Australia's Title Will Be Decided

There's no free stream I can find where the game can be watched, but the AWIHL title will be decided today or tonight depending on your time zone. I say "today or tonight" because the teams are playing at the O'Brien Icehouse in Melbourne where the Brisbane Lightning will meet the Perth Inferno in the gold medal game at 5pm Melbourne time or at midnight in the Central Time Zone on March 1. Melbourne, for those doing the math, is 17 hours ahead of Winnipeg.

The AWIHL Final will feature the top-two teams in the AWIHL this season as Perth finished their twenty-game season with a 17-2-0-1 record while Brisbane finished with a 13-5-2-0 record. The AWIHL uses a three-point system, so these two teams finished nine points apart in the standings, but these two seemed to enjoy playing one another as Perth finished with a 2-1-0-1 record while Brisbane had a 1-2-1-0 record. It should be noted that all four games between these two squads were decided by one goal, so one more game won't hurt!

The Perth Inferno were led by league scoring champion Sara Sammons whose had 21 goals and 50 points this season. Elizabeth Scala and Michelle Clark-Crumpton were the only other players who hit double-digits in goals with 16 and 15, respectively, and former Guelph Gryphons defender Katherine Bailey, who captains the team, was the top-scoring rearguard with a pair of goals and 16 points. Sasha King was the starter for the Inferno this season as she went 16-2-0-1 this season with a 2.61 GAA, a .910 save percentage, and one shutout.

On the other side, the Brisbane Lightning were led by Annmarie FitzGerald who finished second in league scoring with 22 goals and 47 points. Brisbane saw more depth scoring as Emma Wuthrich had 40 points, alternate captain Lindsey Kiliwnik had 20 goals and 36 points. Former Nipissing Lakers defender Madison Laplante had seven goals and 21 points from the blue line while Courtney Mahoney led all defenders in goals as she matched her jersey number with eight. Katie Meyer was 8-2-0-0 in ten games this season as the Lightning rotated goalies, posting a 3.59 GAA and an .891 save percentage.

If you're asking me who will win the game, I cannot tell you. Honestly, finding a free stream or a channel that had any AWIHL coverage on it was harder than finding a wombat in the wild, so I haven't been able to watch any games this season. There's an option to stream the game for a cost, but I'm not spending $8 on a stream for one game. You're welcome to do so if you like, but I'll pass.

In any case, I'll venture a guess here and say that the Brisbane Lightning will find a way to secure the gold medal. I say that based on the fact that they won the last game between these two squads, but also because the Lightning had a battle to get into the gold medal game where they held on to a lead to defeat the Melbourne Ice by a 5-4 score. Perth played a solid game in defeating the Sydney Sirens by a 4-2 score, but Brisbane had to lock down their zone to win. If they can do that again, they should emerge victorious!

Of course, all predictions found on HBIC are fully-refundable if I'm wrong, so take my prognostication with a handful of salt. I'm basing it off not watching games, reading statistics, and analyzing a schedule, so my expertise is somewhere close to none in AWIHL matters.

For those wondering, former Regina Cougars forward Jordan Kulbida finished tied for third in league scoring with 41 points, and she was second in goals with 24. Her team, the Adelaide Rush, wasn't very strong this season as they posted a 6-11-2-1 record to finish in fifth-place, missing the playoffs. They were also the team where the Melbourne Ducks earned their lone point this season as Adelaide needed overtime to beat Melbourne with Kulbida scoring the game-winner. For the record, the Ducks went 0-19-0-1 record this year.

If you're looking to watch the game, it starts in three hours from this article's publication time of 9pm CT, so put the coffee on and get ready to watch hockey into the wee hours of the morning. It should be a good final between the AWIHL's best teams, so we'll see who prevails with the godl medal as the best Australian women's team!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

**UPDATE: Thank goodness no one comes to me for predictions. The Perth Inferno are your 2025-26 AWIHL champions after defeating the Brisbane Lightning by a 4-2 score. The Melbourne Ice are your bronze medallists after downing the Sydney Sirens by a 5-1 score.**

Victory-Saving Stop

I admit that I don't spot a lot about Canada West men's hockey on HBIC. My focus when I first started this blog was to get more exposure on the women's game, but the men's game likely deserves the same effort when it comes to coverage. Frankly, someone could likely make a solid living if they were paid to cover Canada West hockey, but I'm not about to dive head-first into that venture being that I already devote one full day to Canada West. Tonight, however, I need to talk about the men's hockey side of things tonight thanks to the Huskies' goaltender pictured above.

That's Saskatchewan Huskies netminder Nolan Maier, and he and his teammates are in Vancouver where they're playing the top-ranked team in the nation in the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West semifinals. For those that don't know Maier, he joined the Huskies in January after a solid run with the WHL's Saskatoon Blades came to an end in 2022. There were stops in between joining his second Saskatoon-based team, though, as Maier played with Reading, Maine, and Idaho in the ECHL while also getting cups of coffee with Lehigh Valley and Providence in the AHL. In short, the kid can play.

The 25 year-old netminder didn't exactly build a wall in the Huskies net in the second-half of this season, but he did go 6-2-0 with a 2.98 GAA and an .889 save percentage. The six wins helped Saskatchewan finish in second-place in the East Division, and the Huskies swept the Alberta Golden Bears out of the playoffs last weekend behind two Maier wins where he posted a shutout and an overtime win.

The Huskies entered tonight's game in Vancouver as the underdogs against the Thunderbirds, but it didn't seem to deter them as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead through 42:15 of play. That's when the Thunderbirds seemed to realize that they were playing a meaningful hockey game, and they turned on their scoring, denting twine twice in 6:48 to make it a 3-2 game with just over three minutes to play.

Let's go to the video of the final minute of play where UBC had pulled their netminder, Brett Mirwald, for an extra attacker as they looked for the equalizer to send this game to overtime in their comeback.

Alex Serraglio will likely have nightmares for days of Nolan Maier flashing the leather to take that goal away from him on what looked like an open net. I have no idea how he even saw that, but Nolan Maier's save with 42 seconds to play denied the tying goal by UBC as the Huskies went on to the 3-2 victory in Game One tonight!

There's a saying that goes, "You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good" that may sum up that save for Maier as he's an incredible goalie, but that one may have been more lucky than good. He's shown he has the ability rise to the occasion with his time in the AHL and ECHL, but that save was all about doing whatever was necessary to keep the puck out of the net. It was stopped in the name of glove!

The work isn't done, though, as the Huskies hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series now. Closing out the top-ranked team in the nation won't be easy, and the Thunderbirds will likely bring everything they have in their arsenal to the game on Saturday as they look for a Game Three on Sunday. Maier will again have to be at his best if the Huskies are going to play for a banner, but he showed tonight that he has no problem stepping up for a big moment.

Be ready to rumble on Saturday night at 7pm PST for the rematch!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 701

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with our normal setup as the Olympics are over, the Paralympics are a week from starting, the NHL is back, and all of the craziness involved with those changes can be discussed. I'm not sure I've ever felt as less excited for hockey as I was last night with NHL players being back on the ice after what we witnessed in Milano-Cortina, but it's going to be hard for the NHL to replicate the hockey we witnessed in Italy. That being said, we have lots to go over and discuss tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

At some point, we need to address the elephant in the room so it might as well be tonight as Teebz and Jason will discuss the image to the left where the US men's hockey team made an appearance to be honoured by politicians. This may be a heated discussion as our hosts discuss the optics of appearing at the White House while playing for a Canadian team, the lack of respect shown to the US women's team, and the extra honour bestowed upon Connor Hellebuyck before looking at the NHL returning to TV and just how bad those broadcasts look, the Olympic injuries seen and why some owners may think twice about sending players, the Canada West men's and women's semifinal series, and there's a big weekend of sledge hockey coming up that needs to be highlighted! It should be a feisty show tonight with everything on the agenda, so make sure you're ready for 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 will chat about being honoured, reading the room, obvious misogyny, bad broadcasts, returning hurt, semifinal series, live parahockey, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: February 26, 2026: Episode 701

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

I Can't Watch This

After having two weeks of incredible to hockey watch where television viewers weren't bombarded by sports betting commercials and digitals advertisements all over the boards, it was back to NHL hockey tonight where if it can be sold, it will be. While the action on the ice will once again make us wish for a third line that boasts Sidney Crosby and Nick Suzuki, the advertising was particularly noticeable this evening after having streamed a vast number of Olympic hockey games where advertising wasn't allowed. To be blunt, watching the NHL return to the ice and TV tonight was a chore with all the repeated commercials and uneffective advertising.

I realize that the easiest way to get around this problem is to continue to stream games where most networks have not monetized their internet streams with commercials. I know of several ways to find streams, so there's a good chance I might be able to avoid the grossly excessive sports betting commercials that seem to be the only thing the NHL allows networks to advertise. That won't solve the digital ads constantly flashing around the boards that are neither effective nor insightful, so I can't really avoid those advertisements.

Some will look at this complaint and just categorize it as "old man yells at cloud," but the difference tonight was definitely noticeable compared to this past weekend. I get that the NHL is a business and needs to generate revenue to remain in business, but the IOC operates under the same "make money" mandate to stay in business and they seemed to be able to run a two-week tournament without the myriad of garbage advertising being shown by networks. I think we can all admit, at this point, that the NHL is willing to take any money dumped at its doorstep regardless of who dropped it there without any questions.

Does it have to be this way? No, of course not, but, as stated above, there isn't any amount of money that the NHL won't take for any reason. When I did watch Olympic hockey games on television, the commercials were often more about the Olympic spirit and companies that support the Olympic teams rather than just being random advertisements. Why can't NHL broadcasts employ that idea?

In the end, it seems we were treated to some amazing hockey in Italy, and, thanks to the IOC's broadcast policies, the lack of commercials and digital ads was noticeable, making their broadcasts so much better than what the NHL gives us. Watching the Seattle-Dallas and Winnipeg-Vancouver games felt like the NHL was brainwashing me to love commercials as if I were Derek Zoolander.

The NHL could be so much better with its broadcasts and its network partners, but it has no monetary incentive to do so. That will always be the problem until someone can figure out how the NHL can be a billion-dollar industry on its own without selling off the game's integrity for some Brink's truck of money. Honestly, it's hard to judge whether or not the NHL actually cares about that integrity because it if can be monetized the NHL seems to have a plan for that. Again, it could be better, but there's zero incentive to actually be better.

I'll leave you with this: I watched all of about ten minutes of the Seattle-Dallas game and one period of the Winnipeg-Vancouver game before I turned them off. I just couldn't watch the games after having experienced the Olympic broadcasts. I guess it WILL take some reprogramming of my brain to get back into NHL hockey.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Where Does He Land Next?

You might recognize the player to the left if you're a Winnipeg Jets fan. That's CJ Suess who skated for both the Jets and the AHL's Manitoba Moose in his career before deciding to take his talents overseas to Germany this past season where he signed with the Dresden Eislöwen. There was no doubt that this was going to be a tough season for the Eislöwen as they had been promoted from the DEL2 last season to play in the Penny DEL this season against some of the German superpowers like Berlin, Munich, and others. There has been all sorts of personnel turnover, though, as Dresden has been going through players faster than they go through bags of pucks, and we found out today that CJ Suess had left the Eislöwen after he and the team agreed to terminated his contract, making him a 31 year-old free agent.

I'm not here to lobby any team to sign Suess, but the options he'll have at this point of the season are relatively small. He scored just four goals and five assists in 31 games in Germany, and I don't know how many European teams will be hunting for a veteran, bottom-six guy. Suess could jump into a more offensive role if he can find it, but hunting for that opportunity in late February normally doesn't materialize unless one is a can't-miss player. That's not CJ Suess.

This departure, though, might be more due to the environment in Dresden. Earlier this month, Ice Lions captain Travis Turnbull left the team to sign in the DEL2, forward Andrew Yogan left Dresden for Norway's Stavanger Oilers, and January saw Jens Baxmann takes over as sporting director. Baxmann admitted in an interview with rbb24.de that "even if we had the economic means, we can no longer strengthen ourselves with other players" due to not having enough roster spots, so perhaps the terminating contracts of players who underperformed is Baxmann's way of solving that problem.

If that was his solution, Baxmann just opened up three roster spots in February held by veteran, import players. Turnbull and Yogan landed with new teams as reported above, so what becomes of CJ Suess?

That might be the toughest question he has to answer before going into the summer. There's probably a good chance he can find his way onto a DEL2 team or land in one of the other European leagues, but his options will be limited as to which teams have the flexibility to bring in an older, import player. Teams in Sweden and Switzerland usually fill their import roster spots very quickly, so there won't be much to find there. Norway, where Yogan went, could be a spot, we saw a former DEL player sign in Slovenia this week, and there could be options in the KHL if one wants to give that option a test.

Unfortunately, Suess may be forced to wait until summer to find a new team when free agency opens. He could return to North America where a number of AHL teams would likely welcome him, but the contract he signs might be for less money than what he'd receive in Europe. Of course, he could find a new team in Europe to join, but, like Dresden this year, there's no guarantee he'll finish the season there. This is the reality for a 31 year-old, hard-working forward.

My hope is that CJ Suess finds a team where he can be a veteran leader and help the younger players find a path to the next level. Whether that's in the AHL or in Europe is up to him, but there's no doubt in my mind that CJ Suess can still be a valuable asset for a team in the right role. He has experience, he's skated in the NHL, he's had success at the AHL and NCAA levels, and he's shown he can adapt his game to play the role he's assigned. Those are valuable traits.

Maybe we'll see the guy who wore #20, #25, and #27 for the Moose and #73 for the Jets back in Winnipeg next season? It could happen!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

When Words Are Meaningless

I'm not American nor will I ever be one, but the citizens of the country connected to Canada had a lot to celebrate over the last few days with their men's and women's Olympic teams capturing gold medals at the Milano-Cortina Olympics. Americans should be proud of these men and women, but it seems one man was not as proud of the women as much as he was of the men after "joking" with the men's team via a phone call that "I do believe I probably would be impeached" if he didn't invite them to the White House on Tuesday.

I will fully admit that I hate discussing politics on this site, and the US political scene is one that I try to avoid altogether. For as much as that saga affects life in Canada, it's just exhausting to follow and the drama that comes with it is nothing more than self-aggrandization and delusional commentary. Frankly, I try to avoid all of it.

The US women's team was dominant throughout their time in Italy, allowing just two goals in the seven games they played, setting a shutout record that likely won't be broken for some time, and proving that they are the best team on the planet right now. You would think an individual who concerns himself with winning "bigly" would be more than excited to welcome this dominant team to the White House, but he didn't even bother to contact them after winning.

It should be no surprise that the US women's team declined the offer.

"We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women's Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement," the U.S. women's team said in a statement released Monday. "Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment."

I appreciate their polite response to what was clearly them being treated as an afterthought, but we may want to dig further into this because this isn't the first time that there has been an inequality committed by the current regime. Let's bring out the shovels!

On February 4, 2026, the current administration decided to release a statement on National Women and Girls in Sports Day. In that statement, the leader of the country wrote, "Under my leadership, every woman's safety, dignity, and work ethic will always be protected" which seems a little hollow after making jokes about not inviting the dominant US women's team to the White House.

Some will say, "Teebz, he was just making a joke in the moment!" which is unfortunately true, but upholding the team's dignity should have been a priority considering he issued that statement just three weeks ago. Leaving the jokes aside, though, the "work ethic" part should be easy to reinforce considering this man has the ability to sign decrees into law, so we should see him reward the women of the US National Women's Hockey Team in some way, right?

The Atlantic's Jemele Hill wrote an article on March 4, 2025 where she pointed out that "[t]he Department of Education announced recently that Title IX, the federal law that requires colleges to provide equal per-player funding for men's and women's sports, does not apply to name, image, and likeness payments paid directly to athletes from colleges and universities." NIL deals often pay athletes for usage of their name, image, and likeness when it comes to those athletes' legal rights to control how their name or image is used.

With this new change to the laws under the current administration, it means that Title IX rules in US colleges and universities no longer applied to NIL deals, allowing universities to direct more of their annual salary cap of up to $20.5 million per school to sports and athletes where they wanted rather than distributing it more evenly.

In short, highly-marketed sports like NCAA football and men's basketball could receive the vast majority of that NIL money at some schools as the rules under the previous administration where schools "had to distribute that money between male and female athletes in proportion to their participation rates" was erased from the record.

For players like Abbey Murphy and Caroline Harvey who, in all likelihood, could end up in an EA Sports video game as part of the rostered Olympic teams, it would mean they may receive little to no money despite the big roles each played in the American gold medal victory. We already know that most NCAA female athletes have "a difficult time keeping pace with their male counterparts in the new era of NIL money," as Hill writes, and the 2025 change made things even harder for women athletes to be paid equally at the NCAA level. After all, paritynow.com' Hannah Taylor noted that women's sports "comprise 15% of total sports media coverage" in 2024.

This isn't new either thanks to recent reports. In 2022, USA Today pointed out that for every dollar spent on men's sports in the NCAA, the same schools "spent just 71 cents on women" as the newspaper's investigation and analysis "focused solely on sports with comparable men's and women's squads." NCAA women's sports already started in a deficit, and now the NIL money change pushes them back again.

Tell me again how the women's team's work ethic is being protected?

I was somewhat disappointed to see that USA Today's report didn't include hockey, but let's look at an example that should serve as the foundation for this argument. Canada's Gavin McKenna's reported NIL deal with Penn State "is 'in the ballpark' of $700,000, a source tells ESPN." Do you think Abbey Murphy, who was dominant for Team USA in Italy and for Minnesota throughout her NCAA career, has a deal like that waiting for her with the Golden Gophers? Hint: not a chance.

In knowing that this current administration slashed any chance of universities evenly distributing NIL monies, why would anyone expect the NCAA players on America's women's hockey team to show up willingly to the White House when they were turned into a punchline by the current office holder and whose administration has taken money out of their pockets despite the expectations to win gold always being present? The women did the right thing in declining.

They have returned from major events more often with gold. They have worked just as hard, if not harder, than the men to put their sport on the world stage. They have all graduated with or are in the processing of getting university degrees so they can contribute to society in a meaningful way beyond their hockey careers. They are heroes and icons to many, and have inspired countless more. They are pillars on which women's hockey has been built and will grow.

As a Canadian, I hold the American women's hockey team in high regard. They are exceptional players, better people, and I can assure everyone that they are neither afterthoughts nor punchlines for poorly-delivered jokes. Treating them as such shows just how meaningless that statement on National Women and Girls in Sports Day was from this administration, and their actions in making it harder for women to gain NIL deals is more evidence that this administration uses women's sports as pawns in their political games.

If there's one thing I've learned in life when it comes to jokes, it's that it's never just a joke. There's always a little truth in every joke, and it would appear that there's a mountain of evidence proving that this administration doesn't think highly of women's sports despite Team USA's women's hockey team being the most dominant team in modern Olympic history en route to winning a gold medal.

The US women have been classy throughout this ordeal, but declining the invitation was the right choice. No jokes are needed there.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Rundown - Quarterfinals

Four teams took to the ice this weekend as we looked to narrow the field from six to four teams who are in pursuit of a Canada West banner and a berth to the U SPORTS National Championship in Elmira, Ontario. UBC and Mount Royal earned the byes this week by finishing atop their respective divisions while Saskatchewan, Regina, and MacEwan are already making plans for next season. That left Alberta, Calgary, Manitoba, and Trinity Western to sort out who would be moving on to the Canada West semifinal series and who would join the three teams in getting ready for next season. Let's find out which two teams are moving on in this week's edition of The Rundown!

FRIDAY: The opening game between the Spartans and Dinos took place at Father David Bauer Arena where Trinity Western came in looking to put forth a good effort after missing out on hosting a playoff game. Calgary was looking to find its winning ways again after stumbling into the playoffs on a three-game losing streak. Both teams knew that winning meant everything in these games so a good start in Game One would be crucial!



Spartans goals: Ella Boon (1), Kyra Anderson (1), Keelyn Pisani (1), Kailey Ledoux (1), Ella Boon (2)
Spartans assists: Sadie Isfeld (1), Brook Dorash (1), Kara Yackel (1), Sadie Isfeld (2), Michela Naccarato (1), Emily Karpan (1), Chayce Kullman (1), Kyra Anderson (1), Olivia Leier (1)
Spartans netminder: Kate Fawcett (26/27)

Dinos goals: Jess Martens (1)
Dinos assists: none
Dinos netminders: Amelia Awad (5/8) in 12:10; Maisie Cope (22/24) in 47:50

Result: 5-1 victory for Trinity Western over Calgary.

SATURDAY: The Dinos came into Game Two in do-or-die mode as they needed to rattle off two-straight wins to keep their season alive. The Spartans, having won Game One, were looking to close out the Dinos and head home with the sweep in order to get ready for the semifinal series. Would we see a Game Three played in this quarterfinal on Sunday?



Spartans goals: Chloe Reid (1), Chloe Reid (2), Kyra Anderson (2), Olivia Leier (1)
Spartans assists: Kailey Ledoux (1), Kyra Anderson (2)
Spartans netminder: Kate Fawcett (15/17)

Dinos goals: Josie McLeod (1), Bree Kennedy (1)
Dinos assists: Kyla Mitenko (1), Brooklyn Anderson (1), Solana Cooper (1), Alex Spence (1)
Dinos netminder: Maisie Cope (27/30)

Result: 5-1 victory for Trinity Western over Calgary. Trinity Western wins the series 2-0 over Calgary and will move on to the semifinal.

FRIDAY: The opening game between the Bisons and Pandas took place at Clare Drake Arena where, historically, no team not named the Pandas wanted to play. Manitoba, however, had just come off a series against Alberta where they had taken three of four possible points, so it seems that the Bisons might be carrying some momentum into the quarterfinal having won five-straight games that started with the win in Edmonton. Alberta had swept MacEwan one week earlier, so something had to give as these two teams met with a berth in the semifinal on the line!



Bisons goals: Brenna Nicol (1), Julia Bird (1), Louise Fergusson (1), Alyssa Rasmuson (3), Emily Shippam (1), Sadie Keller (1)
Bisons assists: Claire Moorman (1), Glory Plett (1), Hanna Bailey (1), Brenna Nicol (1)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (18/20)

Pandas goals: Ryann Perrett (1), Hayleigh Craig (1)
Pandas assists: Annie King (1), Riley Smith (1), Jadynn Morden (1)
Pandas netminders: Mackenzie Dojahn (22/25)

Result: 5-2 victory for Manitoba over Alberta.

SATURDAY: The Pandas came into Game Two with their backs against the wall, and that always seems to make them more dangerous because they've been in this situation before. The Bisons come into Game Two playing their best hockey of the season with six-straight wins to their name, and they were looking to make it seven wins and a sweep over the Pandas to wrap up the series. Would this series need a third game on Sunday?



Bisons goals: Sophia Heidinger (1), Kelsey Huibers (1)
Bisons assists: Sara Harbus (1), Louise Fergusson (1), Louise Fergusson (2)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (18/21)

Pandas goals: Abbey Bourdeaud'hui (1), Ryann Perrett (2), Hailey Carothers (1), Natalie Kieser (1)
Pandas assists: Raegan Yewdall (1), Kelly Stanford (1), Annie King (2)
Pandas netminders: Mackenzie Dojahn (34/36)

Result: 4-2 victory for Alberta over Manitoba.

SUNDAY: Do or die. Win or go home. All the marbles. For two teams separated by a single point in the standings and having split four games this season, it seems almost appropriate to have a fifth game to determine the winner. With the rubber match set to go Sunday night, which of these teams will earn the right to play in the Canada West semifinal next weekend?



Bisons goals: Brenna Nicol (2), Norah Collins (1), Brenna Nicol (3), Sadie Keller (2), Hanna Bailey (1), Julia Bird (2)
Bisons assists: Aimee Patrick (1), Louise Fergusson (3), Brenna Nicol (2), Sadie Keller (1), Julia Bilous (1), Jessie Haner (1), Brenna Nicol (3)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (20/22)

Pandas goals: Abby Soyko (1), Natalie Kieser (2)
Pandas assists: Riley Smith (2), Abby Soyko (1)
Pandas netminders: Mackenzie Dojahn (15/19) in 29:33; Grace Glover (4/4) in 29:15

Result: 6-2 victory for Manitoba over Alberta. Manitoba wins the series 2-1 over Alberta and will move on to the semifinal.

There are no standings to worry about per se, but the playoff picture needs to be updated. Frankly, I don't get how Trinity Western crosses back into the Western Division when they had crossed into the East Division as the third-place team, but that's what Canada West has in its setup this season. I think it's dumb as it seems that the second-place teams were the ones doing the crossing. Make it make sense.

It should be noted that the TWU-UBC series has times posted in PST while the Manitoba-Mount Royal series has times posted in MST.

West Preview

No one should be surprised that UBC was 6-0 against Trinity Western this season, outscoring them 20-7 in those games. On UBC ice, the Thunderbirds outscored the Spartans 10-4, so one might think this series favours the Thunderbirds in every way. It won't be as lopsided as one may believe, but I suspect that the very well-rested T-Birds will let Grace Elliott, Annalise Wong, Jaylyn Morris, and Elise Hugens do what they do best to get them back to the Canada West Final.

Trinity Western will push back with the likes of Kyra Anderson, Ella Boon, and Chloe Reid who had great series against the Dinos, but they're going to need Kate Fawcett to steal them a game at the very least if the Spartans hope to dethrone the Thunderbirds in the Battle of British Columbia. Trinity Western was good against Calgary, but they'll need to be better against UBC if they want a banner.

East Preview

The Mount Royal Cougars will welcome the Manitoba Bisons to Calgary next weekend. The Cougars were 3-1-0 against the Bisons this season including one overtime victory, and were 2-0 at home back in October against the Bisons. Clearly, things have changed for the Bisons as the calendar flipped, so this should be a good test for the Cougars if they want to play for a banner. They'll be led by Allee Gerrard, Sydney Benko, Kiana McNinch, and Julia Duke up front while Summer Fomradas and Isa McPhee push the offence from the blue line. Scout Anderson will likely see the bulk of the goaltending work.

The Bisons come into Calgary having eliminated last season's Canada West champions, having won seven of their last eight games, and having won five of their last six road games. Led by Brenna Nicol, Sadie Keller, and Louise Fergusson through the Alberta series, they'll try to kick-start the big guns as Dana Goertzen, Aimee Patrick, Norah Collins, and Sara Harbus had just one goal and one assist combined. Emily Shippam will need to come up big once again next weekend, but that secondary scoring has to please Jordan Colliton.

It will also mark the first playoff series between student and master as Colliton was Mount Royal's assistant coach under Scott Rivett last season. Will the familiarity she has with the Mount Royal lineup help the Bisons in their quest for a banner? We'll find out next week!

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. Making history is always a good reason to be named to The Honour Roll, but Emily Shippam is not the player named this week. Instead, it's a player who racked up six points in territory where visitors haven't had much success in helping her team win twice on the road as Manitoba Bisons forward Brenna Nicol made The Honour Roll this week!

In seven previous playoff games, Nicol had recorded two goals and an assist. She doubled that output in three games this season, scoring the opening goal and adding the primary assist on the game-winner in Manitoba's 5-2 win on Friday. She was kept off the scoresheet on Saturday, but she roared back in the elimination game on Sunday by scoring twice - opening the scoring and scoring the game-winner - and adding two more helpers in pushing the Bisons to a 4-1 lead through 29:33 of play as the Bisons took control of the game.

Six points on a weekend is always big, but to be involved in so many key goals that helped the Bisons advance is where Brenna Nicol elevated her play. The Bisons will need another big weekend out of her next week, but her efforts on key plays this weekend did not go unnoticed as Manitoba Bisons forward Brenna Nicol made the list!

Stay Out Of The Box

Manitoba entered the series with Alberta with the third-best penalty-killing efficiency in Canada West, having surrendered just ten power-play goals on 85 shorthanded opportunities (88.2%). One has to wonder if the team simply abandoned all sense of how to kill penalties on their late-season surge because the Pandas were quick to inflict damage at an alarming rate with the extra player.

Alberta scored five times on 12 power-play opportunities, pushing the Bisons' penalty-killing efficiency to 58.3% - easily the worst of the four semifinalists. That being said, it also goes to show how important both sides of the special teams coin are as Alberta scored five of its eight total goals with the player advantage while Manitoba survived their series with Alberta in spite of the woeful PK numbers.

How, you ask? By going 6-of-9 on their own power-play opportunities.

If Manitoba cleans up their PK effort over this next week, the Cougars may have their hands full in their semifinal series next weekend.

Olympic Success!

The image to the right is the medal ceremony at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, and #53 who is receiving her bronze medal is none other than UBC Thunderbirds forward Vanessa Schaefer! Schaefer played in all seven games for Switzerland, but was held pointless in the tournament. She finished with a -4 rating in 64:12 of ice time, averaging 9:10 of ice time per game. However, she and her teammates would capture the bronze medal after a 2-1 overtime win over Sweden as the defence-first Swiss come home with hardware!

Schaefer returns home to prepare for the series against Trinity Western where she'll play a more prominent role for the Thunderbirds. Can she add a Canada West championship and a U SPORTS National Championship to her Olympic bronze medal?

Total Members: Two

I wrote a couple of articles this weekend about Manitoba Bisons netminder Emily Shippam being credited with a goal on Friday night, and Saturday's article was a plea for better record keeping in women's hockey by all parties, especially by those whose entire purpose is to manage the game. I had also asked that if anyone knew of any other goalies who had scored in U SPORTS, and I got a whopping zero responses to that request which was expected.

Where I didn't expect silence was from both Canada West and U SPORTS who had a chance to really promote Shippam's goal as a "look over here" moment. Neither even attempted to post any history of goalie goals by women who scored which is all sorts of disappointing considering that U SPORTS and/or the OUA should have footage of the Nicole Kesteris goal somewhere. Instead, it was radio silence again.

If anyone can tell me what responsibilities U SPORTS and the four conferences have in keeping and updating women's hockey records, I'd be grateful. HBIC has more U SPORTS women's hockey history on it than the sites for those five "entities" do, and that's shameful.

Closed On Weekends

If it wasn't for the Calgary Dinos being true to their YouTube effort, there likely wouldn't have been highlights for Game Two of their series against Trinity Western. As you likely saw with Manitoba and Alberta, there were only Game One highlights because the Pandas don't make the effort and Canada West, who posted the Game One highlights, didn't bother to post anything for Game Two.

It's hard to be supportive of anything Canada West does at this point. They seem to be more in the camp of "don't" than "do", and I honestly wonder what their purpose is other than saying "we exist". Once again, I'll bring in Bob and Bob from Office Space to ask the obvious question because it seems like Canada West's offices are closed on weekends when most of their member schools are competing.

**Update: they did get all the highlights posted to YouTube. Finally.**

The Last Word

One team from British Columbia will head to the U SPORTS National Championship. That's guaranteed with the Trinity Western-UBC semifinal series as these two teams meet in the playoffs for the first time. Can the Spartans upset the Thunderbirds for their first appearance in the Canada West final or will we see the Thunderbirds play for another tapestry for their arena en route to Elmira, Ontario?

The other semifinal features the two most recent National Champions from Canada West as Manitoba won in 2018 while Mount Royal captured the championship in 2023. There has obviously been turnover on the Bisons' side, but the efforts we've seen from Manitoba since the calendar flipped to 2026 cannot be ignored. The Cougars, though, have been in this situation before and they'll be ready to roll on Friday when the series opens. Is this the year the Cougars earn a banner or will the Bisons get a shot at adding another to their arena?

We'll know those answers by next Sunday. Four teams are left standing. Only two will advance. Who will those two teams be?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Why Keeping Records Matters

I spent more time than I probably should have in searching for information that shouldn't be this hard to find. As we know, Manitoba Bisons goalie Emily Shippam was credited with a goal last night in the Bisons' quarterfinal game against the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton, and I had put my stake in the ground that she may have been the first U SPORTS women's hockey netminder to have that honour. Both U SPORTS and Canada West have zero history of goalie goals posted anywhere, so I took a leap of faith that Shippam's goal made her the first woman to do so. I am here today to say that she was not first, but she's now part of a very small group of goalies.

That brings me to the goalie pictured above. Seen in the image is former Toronto Varsity Blues netminder Nicole Kesteris who suited up for the Varsity Blues from 2010-2015 in the OUA. Kesteris was recruited by former Varsity Blues head coach Karen Hughes to join the team where she showed she was ready for the university game by being named to both the OUA and CIS all-rookie teams in 2010-11 after going 8-8-0 with a 2.13 GAA and a .933 save percentage.

Kesteris would add a number of accolades to her résumé in her university career including graduating with a major in human geography and a double minor in sociology and environmental geography, but we're going to focus on a game on October 20, 2012 when the Varsity Blues were hosting the the Windsor Lancers. It was in this game where Nicole Kesteris made U SPORTS history.

According to the recap from that game, "with the score 3-3 in the second, Windsor pulled their goalie on a delayed penalty call, setting the stage for Kesteris’ goal. The Blues goaltender was credited with the goal after she made a pad save on a Windsor forward in the slot. The Windsor player then fired a pass back to the point, where it missed its’ intended target and travelled the length of the ice into the Lancers net." Apostrophe catastophe aside in that final sentence, Kesteris would score Toronto's first-ever goalie goal and, from what I've read, U SPORTS' first women's hockey goal by a goaltender.

As you can see, Kesteris was credited with an unassisted goal to make it 4-3 at 14:33 of the second period with Brittany Kirby being the Varsity Blues player who had committed a tripping penalty.

According to Kesteris' biography on the Varsity Blues website, that first Toronto goal was upgraded to "became the first female goalie in the CIS to be credited with a goal versus Windsor on Oct. 20". Again, I take no issue with this claim being made because there is simply no record of any other goaltender having scored a goal, but that's more of a function of U SPORTS and its conferences not having records online for people to read and reference. Which is all sorts of wrong.

This only makes things worse for everyone in hockey because, during my wee-hours-of-the-morning research, I stumbled across the player biography for Shanley Peters who suited up for the University of Wisconsin-Superior in the NCAA. The Manitoba-born, former Pembina Valley Hawks netminder played from 2010-14 with the Yellow Jackets, and her biography reads, "Made history on November 15 when she was credited with a goal in a 2-2 tie with UW-Eau Claire, making her the first goaltender in women's hockey history to score a goal".

Except she wasn't the first as I showed above. Nicole Kesteris scored on October 20, 2012 while Peters scored her goal on November 15, 2013, nearly 13 months after Kesteris had achieved the feat. Was she the first Yellow Jackets netminder to be credited with a goal? I'm sure she was and I won't debate that. Was she the "first goaltender in women's hockey history" to score? Absolutely not by all measures.

If we want to make things even more murky in the women's hockey goalie goals category, the goal by Peters erases the history made by Manitoba-born, former Pembina Valley Hawks goalie Corinne Schroeder as well. Schroeder was credited with a goal on September 25, 2021 with the Quinnipiac Bobcats as she scored against the Maine Black Bears. At the time, I had written that Schroeder was "the first female goalie in NCAA history to be credited with a goal of any kind" which we now know is not accurate thanks to Shanley Peters.

NCAA goals aside, this is why keeping accurate records in women's hockey is important. In just this article, I've debunked several statements and claims made by teams and organizations because the information is not accurate in any way nor is it easily accessible. The point is that no one should have to spend time hunting down simple stats like I did last night-slash-this morning. And the fact that me doing this work has now affected other records in other leagues is why accurate and accessible record-keeping is vitally important.

Because none of U SPORTS or its respective conferences make this information available, I guess I'll have to step in to fill the void despite me not being on those organizations' payrolls and despite me not having any association with those organizations or their respective teams. Here is the list of goalies who have been credited with goals in U SPORTS women's hockey that I have found:

• Nicole Kesteris (TOR) vs. Windsor Lancers - October 20, 2012
• Emily Shippam (MAN) at Alberta Pandas - February 20, 2026

If you know of other U SPORTS women's hockey goalies who have accomplished the feat, please let me know either by emailing me or posting in the comments, but you must provide a date and evidence that it happened. As much fun as it may sound, I don't really want to spend hours at night hunting down information that U SPORTS and the four conferences should already be making available to everyone.

Congratulations to all of Nicole Kesteris, Emily Shippam, Shanley Peters, and Corinne Schroeder for being part of a very exclusive club! Based on the four goalies who were mentioned in this article, it seems that Manitoba has a firm grasp on the unviersity-level women's hockey goalie goals, but membership is always open to any goalie who can accomplish the feat! Goalie goals are always awesome!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is This The First One Ever?

I normally save all the Canada West women's hockey chatter for Sunday on The Rundown, but tonight will need its own entry on HBIC because we might have witnessed history tonight. As you know, HBIC will push whatever article I may be working on to a later date if there's a goalie goal scored with video evidence, and it appears we have one tonight that could be very historic! The woman to the left is Manitoba Bisons netminder Emily Shippam, and she was the starter for the Bisons tonight against the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton in Game One of the Canada West quarterfinal series. I'll recap the game on The Rundown, but it appears that Shippam might now be in the record books!

First, let's go to the video of why Shippam may have made history!
Shippam was credited with a goal at 18:55 of the third period after the shot by Alberta Pandas forward Hailey Carothers went off Shippam's arm, off the boards, and down the ice into the vacant net to put the Bisons up 4-2 in the game, eventually winning 5-2. What makes this goal historic is that I can find no other records of any Canada West or U SPORTS women's hockey goalie being credit with a goal of any kind! Emily Shippam may be the first goalie to have a goal credited to her in any U SPORTS women's hockey competition!

To give you an idea of how rare this is in U SPORTS hockey, I went all the back to 2009-10 to see how many goalies had scored in both men's and women's hockey. I found three goalies who did in men's hockey as Alberta's Kurtis Mucha scored in 2012-13, Western's Lucas Peressini scored in 2018-19, and Saskatchewan's Taran Kozun scored in 2019-20. The women's stats for the same time period are non-existant entirely as it only shows the normal goaltending stats rather than having point totals included. Because of this, it appears that Emily Shippam is the first goaltender to be credited with a goal!

Because Canada West and U SPORTS have criminally underreported women's statistics for decades, I'm making it official: Manitoba Bisons goaltender Emily Shippam is the first U SPORTS women's hockey goaltender to be credited with a goal. I'm willing to change this if anyone can find proof that another goaltender was credited with a goal before Shippam, but this is the image that matters right now.

Clearly, Emily Shippam played a big role in the Bisons win tonight as she recorded the victory after stopping 18 shots, and she scored her first career U SPORTS goal at 18:55 of the third period to put Manitoba up 4-2! That's a great day at the office for Shippam as the Bisons are one win away from a Canada West semifinal appearance after Shippam helped her own cause in Game One with a goal!

Congratulations go out to Manitoba Bisons netminder Emily Shippam who, based on all the reading and research I've done, is the first goaltender credited with a goal in U SPORTS women's hockey history!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

***Update: Emily Shippam is NOT the first goalie to be credited with a goal. I'll have more on this on Saturday when I discuss the lack of statistical records kept by U SPORTS in another HBIC article.***

The Hockey Show - Episode 700

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, somehow made it to the 700th show in its history. There aren't many weekly shows that have lasted as long as this hour has, but we're climbing the rungs of history at UMFM. When you consider that The Simpsons has been on the air for 37 seasons and only have 805 episodes to their name, we must be holding our own in the hockey chatter realm. In all honesty, though, we are grateful and thankful for each and every person who has tuned in for a segment or a season or the entire run of shows, and we're hoping to deliver another good one today! Buckle up because we have a couple of great guests joining us tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

You may have heard us talking about the Cross Border Classic earlier this year as we looked to get Sledge Hockey Manitoba a little real estate on the hockey map, and Teebz and Jason are excited to chat with Team Manitoba goaltenders Paul Hamm and Jon Derry tonight! We'll talk to them about being selected as the netminders for Team Manitoba, how they got into sledge hockey, their other pursuits, the upcoming Cross Border Classic, the Olympics, the Paralympics, and more! This show should be a beauty with medals on the line in Italy and two great guests who love the game of hockey in Paul and Jon, so hunker down around the radio for 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 Team Manitoba parahockey goalies Paul Hamm and Jon Derry about playing the game, their upcoming series, the biggest tournaments on the planet, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: February 19, 2026: Episode 700

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Corny Evening Of Hockey

If you're a fan of Lego, you know that the company has been producing a line of minifigures over the last number of years that feature all sorts of wacky characters along with a number of licensed characters not released in sets. One of those figures that came was the one you see to the right as they had a minifigure dressed up like an ear of corn. What one would use this for in a Lego setting outside of being a mascot is harder to imagine, but what if there was a hockey team who decided to dress like the corncob guy? You may chuckle at that question, but that's happening this weekend in the ECHL as one team has decided to get "corny" with their look on Saturday. Settle in and lend an ear for this story of kernels, skates, and rather unique uniforms that will hit the ice!

The Iowa Heartlanders will host the Cincinnati Cyclones on Saturday, but the midwest ECHL team won't be in one of their normal uniforms that to Saturday's game being "Cornfed Country Night" at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa! It seems that the Heartlanders are pulling out all the stops for this one as they'll give away Corn Thunderstix to fans as they come into the arena, there will be a pregame pyrotechnic show, the arena rock will be replaced with country music, and there will be giveaways for fans all night!

Of course, there will be the normal arena games between periods, and you know there will likely be a few cornhole boards setup along the concourse. It sounds like the concession stands will feature a lot of popcorn, there will be face-painting for the kids, and fans who want a larger-than-normal beverage can purchase the Heartlanders Boot Mug ticket package which comes with the boot-like mug seen to the left! Unfortunately, the toe appears to not be fillable so there won't be any physics needed to prevent spills, but that's a pretty cool promotional item nonetheless! I wonder how many Heartlanders Boot Mug tickets have been sold?

Ok, since I lured you into this article with the promise of corncob-clad players, the real deal are the uniforms to the right. Obviously, the players have to wear helmets so the hats shown in the image is just for fun, but the Iowa Heartlanders will wear the uniforms you see to represent "Cornfed Country Night" on the ice! I honestly can't think of any other team ever dressing as ears of corn for a hockey game, but it seems we can cross that one off the "did it happen in hockey?" list. If you're thinking, "I want one of those," fans can get their hands on these uniforms thanks to the Heartlanders putting them on Dash Auctions where both the jerseys and the pants shells can be won!

My hope is that a good crowd comes out on Saturday for this game between the Heartlanders and Cyclones. Currently, both teams sit at the bottom of the ECHL Central Divsion with the Cyclones having a nine-point edge on the Heartlanders. Cincinnati is 21-22-3 this season while Iowa is 16-28-4, so both teams will need to win games if they hope to have a shot at the playoffs. The good news is that Cincinnati is just six points back of the Indy Fire for fourth-place in the Central Division, but the Heartlanders have some serious work to do being 15 points back. A win on "Cornfed Country Night" would help that cause!

It should be a fun night on Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville and we'll get to see what the Heartlanders look like as they skate around the rink as ears of corn. "Cornfed Country Night" wouldn't work everywhere and it may not even be wanted anywhere else, but it works well in Iowa where, 90 minutes northeast, there was a story about a summer sport that came to life thanks to a cornfield!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

No Red Leafs In Canada West

Despite the logic of having a third BC-based university hockey program under Canada West's watch, the dream of seeing the Simon Fraser University Red Leafs make the jump to U SPORTS hockey is now dead-on-arrival with the news that was reported yesterday. I know that SFU is experiencing a "tightening of the purse strings" like most of the big universities across Canada, but the men's at-large hockey program that played against both U SPORTS and NCAA competitors whenever possible is officially being slashed at the end of the current season as per Simon Fraser University. Along with the lacrosse team, the university found that these two teams were "“not sustainable due to financial, regulatory and logistical constraints".

In reporting done by Mario Bartel of Freshnet News, he broke the story yesterday about the hockey and lacrosse teams, noting that the school had already planned to scuttle the varsity softball, golf, and outdoor track and field teams "as U Sports doesn’t have national championships for those sports". It seems the scalpel that SFU is using to get its budget back in order doesn't just end with non-championship sports as the Red Leafs men's hockey program looked like a potentially-viable option for Canada West men's hockey.

The madness in all of this is that Canada West and U SPORTS are shooting themselves in their respective feet by forcing SFU to pay fees to rejoin the two sporting bodies. Bartel reports that "the move back to U Sports will save $850,000 annually. But the one-time application costs for the new affiliation will cost the school up to $990,000" which makes absolutely zero sense when one considers that SFU's re-application can be amortized over a number of years, thereby guaranteeing better health of their athletic teams and ensuring their commitment to the conference is legitimate.

In looking at those numbers, though, I have a serious question: what is that money used for when it comes to the application costs? Shouldn't the application fees be as minimal as possible to allow more schools to compete at the U SPORTS and regional levels assuming they meet the educational requirements of U SPORTS participation? It's not like Canada West or U SPORTS is sinking that money into reducing costs for schools or building new infrastructure for their teams, so where does that million-dollar fee go?

Of course, no one will provide me with answers as to where those fees go besides into general coffers, so your guess is as good as mine. That's a whole other topic for another article one day, though.

If there's one thing that Canada West can use, it's tighter groups of teams rather than having nine teams spread out over four provinces. Travel is a significantly massive part of each program's budget each year, and having a better configuration for these ridiculous East and West Divisions would change that. If there were three teams in BC, they'd match the three teams in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the only teams who would need to switch divisions to make things work would be the Alberta teams. That won't happen now with this news.

Perhaps there will be a day where Simon Fraser University announces both a men's and women's hockey program for Canada West, but that day isn't even on the horizon at this point. I'd expect the players who are currently on the Red Leafs' roster to potentially look elsewhere for hockey opportunities now, and that will once again hurt Simon Fraser's enrolment numbers when one considers the number of athletes who are paying the price for SFU's financial situation.

If you were hoping for good news about Canadian university hockey growth, there is none here today. The Red Leafs are done as far as high-level competition is concerned, and their only team will continue to play in the BCIHL where costs are kept relatively low in comparison. And if we're ever to arrive at a ten-team Canada West conference, we need another team in BC to balance the conference.

As it stands, the nine current teams won't have to worry about trips to Burnaby next season or at any time in the future, apparently.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Movie Review: The Boys Of '80

Because I'm not allowed to live-blog an Olympic hockey game due to broadcast rights, I decided that I needed to post something else today that stuck with the Olympic hockey theme, but wouldn't break any rules. After all, I don't want the IOC shutting down HBIC over me publishing my thoughts as I watch Canada and Switzerland battle today. That being said, I decided to dive into the Netflix-produced Miracle: The Boys of '80, directed by Max Gershberg and Jacob Rogal. This documentary gathers a vast number of people who either played, called, or lived alongside the people who lived the story of the "Miracle on Ice". Being that I'm Canadian, I may have gone into watching this film by taking the subject matter for granted, but, after watching this documentary, I can honestly say that I have total respect for the men who defeated the Soviet Union after hearing their personal stories at the Lake Placid Olympic Games.

If you go into this expecting the Walt Disney version of Miracle, you won't find it here. Yes, the ending is already known and both movies end the same way, but Miracle: The Boys of '80 looks at the tournament from the perspective of the living members of the 1980 team, Herb Brooks' son and daughter, and the legendary Al Michaels who had the call in that memorable game. The members of the team talk about how the game brought them together and has kept them together throughout history, and there are some emotional moments they discover as players talk about being part of US history.

Obviously, there are some members of the team who have passed away, but it's hard not to have an appreciation for Herb Brooks and what he did to get this team set for the battle of their lives. Brooks' son and daughter describe how their father kept meticulous notes about everyone and everything leading up to and beyond the games as he looked for ways for the US team to succeed. Players described his cold demeanour towards them with anger as they wondered why Brooks seemed to hate them more than their opponents. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and Brooks is now held in the highest regard.

What makes Miracle: The Boys of '80 so intriguing to me is that there is a ton of unaired footage used in the documentary leading up to and from the 1980 Olympic Games. The archival footage of the team in practice and behind the scenes at the Olympics is incredible, it makes you want to see more of that footage. Of course, the players also get a chance to watch the footage, and the directors capture their reactions and thoughts about the unaired moments from their path to the gold medal. It's these reactions that are entirely worth investing time in this documentary. Some are priceless!

Throughout the film, there are key moments that the directors use with specific shots and archival footage that bring the stories to life. There's a segment about how Rob McClanahan was forced to stand on the bench during the Sweden game that needs to be seen, and there's a couple of heavy stories involving Jim Craig and Ken Morrow about how they almost quit due to parents who were battling illnesses. Perhaps the one story that stuck with me after the film ended was that of Steve Janaszak whose Olympic experience was very limited, but his life changed dramatically for the better because of it!

The film runs for an hour and 48 minutes, but it does not drag in its look at the stories about the various members of Team USA. According to an interview the directors did with The Athletic's Sean Gentille, the archival footage came from the Olympic Channel and the IOC, and it makes you wonder what else they may have stored away in whatever vault they keep the footage. Might we see one of these documentaries on the 2002 Winter Olympics one day?

For anyone who wasn't around for the spring of 1980, Miracle: The Boys of '80 might be the most honest, authentic look at how the American college kids upset a team of professional Russian hockey players at the biggest tournament on the planet. There are laughs, smiles, tears, anger, and happiness from the players as viewers will experience their emotions, and the archival footage secured by Gershburg and Rogal make the documentary so much better. Seeing the players' reactions during games to various events is so much better than just having them re-tell that story to the directors, and I admit that I have a new appreciation for that legendary US team!

Teebz's Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars)

Miracle: The Boys of '80 is streaming exclusively on Netflix. The movie was produced by thirteen different people for Olympic Channel, Words + Pictures, and Select Films, and was released on January 30, 2026 exclusively on Netflix. Miracle: The Boys of '80 has a running time of 148 minutes.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Rundown - Week 16

It's the final week of the season and there are six teams vying for five playoff spots. Two teams can play spoiler this week by rallying for wins, so all eight teams have a reason to shoot for the win column. The only team who can relax are the UBC Thunderbirds who know they'll have next week off as the playoffs start and will be sleeping in their own beds for the entirety of the Canada West playoffs after clinching home-ice advantage. Beyond that, though, every other playoff spot is up for grabs, so let's see who's in, who's out, and who is travelling where next week on this week's edition of The Rundown!

FRIDAY: We'll start out on the west coast in Langley where the Trinity Western Spartans played host to the Regina Cougars in a 1pm PST game on Friday. The Cougars were playing the spoiler role this weekend as they looked to cause chaos for the Spartans by earning wins. TWU needed points to stay ahead of Alberta, and a sweep would guarantee that they would host the West Division quarterfinal. The assignment was clear: earn as many points as possible.

Cougars goals: Trinity Grove (2), Tessa Stewart (5), Pippy Pritchard (5)
Cougars assists: Cassidy Peters (3), Kaylee Dyer (7), Kaitlyn Gilroy (2), Quinn McLaren (6), Makena Kushniruk (6)
Cougars netminders: Payton Schlamp (44/46) in 60:46

Spartans goals: Michela Naccarato (2), Olivia Leier (3)
Spartans assists: Ella Boon (9), Kara Yackel (5), Presleigh Giesbrecht (8)
Spartans netminder: Kate Fawcett (22/25) in 60:46

Result: 3-2 overtime victory for Regina over Trinity Western.

SATURDAY: One point was better than no points, but it made Saturday's game a must-win affair for the Spartans to put pressure on the Pandas. They could lose in overtime or the shootout, but they'd need MacEwan to win in regulation time to host the quarterfinal games. Good teams take care of their own business first, though, so could Trinity Western go into the playoffs on a winning note?

Cougars goals: none
Cougars assists: none
Cougars netminders: Amy Swayze (49/50)

Spartans goals: Kailey Ledoux (7)
Spartans assists: none
Spartans netminder: Kate Fawcett (26/26)

Result: 1-0 victory for Trinity Western over Regina.

FRIDAY: The last chapter of the Battle of Edmonton in 2026 began at the Downtown Community Arena on Friday. Alberta likely had to sweep the MacEwan Griffins this weekend plus hope for a little help from the Regina Cougars if they wanted to host the West Division quarterfinal. When the Pandas arrived at the arena, they already knew that Regina had limited Trinity Western to one point so the door was open. MacEwan had one task: slow the Pandas down.

Pandas goals: Hayleigh Craig (1), Hailey Carothers (4), Jadynn Morden (8), Ryann Perrett (3)
Pandas assists: Jadynn Morden (7), Hailey Carothers (5), Jadynn Morden (8), Hayleigh Craig (9), Sara Kazeil (4), Hailey Carothers (6), Kelly Stanford (3), Janay Williams (3)
Pandas netminders: Misty Rey (24/24)

Griffins goals: none
Griffins assists: none
Griffins netminder: Lindsey Johnson (18/21)

Result: 4-0 victory for Alberta over MacEwan.

SATURDAY: With the series shifting back to Clare Drake Arena, the Pandas came into Saturday with a one-point edge over the Trinity Western Spartans in the West Division standings. In order for Alberta to host, they had to win as the Spartans held the tie-breaker. If MacEwan won in any fashion, the Pandas would travel for their quarterfinal game, so the battle lines were drawn for this game.

Griffins goals: none
Griffins assists: none
Griffins netminder: Mikayla Christmann (46/52)

Pandas goals: Brayden Stewart (1), Ryann Perrett (4), Natalie Kieser (8), Ryann Perrett (5), Jadynn Morden (9), Jadynn Morden (10)
Pandas assists: Annie King (6), Holly Magnus (13), Sara Kazeil (5), Abby Soyko (9), Holly Magnus (14), Abby Soyko (10), Annie King (7), Hayleigh Craig (10), Holly Magnus (15), Annie King (8), Holly Magnus (16)
Pandas netminders: Mackenzie Dojahn (14/14)

Result: 6-0 victory for Alberta over MacEwan.

FRIDAY: The fates of two teams hung in the balance on Friday night as the Mount Royal Cougars met the Saskatchewan Huskies at Merlis Belsher Place. The Cougars had to remain ahead of the Calgary Dinos in some form for them to win the East Division and enjoy a quarterfinal bye next week. The Saskatchewan Huskies needed to win as many points as possible while hoping that the Bisons stumbled in their games. The first task for both teams was to win on Friday or grab points in whatever way possible in order to help their causes.

Cougars goals: Kaia Borbandy (3), Julia Duke (10), Jerzey Watteyne (10), Summer Fomradas (3)
Cougars assists: Isa MacPhee (11), Sydney Benko (7), Allee Gerrard (9), Ava Metzger (5), Gabby Lindsay (2)
Cougars netminder: Scout Anderson (13/13)

Huskies goals: none
Huskies assists: none
Huskies netminders: Colby Wilson (18/21)

Result: 4-0 victory for Mount Royal over Saskatchewan.

SATURDAY: While both teams knew their fate thanks to the Calgary-Manitoba game on Friday, there was still business to complete on Saturday as the Cougars and Huskies met in their final games of the season. I won't give away the ending with respect to playoff positioning, but both teams wanted end the campaign in the win column for 2026. Who would close out their season with a win?

Cougars goals: Allee Gerrard (11), Kiana McNinch (7)
Cougars assists: Kiana McNinch (11), Julia Duke (5)
Cougars netminder: Katherine Holan (29/32)

Huskies goals: Sara Kendall (5), Jayde Cadieux (6), Kahlen Wisener (10)
Huskies assists: Jessica Anderson (2), Sara Kendall (3), Kendra Zuchotzki (7), McKenna Bolger (9)
Huskies netminders: Colby Wilson (17/19)

Result: 3-2 victory for Saskatchewan over Mount Royal.

FRIDAY: As I indicated above, Friday's game between the visiting Calgary Dinos and the hosting Manitoba Bisons determined the fates of all four teams in the East Division who were vying for playoff spots and standings. Manitoba just needed to match what the Huskies did this weekend as they held the tie-breaker while the Dinos needed wins to catch the Mount Royal Cougars. With those teams playing in Saskatoon, let's see how this game finished regarding playoff spots.

Dinos goals: Hannah Reagh (5), Evelyn Lawrence (7)
Dinos assists: Kyla Mitenko (7), April Klarenbach (3), Josie McLeod (4), Alex Spence (14)
Dinos netminder: Amelia Awad (37/40) in 60:37

Bisons goals: Julia Bird (11), Aimee Patrick (10), Dana Goertzen (6)
Bisons assists: Norah Collins (8), Alyssa Rasmuson (9), Norah Collins (9), Louise Fergusson (8), Sadie Keller (5), Aimee Patrick (15)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (18/20) in 60:37

Result: 3-2 overtime victory for Manitoba over Calgary.

SATURDAY: Because Mount Royal won and Manitoba won on Friday, neither Calgary nor Saskatchewan could overtake those respective teams in those races. That made Saturday's game all about building for playoff momentum while remaining healthy as both teams looked forward to Canada West quarterfinal games next week.

Dinos goals: none
Dinos assists: none
Dinos netminder: Maisie Cope (36/41)

Bisons goals: Hanna Bailey (4), Hanna Bailey (5), Julia Bird (12), Norah Collins (10), Alyssa Rasmuson (3)
Bisons assists: Kelsey Huibers (2), Sophia Anderson (5), Julia Bilous (5), Sophia Anderson (6), Sophia Heidinger (4), Hanna Bailey (9), Sadie Keller (6), Norah Collins (10)
Bisons netminder: Emily Shippam (13/13)

Result: 5-0 victory for Manitoba 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	24-2-2-0	52	85	24	W8	BYE
Mount Royal	13-7-6-2	40	70	46	L1	BYE
Calgary	13-7-4-5	37	66	61	L3	vs TWU
Manitoba	10-9-3-6	32	71	65	W5	@ ALB
Alberta	10-9-2-7	31	61	60	W2	vs MAN
Trinity Western	8-12-6-2	30	65	63	W1	@ CAL
Saskatchewan	8-10-4-6	30	50	65	W1	OUT
Regina	4-15-5-4	22	41	70	L1	OUT
MacEwan	3-21-2-2	12	25	80	L7	OUT

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. She's always been one of the better scorers that the Alberta Pandas had on their roster, but three goals and two assists in her final two regular season games was something I noticed as she helped the Pandas lock down a home quarterfinal series. That kind of effort from Alberta Pandas forward Jadynn Morden puts her on The Honour Roll!

If there was an award for consistency, Jadynn Morden of the Alberta Pandas may win it thanks to her 18-point season this year. I say that because Morden had 18 points last season and 18 points the season before, and she had 18 points combined in her first two seasons with the Pandas! She needed a big weekend this weekend to hit that mark again, and she responded with a goal and two assists on Friday before adding two goals on Saturday to push her back to the 18-point mark.

I got to see how good she was while she played with the Lloydminster PWM Steelers at the 2019 and 2020 Female World Sport School Challenges, and I knew Alberta had a special player on their recruitment list when it was announced she would be a Panda. With her time coming to an end at the university level, she showed she's still an explosive offensive player who can take over a game, and that's how Alberta Pandas forward Jadynn Morden made the list!

Olympic Progress

With the women's hockey event in Milano-Cortina down to four teams, the number of Canada West people still going at the tournament is starting to tail off. Let's see who is still in the mix.

Mount Royal Cougars head coach Scott Rivett should be on his way home soon if not already after Czechia was "upset" by the Swedes in the quarterfinals. I put "upset" in quotation marks because the Swedes always have good players, so I'm not certain it's a true upset outside of original rankings. Nonetheless, the early exit by the Czechs means there are no medals coming home to Calgary from Italy.

Italy's Gabriella Durante won't be bringing home any hardware either after USA eliminated the Italians from the tournament. Durante played in four of the five games for Italy, recording a 1-2-0 record with a 3.44 GAA and a .908 save percentage. She was the goaltender of record in the 3-2 win over Japan - her first Olympic win - and was the goaltender Italy went with in their quarterfinal game against Team USA. I'm not sure anyone will stop the Americans this year, but Durante made 45 stops in the 6-0 loss so she did her absolute best. No word of a lie: I may get myself a #1 Durante Italy jersey just because of how well Gabriella played at the 2026 Olympic Games!

That leaves Swiss forward Vanessa Schaefer as the remaining Canada West player in Italy who will be playing for a medal, but the colour of said medal is still undetermined. Schaefer and her Swiss colleagues will play Canada tomorrow in one of the two semifinals after the Swiss beat Finland to advance. Schaefer has yet to record a point and is sitting with a -4 through the event, but the Swiss are showing incredible defensive play to hold good teams at bay. I know the UBC Thunderbirds will be cheering for her, but it's going to be hard to cheer against Canada tomorrow at 2:10pm CT when they meet!

Expansion Is Coming

The RSEQ announced last year that both Laval University and the University of Sherbrooke would be adding women's hockey programs to their athletic departments beginning no later than 2027. Well, I'm here to tell you that Laval is already putting the work in so they can be ready to hit the ice in the fall of 2026! The RSEQ is growing!

I was discussing the growth of the game yesterday with the Olympics once again showing that women's hockey is one of the event's pinnacle sports, and I was informed that there was a Winnipeg-born player who had recently been recruited by Laval University to play hockey there next season. This caught me by surprise, so I went and checked. Sure enough, Talia Jones of the MFHL's Winnipeg Ice is listed on their recruitment page along with a handful of other women!

The University of Sherbrooke has yet to make any announcements nor post anything on their website about women's hockey yet, so they may still be looking at the 2027 date as their starting point, but the fact that the RSEQ is growing from four to five teams next season is encouraging. Having four teams competing for two spots at the U SPORTS National Championship is dumb, so let's hope that Quebec continues to grow the game to add a few more teams to the mix!

The East Next Week

The schedule is posted for the games that we'll see in the East Division battle in the Canada West quarterfinals. Here's the preview.

The Spartans and Dinos will meet at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary for Game One on Friday, February 20 at 7pm MT. Game Two goes Saturday at the same time while Game Three, if necessary, will be played on Sunday at 5pm CT. Calgary and Trinity Western played only one weekend series this year in Calgary on November 14 and 15. Calgary won 3-2 in overtime and 2-0 in those two games.

Sydney Mercier scored three goals and adding a helper over those two games. The Spartans are going to want to slow her down if they want to advance, but they need to keep an eye on all of Brooklyn Anderson, Jess Martens, and Evelyn Lawrence as well. Alex Spence and Caitlyn Perlinger will be the defenders who push the pace, and it will likely be Amelia Awad who starts for the Dinos after going 12-3-1 this season with a 1.87 GAA and a .940 save percentage.

Trinity Western will come into Calgary with just as many offensive weapons, being led by Kyra McDonald and Chloe Reid, but the likes of Kara Yackel and Kailey Ledoux could also make some noise. The Spartans get a huge push from their blue line where all of Presleigh Giesbrecht, Sadie Isfeld, Ella Boon, and Kasey Ditner have double-digit point totals, so expect them to jump into the offensive fun. Kate Fawcett will be the likely starter for TWU after a 10-7-1 season where she posted a 2.28 GAA and a .914 save percentage.

The West Next Week

Before we even get into this, had Canada West kept the one conference idea instead of being split into two division, Manitoba, who finished with more points than Alberta, would be hosting this series in Winnipeg. That complaint aside, here's the preview.

The Bisons and Pandas will meet at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton for Game One on Friday, February 20 at 7pm MT. Game Two goes Saturday at the same time while Game Three, if necessary, will be played on Sunday at 5pm CT. Manitoba and Alberta played only one weekend series this year in Edmonton on January 30 and 31. Alberta won 5-4 in overtime while Manitoba took the second game of the weekend series by a 4-2 decision. This series should be fun.

Natalie Kieser had a three-point weekend the last time these teams met including the overtime game-winner. She, Abby Soyko, and Jadynn Morden should be the players that Manitoba is watching, but Holly Magnus has shown her skills while Hailey Carothers can dent twine if given a chance. Albera won't want to get into a track meet with Manitoba, so expect them to clamp down defensively in front of their netminder. Mackenzie Dojahn will be the likely starter after she went 8-2-2 with a 1.74 GAA and a .920 save percentage this season.

Norah Collins had five points for the Bisons the last time they were at Clare Drake Arena, so the Pandas are going to keep an eye on her. That being said, she, Aimee Patrick, and Julia Bird all hit double-digits in goals this season while Dana Goertzen, Alyssa Rasmuson, and Sara Harbus were all solid secondary scorers. Hanna Bailey and Louise Fergusson pushed the pace offensively from the blue line, but the Bisons will need to continue to hold teams to under 25 shots. Emily Shippam will be the likely starter for the Bisons after she posted an 11-9-3 record with a 2.29 GAA and an .891 save percentage.

The Last Word

There are three teams who saw their seasons come to an end this week, and it sucks because not every team can make the playoffs. I would hope that this makes all of the Saskatchewan Huskies, Regina Cougars, and MacEwan Griffins hungrier for next season, but we'll see in October when the new season begins. Not all is lost, though.

The Huskies are in the midst of a rebuild, and their future looks bright with some of the recruits they've signed joining the returning players next season. We didn't even get to see the likes of defender Evy West after injuries sidelined her, but we did get to see Peppi Virtanen show her stuff, Kahlen Wisener hit double-digits in goals this season, Avery Gottselig looks like she's going to be a pillar on the blue line, and Clara Juca should continue to be solid between the pipes.

The Regina Cougars are looking to continue to build, and they keep adding a ton of talent through their recruiting process. Pippy Pritchard is a leader on this team already, Tessa Stewart has shown growth, Quinn McLaren and Callie Hilhorst look like solid defenders, and the Amy Swayze-Payton Schlamp tandem should keep Regina in games for years to come. The Cougars are young, but they'll get better with every game they play next season and beyond.

You don't have to look hard to see the raw talent that the MacEwan Griffins possess with the likes of Megan Dolynchuk, Jordan Brown, Sasha Malenfant, and Jordana Jones being the next wave of talent. With Taya Currie and Mikayla Christmann holding down the fort, the Griffins could use a solid recruiting class and/or some transfers to boost the amount of scoring talent in the short term, but the effort the Griffins give on every night will never be questioned. This is a team that plays with heart and pride, and they should be proud that they were 4-6 in one-goals this season. For comparison, Manitoba was 4-7 in one-goal games this season, and they're in the playoffs!

While next season starts now for those three teams, the other six will determine which two teams will head to Elmira, Ontario for the U SPORTS National Champion and which team will add another tapestry to their rafters next season. Six teams will be reduced to four teams by this team next weekend, so best of luck to the Pandas, Dinos, Bisons, and Spartans! We should see some amazing hockey!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!