday night that will be broadcast via the UMFM Second Stream, so you shouldn't have any excuse when it comes to catching a few games as any internet-connected device can carry the broadcasts. Even if you can't get to the Hockey For All Centre, UMFM will make sure you have a window into the best women's hockey tournament in the province!
You may have noticed the words "SKILLS COMPETITION!" above. Balmoral Hall decided that they wanted to put their own stamp on the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge with something a little different, so they're going to run a skills competition where girls from all nine teams will get a shot to show off their dangles, clap-bombs, snipes, and saves! UMFM will pull off some magic by moving rinks with all of our equipment, but we're going to bring you the 2026 FWSSC Skills Competition in full with a pile of interviews and chatter as we cover the event and see which players make their marks!
What's not on the broadcast schedule above is Thursday night's episode of The Hockey Show which will also take place at the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge as Jason and I broadcast the show live from the rink prior to the 7:30pm game between the Interlake Lightning and Pilot Mound Buffaloes. There likely will be a few players who pop by for a chat, we'll get everyone updated on the afternoon games, and we'll chat about some hockey stories before the evening game, so make sure you stick around for that!
If you're planning on coming to a game or are on the fence about going, let me give you one little push: admission to all games and the skills competition is absolutely FREE! Thanks to the generosity of Patrick and Carla Rae who are part of the tournament's incredible sponsors, they have covered the costs of any and all admission costs for the tournament so that all fans can attend and catch the fantastic hockey action all weekend no matter what game you want see!
At the end of the day, there are a pile of women who will be playing this weekend who are heading off to post-secondary institutions on both sides of the border. There will be even more whose performances this weekend and this season will set themselves up for the same opportunities. This is the tournament where all of Aerin Frankel, Jade Iginla, Sarah Potomak, Halli Krzyzaniak, Hannah Miller, and Logan Angers showed their skills before playing on international and professional stages. Perhaps the next potential stars of women's hockey will be showcasing their skills in west Winnipeg this weekend?
The Female World Sport School Challenge is always a weekend of incredible hockey in which UMFM is honoured to included. I have no doubt that Balmoral Hall School and the Balmoral Hall Blazers are going to host an incredible tournament, and I'm excited to watch and call some incredible games between the best teams that Manitoba has to offer. If you can make it down to the Hockey For All Centre, please come and watch. If you can't be at the rinks this weekend, we'll keep you up to speed on what's happening at the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge on the UMFM Second Stream.
There usually isn't a lot to be excited about when it comes to hockey in late January, but the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge has been circled on the UMFM calendar for a while. We're grateful for Balmoral Hall's invitation to be part of the event again this year, and we're proud to be broadcasting the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge for all to hear! See you at the rink this weekend!
There were all sorts of playoff implications in the games featured this weekend in Canada West as eight teams looked to strengthen their chances for playoff spots and the related benefits that come with those playoff berths. The only team who wasn't participating was the MacEwan Griffins, and they needed a few teams to help them out by beating the teams they were chasing. Some teams will only have six games remaining on their schedule after this week, so the push for points has to be now if teams are going to make a run. Let's find out who made that push for points this week on The Rundown!
FRIDAY: The Trinity Western Spartans headed out to the flat land of Manitoba to meet the Bisons in a two-game set where both teams had playoff aspirations that required points. Trinity Western was looking to maintain their hold on second-place in the West Division while Manitoba was looking to overtake Saskatchewan and grab a playoff spot in the East Division for the first time this season. Both teams came into the weekend having won their last two games, so someone was going to be on the wrong side of the ledger after Friday night.
Bisons goals: Sophia Anderson (1), Dana Goertzen (4), Louise Fergusson (1), Aimee Patrick (7)
Bisons assists: Julia Bird (4), Hanna Bailey (4), Claire Moorman (4), Kelsey Huibers (1), Dana Goertzen (6), Aimee Patrick (7), Dana Goertzen (7), Sophia Anderson (3)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (29/34) in 64:30
Result: 5-4 overtime victory for Trinity Western over Manitoba.
SATURDAY: I'm pretty sure that Manitoba wasn't pleased with surrendering a three-goal lead on home ice before salvaging a point, so it was expected that the Bisons would come into Saturday's game with a more focused defensive effort. Trinity Western was looking for the full four-point effort as they looked to carry the comeback effort forward in this game. If this is going to be one of the playoff series this season, fans should be excited for another chapter in this battle!
Bisons goals: Aimee Patrick (8), Dana Goertzen (5), Sophia Heidinger (1), Norah Collins (5)
Bisons assists: Sara Harbus (5), Claire Moorman (5), Aimee Patrick (8), Sara Harbus (6), Sara Harbus (7), Alyssa Rasmuson (7)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (23/24)
Result: 4-1 victory for Manitoba over Trinity Western.
FRIDAY: The Mount Royal Cougars went northeast to Saskatoon where the Saskatchewan Huskies were hosting their two-game set, and this would be the second time that the Cougars and Huskies had met in the last two weeks. The exhibition game they played saw the Cougars prevail by a 1-0 score as the Cougars looked to put more distance between themselves and Calgary this weekend with wins. The Huskies were looking to get back into the win column after dropping a pair of games to Manitoba as they looked to hold onto their playoff spot.
Cougars goals: Kaia Borbandy (2), Julia Duke (7), Isa MacPhee (2)
Cougars assists: Jordyn Hutt (3), Summer Fomradas (9), Kaia Borbandy (4), Kiana McNinch (8)
Cougars netminder: Scout Anderson (10/12) in 60:43
Huskies goals: Jaiyana Nurani (1), Shelby Williamson (3)
Huskies assists: Kahlen Wisener (4), Jessica Anderson (1), Kahlen Wisener (5), Paris Oleksyn (4)
Huskies netminders: Colby Wilson (28/31)
Result: 3-2 overtime victory for Mount Royal over Saskatchewan.
SATURDAY: After an emotionally-charged game on Friday that featured Saskatchewan's outstanding Play For A Cure jerseys where they raised funds to battle breast cancer, the Cougars and Huskies were back at it on Saturday with both teams still seeking points. The Cougars were needing to add more points in order to secure first-place in the East Division while the Huskies were aiming to end their three-game skid that has opened their 2026 calendar.
Cougars goals: Allee Gerrard (9), Kiana McNinch (5), Sydney Benko (9), Breanne Comte (1), Jerzey Watteyne (9)
Cougars assists: Summer Fomradas (10), Allee Gerrard (6), Breanne Comte (6), Allee Gerrard (7), Keyana Bert (4), Julia Duke (4), Ava Metzger (3)
Cougars netminder: Katherine Holan (20/21)
Huskies goals: Sara Kendall (3)
Huskies assists: Jaiyana Nurani (3)
Huskies netminders: Colby Wilson (42/47)
Result: 5-1 victory for Mount Royal over Saskatchewan.
FRIDAY: The Alberta Pandas collected their gear and went southwest to visit the Regina Cougars this weekend. The Pandas were looking for points in an effort to overtake the Trinity Western Spartans whereas the Cougars were needing points to stay in the race in the East Division. Alberta could also put a gulf of space between them and MacEwan, so both teams were playing with a purpose this weekend. Would either make a dent in their quests to secure a playoff spot?
Result: 1-0 overtime victory for Alberta over Regina.
SATURDAY: Both teams grabbed points on Friday, and they returned to the rink with the same goal omn Saturday. Regina needed a two-point effort if they were going to close the gap on the teams ahead of them while Alberta was looking to close the gap between them and the Spartans while having two games in-hand. Regina had to get more pucks to the net if they wanted those two points while Alberta was hoping not to get goalied in a second game. Who'd grab the points?
Pandas goals: Riley Smith (2), Riley Smith (3)
Pandas assists: Annie King (3), Natalie Kieser (6), Natalie Kieser (7), Hailey Carothers (3)
Pandas shootout scorers: none
Pandas netminder: Grace Glover (31/33) in 65:00 plus 1/2 in the shootout
Cougars goals: Rayna Hennie (2), Maggie Kate Fitzpatrick (1)
Cougars assists: Maggie Kate Fitzpatrick (2), Brooke Fofonoff (2)
Cougars shootout scorers: Jordyn Blais
Cougars netminder: Amy Swayze (23/25) in 65:00 plus 3/3 in the shootout
Result: 3-2 shootout victory for Regina over Alberta.
FRIDAY: In what could potentially be a Canada West semifinal preview, the Calgary Dinos headed to Vancouver where the UBC Thunderbirds were waiting. UBC knew they were headed to the playoffs, so they were looking to send a message to the upstart Dinos. Calgary was looking to prove that UBC wasn't all that invincible. Calgary has had UBC's number on occasion in past seasons, so would we see another Dinos victory against the Thunderbirds?
Dinos goals: Brooklin Fry (1)
Dinos assists: Brooklyn Anderson (5), Evelyn Lawrence (6)
Dinos netminder: Amelia Awad (33/38)
SATURDAY: UBC took one step closer to securing home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, and they looked to take another step towards that outcome on Saturday. Calgary, however, wanted to get back into the win column as they still had hopes for first-place in the East Division. If Calgary was going to rattle the Thunderbirds' cage, they needed a win on UBC ice while UBC was looking to bury the Dinos for the sweep and a four-point weekend to send a message.
Dinos goals: April Klarenbach (4), Evelyn Lawrence (5)
Dinos assists: Kyla Mitenko (5), Jess Martens (6), Brooklyn Anderson (6), Alex Spence (10)
Dinos netminder: Maisie Cope (55/58) in 62:18
Result: 3-2 overtime victory for UBC over Calgary.
Don't even ask about divisions. I'm not interested in that setup. It's one conference, nine teams, and we'll see who is best in the west.
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S HOCKEY
School
Record
Points
GF
GA
Streak
Next
UBC
18-2-2-0
40
67
21
W2
vs TWU
Mount Royal
11-4-6-1
35
55
32
W3
vs REG
Calgary
12-5-1-4
30
52
40
L2
BYE
Trinity Western
5-10-6-1
23
51
50
L1
@ UBC
Alberta
8-6-0-6
22
40
44
L1
vs SAS
Manitoba
5-8-2-5
19
42
51
W1
vs MAC
Saskatchewan
5-9-3-3
19
29
47
L4
@ ALB
Regina
3-10-3-4
16
29
48
W1
@ MRU
MacEwan
2-14-2-2
10
19
51
L2
@ 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 player has quietly become one of the best two-way defenders in Canada West and, dare I say, all of U SPORTS. She may not appear on the scoresheet every week, but her impact on the game is hard to miss while watching her team play and win and that's how Mount Royal Cougars defender Summer Fomradas lands on The Honour Roll!
Fomradas set career highs with three goals and 15 points last season, and she has two goals and 12 points in her third season this year. Consistency has always been her best quality as a defender, even when she was playing in the AFHL, and she's brought that with her to Canada West where she's become head coach Scott Rivett's trusted defenders. Summer plays both sides of the puck equally well, often being a stopper against the oppositon's best players while also chipping in offensively when Mount Royal gets to the offensive zone.
With key losses on the blue line over the last couple of seasons, Fomradas' emergence as one of Mount Royal's best defenders has helped them remain an elite team. She won't razzle-dazzle anyone when she has the puck, but her first pass is usually good, her vision on both sides of the puck is excellent, and she reads plays well. Being a third-year player, she'll continue to lead the Cougars with her play and her hockey smarts, and she has a chance to equal or break her offensive career-high totals with six games to play this season.
Fomradas was solid all weekend in making life difficult for the Huskies' offensive players just as she's done all year to other Canada West teams, and adding a pair of assists while being so defensively-responsible this weekend wasn't missed by this writer. I'm not here to jinx her chances, but she'd be on my short list for Canada's FISU team next year! A two-assist weekend where she helped the Mount Royal Cougars to a pair of wins is how Summer Fomradas made the list!
A Justified Absence
I had noticed that there was a player missing from the action at Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg on Friday night as I watched the CBC broadcast. I had heard that this player had officially moved on after a ceremony last week, but I thought there might be some way she'd want to finish the season considering how well her team has been playing. It turns out, though, that Trinity Western Spartans forward Jordyn Matthews has moved into a new chapter of her life!
Make no mistake that Jordyn Matthews was a competitor night-in and night-out. She played 122 Canada West games where she recorded 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points, finishing her career as Trinity Western's all-time leading scorer in Canada West play. She played in all situations for the Spartans, recording six power-play goals and two shorthanded goals, and she never recorded more than 20 penalty minutes in a season. For a kid who came through the AFHL's Rocky Mountain Raiders program never having scored more than six points at the AAA level, Jordyn Matthews showed that it's not how your start, but how you finish with her solid five-year career at Trinity Western!
Jordyn's next chapter has her returning to Alberta where she'll begin a nursing job as she moves into the next chapter of her life! I'm sure there will still be time for hockey in a senior women's league and I hope she continues to play. Jordyn was a great competitor in Canada West, a cherished teammate by the Spartans, and I suspect she'll be loved by anyone she treats in Alberta in her new profession!
Congratulations on a great career, Jordyn, and here's hoping the nursing career is as rewarding, as challenging, and just as fun as your university hockey experience! HBIC wishes you all the best!
Special Threads
The Saskatchewan Huskies will always have a place on The Rundown for their big night where they raise money for various cancer initiatives to help save lives. It doesn't really matter what type of cancer that the Huskies are raising money to abolish because all cancers are brutal to those who get those diagnoses and to their families whose lives change because of those diagnoses. Major kudos go out to the Huskies for their annual Play For A Cure night!
For this year's game, the Huskies suited up in pink to honour Kerri Backman in the picture to the left. Kerri is goaltender Emma Backman's mom, and she recently defeated breast cancer in her life which is amazingly good news. What people should remember, though, is that breast cancer will affect 1-in-8 women in North America in their lifetimes, and that roughly 1-in-100 cancers detected in men are breast cancer. If you're doing the math, a team of 25 women's hockey players means that three of those women will, at some point, be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes. That's a scary thought for a number of reasons, so early detection and early treatment go a long way in helping women overcome this disease. Thankfully, Kerri did.
The Huskies fell just short of $17,000 in their fundraising total last season, so they had their sights set on that $17,000 mark this season. I am pleased to report that not only did the Huskies hit that mark, but they surpassed it! In total, the Department of Oncology at the University of Saskatchewan will be receiving a donation earmarked for breast cancer research and initatives from the Saskatchewan Huskies for a total of $19,195! How awesome is that effort?!?
You don't need to answer because I'll show you how awesome it is!
HuskieFan app Senior Producer Host and Partnership Coordinator Wray Morrison reached out to Ron MacLean on Saturday with the photo and information, and MacLean got it mentioned on Sportsnet's Hockey Day In Canada yesterday! How cool is that? Great job, Wray, on getting the Saskatchewan Huskies women's program a little exposure for the amazing work they're doing to fight cancers!
May I add this is why he should run Canada West's marketing and communications departments? If I was in charge, he would be!
What About Everyone Else?
We've seen what the Huskies have been doing, and, to date, they've donated nearly $120,000 to various cancer-related research organizations and initiatives that help cancer patients. That's a huge amount of money when you consider they raise that on one night, and it got me thinking as to why this isn't a Canada West initiative.
If nine programs were able to raise $10,000 or more in their communities for cancer research, wouldn't $100,000 annually going to cancer research have a significant impact on cancer diagnoses and treatments? Prostate cancer makes up about 23% of all new male cancer diagnoses while breast cancer accounts for about 26% of new cancer diagnoses in women. Lung and bronchus cancers make up the second-most diagnoses in Canada. In total, those cancers make up nearly half of all cancer diagnoses in both men and women!
What angers me the most about Canada West is that there isn't a mention of Saskatchewan's Play For A Cure game anywhere on the Canada West website nor do they seem to care to highlight the efforts and amazing results that the Saskatchewan Huskies women's hockey team turn in every year on that night. I live a province away and I'm emailing the Huskies every September about the dates for their Play For A Cure game, yet Canada West completely ignores everything about it despite these young women being everything that Canada West implores its athletes to be. Baffling, isn't it?
Again, I'll let Bob and Bob ask the obvious question of Canada West.
Scheduling Note
I will admit right here and now that I will be watching zero Canada West games next weekend thanks to my involvement in the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge hosted by Balmoral Hall School and the Balmoral Hall Blazers. UMFM has the honour of calling tournament games from the PCL Arena at Winnipeg's Hockey For All Centre, so I'll be in a rink for four-straight days watching the next stars of U SPORTS battle for the gold medal and bragging rights!
With Balmoral Hall taking over as hosts from the previous school, they've reduced the field to nine teams as they learn how to manage this tournament. All nine teams are Manitoba-based team, in fact, so that's where the bragging rights come into play. In saying that, there are a lot of already-recruited players and a pile of uncommitted players playing next weekend, so tune into the tournament on UMFM's Second Stream internet stream or watch on FloHockey.tv if you have a subscription. The hockey should be awesome, so we'll see you at the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge next weekend!
The Last Word
Playoff spots will be on the line next week again in Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. The home-and-home series between UBC and Trinity Western will also have ramifications, but Trinity Western seems almost assured of their inclusion in the playoffs. Unless MacEwan can win seven of eight games while getting some help, the Spartans and Pandas could clinch playoff spots next weekend.
Out in the East Division, Manitoba occupies third-place and the final playoff spot due to them holding the tiebreaker over the Saskatchewan Huskies, so that battle may come down to the last weekend of the season. Of course, Regina's right behind them and could catch one or both if they falter, so that race in the East might come down to who makes the least mistakes over the final four weeks of the season. Regina plays both Saskatchewan and Manitoba in two and three weeks, respectively, so those games likely will determine whether or not Regina will play into late February.
Mathematically, no one is out, but every game's result will determine where and how each of the nine Canada West finish the season.
If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you likely know that I'm a fan of the infamous New York Islanders' Fisherman jersey. That's not to say that I'm not fan of the traditional Islanders jersey nor am I trying to compare the two in terms of which one is better, but I always thought the Islanders were ahead of their time when the Fisherman debuted. The fact that the jerseys lasted for just two seasons after Islanders fans demanded the team go back to the original logo didn't get the jersey any sort of time to become part of the identity, and today's book looks at that as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders, written by Nicholas Hirshon and published by University of Nebraska Press. If you were looking for a direct examination into the reasons why the Fisherman jersey failed, this book pulls back the curtain on what happened in Nassau County!
From his biography on his website, Nicholas Hirshon, a former New York City journalist, is an associate professor of communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He holds a Bachelor's in Journalism from St. John's University, a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Ohio University. Hirshon won an AEJMC Promising Professors Award in 2014 and the Society of Professional Journalists' New Jersey Journalism Educator of the Year Award in 2019. In 2015, his Ohio University students nominated him for a Graduate Associate Outstanding Teaching Award, and he became the first journalism instructor to win the award in eight years. He has published three books on New York City sports in his career.
We Want Fish Sticks is the kind of writing I appreciate because it feels like Hirshon pulled no punches in his quest to understand and illustrate the reasons why the New York Islanders' logo and jersey redesign in the mid-1990s failed so spectacularly. He doesn't sugar-coat stories nor does he soften the words he chooses to describe some of the evidence he provides. In what feels like a journalistic style, Hirshon simply states things matter-of-factly and lets readers come to their own conclusions through the evidence he presents.
For me, the key to We Want Fish Sticks being a credible and reliable source of information about an era that happened thirty years ago is that Hirshon spoke to "fifty-three hockey insiders" about that 1995-97 period of Islanders hockey. While Hirshon admittedly constructed the narrative of the book, these fifty-three insiders gave Hirshon their honest thoughts about that era in Islanders history. Players spoke of wearing the Fisherman jersey. Designers spoke of the process it took to get the logo and jersey onto NHL players. Others simply gave stories that seemed larger than life. In the end, We Want Fish Sticks is an incredible look inside the rebranding process of an NHL team.
Hirshon makes it clear in We Want Fish Sticks that there were missteps at almost every key point in the rebranding of the New York Islanders. Whether it be rushing to get it into production from the design aspect, ignoring market research, having a less-than-competitive NHL team, hiring the wrong people, absentee owners, and a con man who was eventually thrown in jail, all of these factors seemed to contribute to the Fisherman's failure. It wasn't one major problem, but We Want Fish Sticks points to the Islanders' rebrand failing due to death by a thousand cuts with the mistakes made.
Not surprisingly, Hirshon illustrates this well when he wrote,
"Within the franchise the logo quickly became a scapegoat for the Islanders' poor play. Only two months into the season the team already had two four-game losing streaks, and the players' dislike for the jerseys had them searching for other motivations to get through a long season. Rich Pilon said that he stayed driven by focusing on the men sitting beside him on the bench. "You put the jersey on for the team, so to look past that when you're wearing that jersey that I didn't care for on my side - lots of players didn't either - then you're playing for teammates, right?"
That kind of recap about how the first two months of wearing the Fisherman went likely doesn't give anyone a good feeling. One could say that the jerseys had nothing to do with how the team played which is true, but it seems like the Fisherman logo was emblematic of the problems behind the logo within the Islanders' franchise.
We Want Fish Sticks isn't all doom and gloom, though. Hirshon spoke of some of the positives that the franchise experienced during this time period as well. The emergence of players like Žigmund Pálffy and Travis Green gave fans hope for better times, and the acquisitions of Bryan Smolinski and Mathieu Schneider bolstered a lineup that needed some star power. Victories over the hated New York Rangers were celebrated by all Islanders fans, and people were jubilant over John Spano's reported puchase of the team until they weren't. We Want Fish Sticks highlights all of this and the fallout.
Overall, We Want Fish Sticks is an incredible look at the four-year period where the idea of an Islanders' rebrand began to its inception to its eventual end. Hirshon's interviews and research gives fans an incredible look into the NHL branding process while following the rather sad fortunes of the Fisherman Islanders jersey. We Want Fish Sticks won't change my view on the Fisherman jersey nor will it prompt me to sell the one I have, but Hirshon's incredible look at the New York Islanders' most forgettable period of time in their history is absolutely deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!
We Want Fish Sticks was published in 2018, but it can still be ordered through the University of Nebraska Press website if one wants a copy. Alternatively, you might be able to find a copy at your local bookstore or library. No matter where you find a copy, We Want Fish Sticks is a good read for all hockey fans, especially New York Islanders fans, and is recommended for all without any of the mocking chants!
The short answer to the question above is no, I'm not an influencer by any means. The deeper answer is that I neither want to live my life in the public eye nor would I want to have my face and thoughts splashed all over social media. Frankly, it seems exhausting, and I know I could put that time to better use for a plethora of things. That being said, the news to the left today was pretty awesome to see as the Colorado Avalanche went ahead and promoted Kim Weiss to a permanent assistant coach with the AHL's Colorado Eagles, and that makes her just the second woman to coach at that level! I asked the question above, though, because I laid out her credentials for why she deserves a shot at the AHL level after she stepped in for Derek Army on Tuesday night on the bench. Maybe the Colorado Avalanche read Hockey Blog In Canada?
It would be incredibly delusional of me to even assume that, so the coincidence of me talking about Kim Weiss and the resulting promotion she received from the Avalanche organization has zero correlation whatsoever outside of the Avalanche recognizing her talent. Frankly, good on the Avalanche for giving Kim this chance to prove herself even more because she has shown in her stops along the way to this point that she knows the game inside and out.
"Kim has done a great job since joining the Eagles coaching staff, and this is a well-earned promotion," Avalanche Assistant GM and Eagles General Manager Kevin McDonald said today. "We're excited to see her continued contributions to the team's success in the future."
Again, it's hard to argue why this may have taken longer than it should have, but the Avalanche finally came around. All Weiss did in her time at Trinity College as a player was win, and that has translated to her coaching career where she helped the NAHL's Maryland Black Bears improve in all aspects of their game before going back to Trinity College as an assistant coach with the men's hockey team who were nearly unbeatable in her time on the bench.
Weiss wasn't able to record the win in her first game as an assistant coach, but she gets her first game as an official assistant coach at home tomorrow against the Henderson Silver Knights. The Eagles are 3-1-0 this season against Henderson with two of those wins coming in overtime, and the Eagles possess the top points percentage in the Pacific Division with a 22-8-4 record despite sitting in second-place in total points. If Weiss can add a little more to the Eagles, they should be able to overtake the Ontario Reign with three games in-hand!
I'm happy she's getting an opportunity to show her stuff because it seemed like Kim Weiss was destined for more in the AHL than just being a video coach. That's not to say that video coaches aren't important, but Kim Weiss's career didn't seem like it was destined to plateau at that level. The Colorado Avalanche rewarded her hard work with a well-earned promotion today. Congratulations, Kim!
After Jessica Campbell missed in back-to-back years, could we see Kim Weiss's name as the first female coach to hoist the Calder Cup? That may be within reach for the Colorado Eagles this season!
The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back at the cozy confines of the UMFM studios tonight where our hosts will be ready to welcome in a guest who is looking to run the table next week with his team in an effort to win a gold medal! The 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge is happening from January 22-25 at the Hockey For All Centre in west Winnipeg, and the Balmoral Hall Blazers are hosting the event this year as it's going to a smaller, all-Manitoba format in their first year of hosting. As such, there will be bragging rights on the line for all nine teams at the event, and we'll hear if the host team's coach is ready for the challenge tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason welcome Balmoral Hall Blazers interim head coach Aaron Kaatz to the show! Aaron has been coaching in Manitoba at a high level for a number of years despite his youthful appearance, so we'll find out how he got into coaching, hear about some of his experiences, discuss the age-old boys-vs-girls question when it comes to coaching, and get the necessary information about Balmoral Hall's chances next week and into the CSSHL playoffs as we have some fun getting to know Aaron tonight! I'm sure he's going to have some good insight into the tournament as well, so we'll get all of that info out of him 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 UMFM website's 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.
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 with Balmoral Hall Blazers head coach Aaron Kaatz about getting into coaching, getting the most out of players, winning games, battling hard, learning on the fly, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
I know there are hockey traditionalists who still think that Jessica Campbell being on an NHL bench is, in some way, wrong, but she made it to where she is on merit, skill, and knowledge. She is one of many women who took part in the NHLCA Female Coaches Program, and it led to her landing a job with the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds where the team found immense success under head coach Dan Bylsma and assistant coach Jessica Campbell. Campbell will tell you that her time with the Firebirds was invaluable due to all that she learned, and that brings us to Kim Weiss to the left who is getting her opportunity tonight! Granted, it's not a full-time assistant coaching gig at the AHL level yet, but her team has her as a full-time part of the staff and they promoted her to the bench for tonight's game!
Kim Weiss, pictured above, is the video coach for the AHL's Colorado Eagles after being hired in 2024. She was a guest coach for the Avalanche in 2023-24 and she's been on the ice for the last few Avalanche Development Camps, but Weiss has been honing her craft for some time prior to arriving in Colorado. In fact, she made a little history in one stop, but coaching appears to be a burning passion that she has been pursuing since her playing days ended in 2011!
Weiss played NCAA hockey for Trinity College where she wore #12 and scored a ton of goals and points. In her first season of NCAA Division-III hockey, she exploded onto the scene with 15 goals and 27 points in 26 games with the Bantams, leading the team in scoring and helping her earn the Tara Borawski Award as Trinity College's top player. She followed that stellar 2007-08 season up with an 11-goal, 22-point season in 2008-09 and a 14-goal, 28-point season in 2009-10, marking the first time that Trinity College had appeared in the Division-III tournament before falling in the NESCAC Championship Final to top-seeded Amherst College 2-1 in overtime as Weiss recorded an assist.
In her final season with the Bantams in 2010-11, Weiss went on a tear through Division-III hockey, scoring 22 goals and 31 points in 26 games, earning her the NESCAC Player of the Year while being named as a First Team All-American and being nominated for the Laura Hurd Award as the Division-III Player of the Year. In her four years with Trinity College, Weiss helped the Bantams to a 70-22-11 record while setting the school records for most career points (108), most career goals (62), and most goals in a single season (22). Did I mention she earned her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience as well?
With graduation marking a potential end to her playing days, Weiss changed her focus when it came to staying with hockey.
"I kinda knew once I graduated that coaching was something I wanted to get into," Weiss told Trevor Sheehan of Neutral Zone. She was offered the head coaching job for women's ice hockey one year later but elected to return home to coach her high school program. "I realized at 22 years old that prep school wasn't for me," Weiss said. "As a young person, watching my friends have fun in Boston and New York City was challenging. I needed a change."
Weiss began coaching at Landon School, an all-boys school, where she began to find her coaching groove. She developed a relationship with the NAHL's Maryland Black Bears where she worked with players on skill development, and the Black Bears hired her in 2021 as an assistant coach, helping the Black Bears to a 25-21-8 record before falling in the second round of the playoffs to the Maine Nordiques.
Weiss specifically helped the Black Bears with special teams as their power-play percentage went up from 16% to 24% and their penalty-killing percentage saw a slight increase from 80% to 83%. With the players trusting her more, she was named as the Black Bears' associate head coach and spent three games in March 2023 as the first female to serve as head coach in the NAHL! It should be noted that she was 3-0 in those games where she was acting head coach!
Things came full circle, in a way, in 2023 as Trinity College was searching for an assistant coach for their men's program. That was an opportunity that Weiss couldn't pass on, so she applied for the position. Trinity College head coach Matt Greason hired her immediately, stating, "It was an easy hire. Her work ethic and growth mindset are elite" while observing that "Kim has great self-awareness and knows what to do to improve. She coaches and also works to absorb every bit of material she can to master coaching. That drives Kim and improves everyone around her, including me."
In 2023-24 with Weiss standing alongside Greason, the Bantams were a force in NCAA Division-III play, compiling a 21-3-1 record with a goal differential of +60! They would advance all the way to the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship Game against Hobart College where the magic would finally run out as Hobart College won 2-0, but Trinity College had an undeniably incredible season!
Weiss took her spot on the bench tonight in place of Derek Army who was out with illness, and it wasn't quite as exciting as it may have been with the Ontario Reign doubling up the Colorado Eagles by a 6-3 score. It seems the scorekeepers didn't even have time to change the official scoresheet as Army still shows as one of two assistant coaches listed on Mark Letestu's staff, but she was on the bench as shown on the FloHockey feed! Congratulations to Kim Weiss on her promotion!
Jessica Campbell is still the only full-time assistant female coach in the NHL, but it seems that there are a handful of women who are on the verge of taking that next step. As shown throughout this article, Kim Weiss earned her opportunity on the bench through merit, skill, and knowledge, and my hope is that this is the first of many for her and other women who have earned the opportunity to be there.
The Colorado Eagles may have lost the game, but hockey is better tonight because Kim Weiss earned her spot on the bench. Let's hope that other organizations give deserving women their opportunity too.
There has only been a handful of times where this blog has been involved in international hockey events with our neighbours to the south, but the arrival of today's news in my email may change that. I know I've had the privilege of covering the World Deaf Ice Hockey Championship back in 2009 and there have been a handful of US-based teams who have played at the Female World Sport School Challenge, but I've never been involved in a series of games between a US-based team and a Canadian-based team. It appears that will be something I can cross off the ol' HBIC Bucket List because that will happen in March while accomplishing another first for both HBIC and UMFM! It is an honour that we were asked to participate in this event, so I'm clearing a weekend for the 2026, and possibly the first annual, Cross Border Classic!
UMFM has carried men's and women's hockey before, but this sledge hockey series will be a first for the radio station as the Manitoba Provincial Parahockey team will take the ice on March 6-8 to square off against the Minnesota Wild Sled Hockey team at the Hockey For All Centre in a three-game series! UMFM will be on-site to call all three games for anyone who wants to tune in from either side of the border as the UMFM Second Stream will bring listeners all the action!
Team Manitoba head coach McKenna Wild sent me information and a poster for the event, but I made a few adjustments to her work!
Having had McKenna in the UMFM studios before the holdiays, I know she's very excited for her team to take the ice against the Minnesota Wild Sled Team, so I expect Team Manitoba to be locked in by March. After watching their practice in early December, I can tell you Manitoba's athletes were flying all over the ice so I'm hoping that boundless energy is carried forward to the first weekend in March!
The license plates in the province may say "Friendly Manitoba", but I know there's a lot of pride on this Manitoba side when it comes to competing with the Minnesota Wild team. Of course, we're hoping to see lots of people at the games at the Hockey For All Centre (HFAC), and this would be a great way for everyone to come and see some of the best parahockey players from both Manitoba and Minnesota showing off their skills and abilities! If you haven't watched a parahockey game before in any manner, this is where you should be booking those days at the HFAC to come and watch the Cross Border Classic. Come and cheer on the Manitoba Express as they'll be looking for victories against the Wild!
You may have noticed that there are sponsorship opportunities available for this series, and Sledge Hockey Manitoba is looking for sponsors of all shapes and sizes! You don't need a six- or seven-digit marketing budget to help them make this weekend memorable, so get in touch with me using the "Contact Me" option at the top of the page and we'll put you in touch with the right people. Honestly, even a donation of time or products would help Sledge Hockey Manitoba in a major way, so if you want to help... please get in touch!
We know that one team in this province already has a healthy rivalry with a Minnesota Wild team, and it's time to establish another fun and friendly rivalry between two good hockey teams. Circle March 6-8 on your calendar, hop in the car, and come see the best parahockey players from Manitoba and Minnesota clash at the Hockey For All Centre for bragging rights in the 2026 Cross Border Classic!
Eight teams returned to action this weekend with playoff implications being the story arc in a few of those series. The Alberta Pandas started the second half with the bye, but there was action played at Clare Drake Arena as well. We'll touch on that game after the Canada West games are reviewed, but, with the number of games remaining getting smaller for everyone involved, this weekend was all about collecting points for those who still have playoff hopes. Let's see who did what to help their playoff chances this weekend on The Rundown!
FRIDAY: The Regina Cougars headed west towards thw shadow of the Rocky Mountains where the Calgary Dinos waited. Calgary is comfortably in a playoff spot, but they weren't satisfied with second-place as they looked to catch the Mount Royal Cougars. The Regina Cougars arrived in sothern Alberta needing points to try to close the gap between them and the Saskatchewan Huskies who held the third and final playoff spot in the East Division. If Regina has playoff aspirations, they're going to have to beat teams ahead of them, and that's what the assignment was against the Dinos this weekend!
SATURDAY: Losing on Friday wasn't the end of the world for Regina as a split would still keep them in the race for that final playoff sport, so they knew the task that needed to be done. The Dinos, meanwhile, were looking to sweep the visiting Cougars out of town while trying to track down the hometown Cougars in the standings. Both teams were on the hunt for points on Saturday evening!
Cougars goals: Shaylee Scraba (3), Rayna Hennie (1), Trinity Grove (1), Felicia An (2)
Cougars assists: Kaylee Dyer (5), Meg Farmer (2), Jordyn Blais (3), Brooke Fofonoff (1), Kiah Shields (1)
Cougars netminders: Natalie Williamson (9/12) in 20:00; Amy Swayze (10/15) in 40:00
Dinos goals: Jess Martens (5), Sydney Mercier (12), Josie McLeod (1), Brooklyn Anderson (4), Brette Kerley (2), Josie McLeod (2), Brooklyn Anderson (5), Jess Martens (6)
Dinos assists: Jada Johns (6), Kyla Mitenko (3), Sydney Mercier (3), Evelyn Lawrence (5), Jess Martens (5), Caitlyn Perlinger (7), Eden Carius (3), Bree Kennedy (4), Kyla Mitenko (4), Sydney Mercier (4), Brette Kerley (2), Emma Tait (1)
Dinos netminders: Alyssa Barrette (16/20) in 30:05; Maisie Cope (12/12) in 29:55
Result: 8-4 victory for Calgary over Regina.
FRIDAY: Calgary played host to what could be a preview of the Canada West Final this season as the West Division-leading UBC Thunderbirds met the East Division-leading Mount Royal Cougars for a weekend series. UBC had already guaranteed themselves a playoff spot prior to the December break, so they were looking to avoid injuries while keeping sharp. Mount Royal still had work to do in holding off the Dinos while trying to clinch first-place in the East Division. The top two teams in Canada West clashed in Calgary!
SATURDAY: UBC took a 1-0 series lead in the season series, going up 2-0 in goal differential as they look to win the tie-breaker for first-overall in Canada West. Mount Royal would need a push back if they wanted to secure home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, and that means beating the Thunderbirds who have just one loss. Would UBC wrap up the first-overall tie-breaker this weekend?
FRIDAY: In a series that could have big playoff implications, the Manitoba Bisons headed northwest to Saskatoon for a series with the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Bisons needed to close the gap between them and Saskatchewan if they wanted any chance at earning a playoff spot, so wins and points had to be obtained. The Huskies had a chance to deliver a critical blow to those hopes with a pair of wins over the Bisons, so both teams needed to come in hungry on Friday!
Result: 4-0 victory for Manitoba over Saskatchewan.
SATURDAY: The Bisons took one step forward in closing that gap between them and the Huskies, but the Huskies returned to Merlis Belsher Place looking to re-establish the point gap that started the weekend by splitting the two games. Another regulation win by Manitoba would have them breathing down Saskatchewan's neck in the standings, so the Bisons were looking for a sweep. Saskatchewan, who were denied a goal in Game One of 2026, were looking to erase that lack of offensive punch by scoring often in the second game.
Bisons goals: Julia Bird (7), Dana Goertzen (3), Aimee Patrick (6), Brenna Nicol (2)
Bisons assists: Norah Collins (3), Julia Bird (3), Sadie Keller (2), Sara Harbus (4)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (16/17)
Result: 4-1 victory for Manitoba over Saskatchewan.
FRIDAY: The MacEwan Griffins headed to Langley, BC where the Trinity Western Spartans were waiting to host the weekend series. MacEwan had one priority this weekend: win and gather as many points as possible. Two losses would put MacEwan in a very deep hole, and Trinity Western came into the weekend with a shovel to do that. They also needed points in an effort to secure second-place in the West Division, so both squads were hunting for a win on Friday!
Griffins goals: Sasha Malenfant (3)
Griffins assists: Jordana Jones (2)
Griffins netminder: Lindsey Johnson (34/38)
Result: 4-1 victory for Trinity Western over MacEwan.
SATURDAY: MacEwan was basically in must-win mode on Saturday and that will likely be for the remainder of their season if they hope to have any shot at the playoffs. Beating one of the teams they were chasing for a playoff spot would help immensely, but Trinity Western wasn't going to let a chance to drive a nail in the Griffins' coffin go to waste. A sweep would push them past Alberta as well, so Saturday's game was all about winning in regulation on both sides of the ice.
Spartans goals: Kyra Anderson (2), Chloe Reid (8), Kara Yackel (6)
Spartans assists: Ella Boon (7), Jordyn Matthews (5), Kyra McDonald (8), Olivia Leier (3), Kyra Anderson (2)
Spartans netminders: Olivia Davidson (21/23)
Result: 3-2 victory for Trinity Western over MacEwan.
FRIDAY: With Alberta off this week, the Pandas were looking to get some additional game action under their belts before starting their second half of the season next week. They had already played the NAIT Ooks and the Edmonton Junior Oilers U18 AAA teams, and this week saw them welcome the ACAC's Red Deer Polytechnic Queens to Clare Drake Arena. Red Deer has a 10-3-2-1 record and sits in second-place in the ACAC, so the Pandas had to be ready for this game!
Queens goals: no boxscores found, but someone scored
Queens assists: no boxscores found
Queens netminders: no boxscores found, but someone stopped pucks
Pandas goals: no boxscores found, but multiple players scored
Pandas assists: no boxscores found
Pandas netminder: no boxscores found, but someone stopped pucks
Result: 6-1 victory for Alberta over Red Deer.
Don't even ask about divisions. I'm not interested in that setup. It's one conference, nine teams, and we'll see who is best in the west.
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S HOCKEY
School
Record
Points
GF
GA
Streak
Next
UBC
17-2-1-0
36
59
18
L1
vs CAL
Mount Royal
10-4-5-1
31
47
29
W1
@ SAS
Calgary
12-4-1-3
29
49
32
W2
@ UBC
Trinity Western
5-9-5-1
21
45
42
W2
@ MAN
Alberta
7-6-0-5
19
37
42
L1
@ REG
Saskatchewan
5-8-3-2
18
26
39
L2
vs MRU
Manitoba
4-8-2-4
16
34
45
W2
vs TWU
Regina
3-10-2-3
13
27
45
L8
vs ALB
MacEwan
2-14-2-2
10
19
51
L2
BYE
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 player nearly doubled her scoring totals from the first half of the season, and she equaled her career-high in goals and points in any season this weekend as she went on a tear over these last two games. Her four goals and five-point performance this weekend lands Calgary Dinos forward Jess Martens on the Honour Roll!
In no season prior to this one had Jess Martens scored more than four goals or five points. That's not to say she wasn't an effective player, but her role didn't see her scoring a lot of points. This season, she had started the campaign with two goals and three points in six games, but she continued to play well defensively for the Dinos.
This weekend, however, Martens was all over the ice as she opened the scoring in both games, scored the game-winner on the power-play on Friday night, and had the primary assist on Brette Kerley's game-winner on Saturday. Her five points boosted her from six points to eleven on the season which is a career-high total. Her four goals boosted her goal-scoring from two markers to six which is a career-high total. Her eleven points this season doubles her career total to 22 points. In short, Martens' big plays led to a big weekend for the Dinos which, in turn, is leading to a career-year for the senior!
Four-goal and five-point weekends don't happen very often in Canada West, but it's the importance of those points in helping the Dinos to two big wins that makes Jess Martens' weekend so impressive. If the Dinos can harness what she did in preparing for the second half and inject into all their players, the Dinos may be an unstoppable force! Exploding out of the break with key performances is a good way to get noticed, and that's how Calgary's Jess Martens made the list!
A Change Made
If you stopped to watch the highlights of the Regina-Calgary games above, you may have noticed that I didn't do them in a Headline Sports style like I had in the first half. If you haven't watched or don't watch them, that's ok too because I just figured no one does.
I asked for feedback on doing the highlights in that style, and I got no responses. I asked if people wanted to see something different, and no one responded. Since there was no feedback, the apathy tells me that no one cares whether I make the highlights fun or not, so I'm not going to spend time doing that if there's zero appreciation for it.
If you appreciated those highlight reels I was making, speak up. Otherwise, I'm reclaiming my time rather than making highlight reels.
Finding Her Way Back
I wrote a story on Friday about former Calgary Dinos goaltender and former Great Britain national team goaltender Ella Howard finding a home with the NAIT Ooks in the ACAC. Ella's limited time with Calgary proved she could play the position well, but her time was limited due to an injury. What injury she had was never discussed publicly anywhere, but the Dinos moved on without Howard as her injury seemed like it may have derailed her hockey career entirely.
Thanks to Alberta playing the NAIT Ooks on January 2, Ella Howard's name appeared on the boxscore and I noticed it immediately. Upon further examination, Ella's injury was disclosed in an article written by the Ooks' athletic department where she said she had been suffering from femoroacetabular impingement. I explain all of what that is in the linked article, but Howard makes it clear that she's aiming to get back in the crease regularly as part of her rehab.
The good news is that it seems like Ella's spirit and love of the game hasn't wavered as she tries to get back to the form that got her on the Dinos' roster. She may never play interntationally again, but just seeing her come back from an injury as serious as femoroacetabular impingement can be classified as a major victory all on its own.
Keep up the rehab and the good work, Ella! We're cheering for you!
Free TV Schedule
My frustration with Canada West boils over more often than it likely should because I have never seen an organization fail so often as Canada West does. For those that aren't aware, CBC Sports is still streaming Canada West hockey games for free on their website and on YouTube, but I suspect that no one knows because why would Canada West want to promote free viewership of their product?
Since they won't do it, I will. Here's CBC's schedule for games:
January 16 - Trinity Western at Manitoba (7pm CT)
January 23 - Saskatchewan at Alberta (8pm CT)
March 19 - U SPORTS Quarterfinal 1 (12pm CT)
March 19 - U SPORTS Quarterfinal 2 (6pm CT)
March 20 - U SPORTS Quarterfinal 3 (12pm CT)
March 20 - U SPORTS Quarterfinal 4 (6pm CT)
March 21 - U SPORTS Consolation Semifinal 1 (9am CT)
March 21 - U SPORTS Consolation Semifinal 2 (12pm CT)
March 21 - U SPORTS Championship Semifinal 1 (3pm CT)
March 21 - U SPORTS Championship Semifinal 2 (6pm CT)
March 22 - U SPORTS Gold Medal Game (2pm CT)
There could be more games added, but CBC is one of the national broadcasters for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, so those two events do occupy a lot of their network and streaming time. In saying that, though, there are at least two more Canada West games on CBC Sports' streaming site, so do yourself a favour and tune in!
The Last Word
The playoff races get a little more serious next week with key matchups in Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Regina potentially having big impacts on all six teams who are playing in those games. If you like playoff races, these games are ones you should be watching because there could be all sorts of movement in the standings. All six teams are gunning for points to bolster their playoff hopes next weekend.
It's coming down to crunch time in Canada West where teams have to refuse to lose if they want to be in the playoffs. For some, getting into the playoffs may require the same effort as it takes to win Canada West. That's why these playoff races are so fun - all it takes is a hot streak for any of these teams to go on a championship run!
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