The Rundown - Odds And Ends

Games have started again, but there are no official Canada West games until next week. A handful of teams are playing exhibition games this weekend, and I've tried to find some info on each of those games. I don't know why teams in Canada West keep this information a secret when it's a chance to sell the university game to more people, but this is the reality we live in when it comes to university hockey in Canada. Leaving that frsutration aside, we're one week from the second half of the season officially starting, so let's check out what's been happening here and elsewhere on The Rundown!

FRIDAY: The Alberta Pandas were back in action on January 2 as they welcomed the NAIT Ooks to Clare Drake Arena! NAIT plays in the ACAC where they currently sit in third-place with a 7-8-1-0 record, so the Pandas were welcoming a solid team to their barn. This would be the second time the Ooks and Pandas had tangled as Alberta won a game in September by a 6-1 score, so the Pandas were looking to make it a 2-0 record against NAIT. Would they shake off the holiday rust and send the Ooks home with a second loss?

Ooks goals: Grier Slabaida (1)
Ooks assists: no gamesheet
Ooks netminder: no gamesheet

Pandas goals: no gamesheet, but Alberta scored a lot
Pandas assists: no gamesheet
Pandas netminder: no gamesheet

Result: 7-1 victory for Alberta over NAIT.

SATURDAY: The Saskatchewan Huskies and Mount Royal Cougars travelled to Thunderchild First Nation for a neutral site game on Saturday. Thunderchild First Nation sits about 2.5 hours northwest of Saskatoon near Turtleford, Saskatchewan, and they opened a brand-new wellness and athletic centre in 2024 that is an absolute gem in their community. The Regina Cougars spent a week there earlier this season, and I'll post that video of their adventure below. Last night, however, the Cougars and Huskies put their stamp on Thunderchild Wellness Centre as both sides looked to shake the holiday rust off with a spirited game. Which side would post a victory?

Cougars goals: Sydney Benko (1)
Cougars assists: Summer Fomradas (1), Allee Gerrard (1)
Cougars netminder: no statistics shown

Huskies goals: none
Huskies assists: none
Huskies netminders: no statistics shown

Result: 1-0 victory for Mount Royal over Saskatchewan.

SUNDAY: The Alberta Pandas were playing a second game in three days this weekend as they are scheduled to meet the Edmonton U18 Junior Oilers White team at Mill Woods Recreation Centre tonight at 6pm local time. At the time of writing, the game had yet to start, but the Pandas were aiming to hand the 13-3-0-0 Oilers a loss tonight. Edmonton sits in second-place in the U18 AAA AFHL standings, so tonight's game might be a beauty between these two teams!

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	16-1-1-0	34	55	15	W4	@ MRU
Mount Royal	9-3-5-1	29	44	25	W1	vs UBC
Calgary	10-4-1-3	25	39	27	L2	vs REG
Alberta	7-6-0-5	19	37	42	L1	BYE
Saskatchewan	5-6-3-2	18	25	31	W2	vs MAN
Trinity Western	3-9-5-1	17	38	39	L5	vs MAC
Regina	3-8-2-3	13	22	35	L6	@ CAL
Manitoba	2-8-2-4	12	26	44	L1	@ SAS
MacEwan	2-12-2-2	10	16	44	W1	@ TWU

There are your updated standings with who plays whom listed. That UBC-Mount Royal series should be fun, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the Manitoba-Saskatchewan battle. The latter has all sorts of playoff implications for both teams depending on the results, so next weekend could be a big one for a few teams needing points!

A Regina Roadtrip

As mentioned above, the Regina Cougars spent a week at Thunderchild First Nation this past summer where they worked with the youth of the First Nation and participated in cultural learning from the Thunderchild First Nation people. Of course, they hit the ice and worked on growing as a team as well, but the video of their experience shows that this opportunity was special for both groups!
Honestly, opening these doors for First Nation youth is so big when one considers how isolated some of the First Nation communities can be. With the Regina Cougars heading out there before the season and having the Mount Royal Cougars and Saskatchewan Huskies play a game this weekend is something the kids of Thunderchild First Nation won't soon forget, and I hope the players who went there have the same appreciation for their Indigenous neighbours' teachings. Having more games in that gorgeous arena doesn't hurt either!

Azzurri In Verdun

I wrote on Friday about how the Italian women's national team has been practicing in Montreal in an effort to prepare for the upcoming Milano-Cortina Olympics, and they got some game action in against the Concordia Stingers on December 13. Concordia is first in the RSEQ so this looked like it could be a very competitive game, but it turned out that the Azzurri might be further ahead than where anyone expects them to be after they laid a thumping on Concordia!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13: While no one is suggesting that we send the Concordia Stingers to Italy to represent Canada, the score in this game shows just how good Olympic hockey is even when playing a team that has virtually no chance of standing on the podium. Fun was had by all, however, and the Italians showed that they're close to being ready for their first game on February 5 on home soil!

Azzurri goals: 8 different players including Kristin Della Rovere, Kayla Tutino and Justine Reyes
Azzurri assists: a bunch of them, but no statistics shown
Azzurri netminder: no statistics shown

Stingers goals: none
Stingers assists: none
Stingers netminders: both Belle Mende and Jordyn Verbeen played, but no statistics shown

Result: 10-0 victory for Italy over Concordia.

Cheering For Another Country

Undoubtedly, everyone in Canada will be cheering for the Canadian women as they play in Group A at the Olympic ice hockey tournament. Canada opens their tournament on February 5 against Finland before playing Switzerland, Czechia, and the US on February 10. All five teams from Group A will make the medal round which means that Canada West fans might have a reason to cheer for another team through the group stage to help Canada's chances.

As we know, former Calgary Dinos head coach Carla MacLeod will be travelling to Italy as the head coach of Czechia, but she'll be joined by Mount Royal Cougars head coach Scott Rivett as one of her assistant coaches! Scott and Carla have worked together before with Carla serving as his assistant coach on the Mount Royal bench during the Cougars' ACAC days, and Scott most recently served as Carla's assistant coach at the Women's World Championship!

Scott will likely be on the Mount Royal bench for the Crowchild Classic weekend at the end of the January, but he'll miss Mount Royal's bye week and their final weekend on February 13 and 14 against Saskatchewan. With the medal games being played on February 19, I'd imagine that Scott would want the Cougars to have clinched first-place in the East Division to guarantee a quarterfinal bye in the Canada West playoffs, so we'll see what happens.

Just for the record, Czechia plays Team USA on February 5 to open their Olympic tournament, so we may want to cheer for the Czechs that day. Canada and Czechia play on February 9 where Carla and Scott become enemies, but here's hoping that both Carla and Scott have outstanding tournaments while leading Czechia to a medal!

The Last Word

The next few weeks of hockey is "prove it" time for a number of teams. If a handful of teams want to make the playoffs, it's time to buckle down, make plays, score goals, make saves, and earn wins. There isn't a lot of runway left if any of those teams wants to get airborne, so start picking up points next weekend in bunches.

Six weekends of hockey is all that's remaining in the Canada West regular season. Will your team make a run for a playoff spot?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!