Pro Scoring Totals

As the PWHL continues to forge a path forward, we shouldn't forget that there are other U SPORTS players who are playing in other leagues across the planet. While the numbers vary from a handful of players to single players, focusing on one league as being the only place to play does a disservice to those who are making waves in those other professional leagues. Today, I'll spend a little time digging through scoring totals for players with U SPORTS roots who are showing those scoring talents in other countries. The players who aren't playing in the PWHL is impressive based on accomplishments, so let's give them some credit by recognizing their efforts too!

We'll start over in the SDHL where there are a handful of players who are showing their skills in a number of Swedish cities. These players are probably familiar to you, so let's see who's doing what over in Sweden!

• Jaycee Magwood (Luleå) - 10G, 15A in 21 games.
• Mathea Fischer (SDE) - 9G, 16A in 24 games.
• Shae Demale (SDE) - 15G, 4A in 24 games.
• Anna Purschke (Leksands) - 8G, 6A in 21 games.
• Lauren Dabrowski (SDE) - 5G, 8A in 24 games.
• Lore Baudrit (Leksands) - 3G, 6A in 25 games.
• Autumn Macdougall (Leksands) - 3G, 5A in 23 games.
• Tatum Amy (Leksands) - 6G, 1A in 25 games.


• Kate Stewart (SDE) - 3-5-2, 3.13 GAA, .880 sv% in 10 games.

Former Regina Cougars forward Jaycee Magwood is having a very solid season with the SDHL-leading Luleå squad as she's brought her net-front presence, rocket of a shot, and her ability to drive plays to an already-formidable team. Former UBC Thunderbirds forward Mathea Fischer has also found her scoring touch with SDE in being one of the league's better playmakers, and former Saint Mary's Huskies forward Shae Demale has continued filling the net in Sweden for SDE as she did in Canadian university hockey. Demale is currently tied for third in overall goal scoring with Michelle Karvinen, and she's just two goals back of MoDo's Lina Ljungblom for the overall lead.

Former Mount Royal Cougars forward Anna Purschke exploded for goals over the Christmas break to push her up the scoring ranks despite Leksands' struggles. Lauren Dabrowski is showing why she was a threat from the blue line with the StFX X-Women as she's been quarterbacking their team at times. Former Montreal Carabins forward Lore Baudrit continues to play solid two-way hockey, former Alberta Pandas forward Autumn MacDougall is finding more offensive chances, and former Mount Royal Cougars forward Tatum Amy continues to score goals like she did in Canada for the Leksands squad. Former UBC Thunderbirds netminder Kate Stuart hasn't played often, but she's been solid when called upon by SDE.

We'll jump to the next league that has a number of U SPORTS players who joined, and that's the EWHL which has teams all over Europe. Whether it be Austria, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Germany or Czechia, the EWHL has teams in all five of those countries. Here are the former U SPORTS players who are putting on a show in those countries!

• Lauren Nicholson (Aisulu) - 11G, 9A in 17 games.
• Lindsay Donovan (KMH) - 2G, 12A in 12 games.
• Alex Gowie (Sabres) - 10G, 2A in 14 games.
• Olivia Atkinson (MAC) - 6G, 6A in 14 games.
• Kassandra Roache (MAC) - 4G, 8A in 14 games.
• Neisha Germann (Neuberg) - 5G, 6A in 16 games.
• Jordan Kulbida (BJA) - 7G, 3A in 14 games.
• Lauren Steele (Sabres) - 2G, 4A in 14 games.
• Jordyn Burgar (Neuberg) - 3G, 1A in 16 games.
• Sophie Vandale (MAC) - 2G, 2A in 13 games.


• Rachel Seeley (Aisulu) - 2.30 GAA, .919 sv% in 18 games.

Former TMU Bold forward Lauren Nicholson is leading all U SPORTS players in scoring in the EWHL with third-place Aisulu Almaty. Former StFX X-Women defender Lindsay Donovan is showing off her scoring talents with second-place Hokiklub Budapest who are undefeated so far, going 12-0-0 this season. Former Calgary Dinos and Alberta Pandas forward Alex Gowie has played in the EWHL before, and she's filling the nets for SKN Sabres St. Pölten as she sits tied for fourth-overall in goals in the EWHL. Former McGill Martlets forward Olivia Anderson and former Toronto Varsity Blues forward Kassie Roache are having good seasons for sixth-place MAC Budapest.

Former Trinity Western Spartans forward Neisha Germann is having a good campaign for a weaker KSV Neuberg Highlanders team while former Regina Cougars forward Jordan Kulbida is burying pucks for a weaker Budapest Jegkorong Akademia squad. Former Mount Allison Mounties forward Lauren Steele has shown flashes of brilliance with SKN Sabres St. Pölten, former Calgary Dinos forward Jordyn Burgar is settling into life in Germany with KSV Neuberg Highlanders, and former PEI Panthers defender Sophie Vandale has brought her defence-first style of play to MAC Budapest. Former TMU Bold netminder Rachel Seeley is having a very good campaign with Aisulu Almaty in Kazakhstan where she's the starter.

Sweden seems to be a good landing spot for a lot of players, though, as the Division 1 teams - the league below the SDHL - also has a pile of U SPORTS players skating for teams. Let's take a look at who is skating for whom and how their seasons are going!

• Alli Borrow (Färjestad) - 16G, 20A in 13 games.
• Ashley McCabe (Falu) - 12G, 18A in 14 games.
• Siobhan Birch (Malmö) - 15G, 13A in 18 games.
• Hunter Mosher (Södertälje) - 15G, 11A in 11 games.
• Ellen Laurence (Södertälje) - 16G, 9A in 11 games.
• Mary McDonald (Södertälje) - 10G, 10A in 11 games.
• Alexa McMillan (Färjestad) - 0G, 12A in 10 games.
• Emma Hall (Björklöven) - 8G, 3A in 10 games.
• Keagan Goulet (Falu) - 2G, 7A in 7 games.
• Alex Anderson (Färjestad) - 1G, 8A in 10 games.
• Madeline Stanley (Falu) - 3G, 4A in 8 games.


• Julianna Thomson (Karlskrona) - 1-14-1, 4.88 GAA, .890 sv%.

Without a doubt, Färjestad has to be the favorite to move up to the SDHL next season as they currently are 12-0-2-0 on the season, and former Calgary Dinos forward Alli Borrow is a big part of that. Former Saint Mary's Huskies defender Alexa McMillan and Manitoba Bisons defender Alex Anderson are a large reason why Färjestad is currently +157 in goal differential through 12 games! The Malmö RedHawks are 15-3-0-0 with former Saint Mary's Huskies forward Siobhan Birch helping their cause. Södertälje is a perfect 12-0-0-0 so far this season with former Nipissing Lakers forward Hunter Mosher and a pair of former Saint Mary's Huskies in Ellen Laurence and Mary McDonald all pacing their success. All of Färjestad, Malmö, and Södertälje lead their respective divisions to this point.

Falu sits in third-place behind Färjestad, but they're getting good contributions from former Lethbridge Pronghorns forward Ashley McCabe and former Calgary Dinos Keagan Goulet and Madeline Stanley. Former UBC Thunderbirds forward Emma Hall has helped Björklöven with her strong two-way play to a second-place standing behind Skellefteå AIK in their division. Unforunately for former York Lions goaltender Julianna Thomson, Karlskrona has had the roof caved in a number of times on them, and her stats have paid the price as they've scored just 18 goals in 18 games this season as they sit 40 points back of first-place Malmö in their division.

Another solid European league that may get forgotten is the PostFinance Swiss Women's National League that features teams all over Switzerland. Not surprisingly, those teams also boast a few U SPORTS players who have made the jump from the Canadian landscape to living in the Alps! Let's see who is playing some hockey in Switzerland!

• Lilla Carpenter-Boesch (Neuchâtel) - 8G, 4A in 13 games.
• Holly Reuther (Langenthal) - 7G, 2A in 19 games.
• Dominique Scheurer (ZSC) - 1G, 6A in 16 games.***


• Sandy Heim (ZSC) - 1.00 in 18 games.***

Lilla Carpenter-Boesch finished up her career with the Regina Cougars as one of the more lethal goal scorers in Canada West, and it seems she's becoming the same player in the Swiss League! Holly Reuther was another clutch forward with the Calgary Dinos, and she's showing her abolity to find twine in Switzerland as well. The only problem is that Neuchâtel Hockey Academy sits in fifth-place while SC Langenthal Damen is in eighth-place out of eight teams. Nonetheless, both Carpenter-Boesch and Reuther are having excellent seasons.

I asterisked the last two names on the list because they technically didn't play for a U SPORTS school despite the school currently being part of U SPORTS. Both Scheurer and Heim were part of the ACAC MacEwan Griffins who helped the team achieve their goal of joining Canada West, so I felt it was important to include them in the list. Scheurer and Heim are Swiss-born players, and they're helping the ZSC Lions Frauen push for top spot in the Swiss League. Currently, ZSC is 16-3-0-0 on the season, and they sit one point back of SC Bern for the league's top spot. Heim, it should be noted, is also the league's top netminder by goals-against-average as well. Needless to say, Scheurer and Heim are having a solid impact for the Zurich Lions.

If there's one league you certainly won't find many U SPORTS players in, it's the Zhenskaya Hockey League in Russia. With Russia virtually being cut off from the hockey world by the IIHF, virtually any and all players not of Russian descent left the league. There is one player, however, who is playing in the league that had an incredible run in U SPORTS, so here's that player's season so far.

Former Calgary Dinos forward Alexandra "Sasha" Vafina is still playing in Russia after returning home to the country due to being homesick following the 2016-17 Canada West season. She's found a home with Dynamo-Neva St. Petersburg where she has six goals and nine assists in 30 games this season, but those totals are far off her point-per-game totals since arriving in 2021. Nonetheless, Vafina was always a solid defensive forward while being an exceptional offensive force, and I suspect we'll see her numbers start to trend upward.

Of course, China is still trying to keep its international hopes alive, and they have their own league as the WCIHL is playing. The hard part about this league is that the details online are few and far between. However, there are two players who are suiting up regularly for HC Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star that skated for U SPORTS teams, but details of their scoring talents are seemingly impossible to find.

That being said, former Saint Mary's Huskies defender Kiana Wilkinson and former TMU-Bold-for-one-season forward Danielle Fox are both pushing HC Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star to new heights while helping their Chinese teammates acquire more skills so they can make a bigger impact on the international stage. Again, I can't tell how their season is going statistically, but every update I've seen has Shenzhen on the winning side of the scoreboard. Things seem to be going well.

While the lack of U SPORTS players in the PWHL is a still a cause for concern about the level of play seen in U SPORTS, it shouldn't be the only level of play we can use to judge how well the Canadian university league is doing in its efforts. As shown above, there are women not only playing in leagues across the world, but they're thriving and having a ton of success in those leagues. Because we don't get to see them play often or at all, we're apt to forget that a lot of programs across Canada are developing some incredible talent!

With U SPORTS hockey starting up again this weekend, get down to your local university rink and cheer on the women or watch from the comfort of home with the streaming feeds offered by each conference. After all, one of the women playing this weekend for your local U SPORTS team might be playing in one of the above leagues next season, and you can say you saw her play before she hit the big leagues!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

This Week's Intermission Features

I spent the last two nights at Wayne Fleming Arena watching the Bisons battle the Saskatchewan Huskies as both teams looked to sort out playoff spots in their final games of the season. I'll recap everything tomorrow, but let me leave with a teaser here in that we may have seen the best two hockey games played this season over the last two nights. Because there were two nights of hockey, though, we ran two additional intermission features on stories from Canada West, and I'm going to post them here once again because I believe they're worth seeing.

As you're likely aware if you read this blog, there was a great charity game done by the Saskatchewan Huskies last week where Rhodes McNairn was guest of honour at the game while Haven Kids' House was the recipient of the proceeds raised by the game. I had a chance to sit down with Bailee Bourassa this week as she was driving force behind this game after meeting Rhodes at the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital while working as a nurse. Here are Bailee's thoughts on that night, her friendship with Rhodes, and how much money was raised for Haven Kids' House.

The next main intermission piece was run on Saturday as it was Senior Player Day at the barn with our graduating players being honoured for their efforts while skating with the Bisons. There's always a question as to whether they'll continue playing hockey at the next level - PWHPA, PHF, SDHL, or elsewhere - or whether they'll follow their academic pursuits into professional life.

Before we get to those who are playing, CBC Kids News sat down with current Bisons forward Julia Bird to discuss the demise of the CWHL and where professional hockey for women needs to go, and spoke to Manitoba and former Olympian Bailey Bram about the situation as well. From there we ask the question what the next steps are since there is no NHL-like professional league for women yet, and we took a look at former Canada West players currently playing professional hockey across the world!

We also ran a quick feature in the second intermission of Saturday's game because Lauren Warkentin, who is a graduating, still holds a distinction that no one else can match. Lauren's first Canada West goal in her career came against UBC that day, and she'll be forever immortalized on Hometown Hockey as they captured her goal being scored! To the best of my knowledge, she's the only Canada West player to have her first career goal - maybe any goal? - shown on Hometown Hockey! How cool is that?

Playoffs are next for the Bisons, but what position they'll be in and who they'll play will be determined by the end of next week. There will be additional intermission features for the playoffs once everything is settled, but we'll see what next week brings.

In learning how to do make these features, though, I feel like we're really elevating the Bisons women's hockey broadcasts in a big way. For those who reached out with comments as to whether they felt they were worth it, the collective answer was "yes" and we'll keep doing these features because of that feedback.

Thanks for watching, folks, and thanks for the feedback on our efforts!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Seven Months Of Existence

It was a mere seven months ago that I had written an article about the Russian Professional Women's Hockey League, better known as the harder-to-pronounce Zhenskaya Hockey League, expanding into Yaroslavl as the Ice Wings took flight. Who would have imagined that seven months later, I'd be talking about the team's demise as they announced via social media today that, "due to financial difficulties", they would be unable to compete for the rest of the season. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow when you consider that 20 women basically have had their seasons ended prematurely through no fault of their own, but the Ice Wings are done. Whether they return will be a matter of money, it seems.

Let's be clear in saying that the Ice Wings weren't very good. They were 1-20-0-1 in the 22 games they played this season while being outscored 145-20. September 25's historical inaugural game didn't go well as MSMO 7.62 laid a 7-1 beating on the Ice Wings, but Maria Lobour scored the team's first-ever goal at 7:54 of the second period when she beat Anna Alpatova off a feed from Elizabeth Dyundina.

September 26 saw the Ice Wings fall in overtime by a 4-3 score to MSMO 7.62 as they collected the first point in their history in just their second game. Alexandra Safonova was in the Ice Wings' net for this game as she made 55 stops in the overtime loss to help Yaroslavl pick up that historic first point.

There would be eight-straight losses following that overtime loss before the Ice Wings ran into the other expansion team as the White Bears from Chelyabinsk were their opponents on October 24. Goals from Maria Lobour at 5:07 of the second period and Olga Semenets at 16:06 of the third period was more than enough offence for goaltender Daria Lavrukhina as she stopped all thirty shots she faced for Yaroslavl's first shutout as they earned their first ZhHL win with the 2-0 victory over the White Bears! After finally knocking that gorilla off their backs, it would about to get better, right?

I'm not sure the expression "the wheels came off" is accurate because it seems like the Ice Wings imploded, exploded, spontaneously combusted, and were vaporized all at the same time. Eight losses were recorded with the smallest margin of defeat being five goals. Four of the losses were by ten goals or more. Three of the losses saw the Ice Wings give up 15-or-more goals. They were shutout in five-straight games, and didn't score more than one goal in any of the eight losses. The total damage from these eight games were a combined score of 92-3. That's not a typo!

If we're being honest with ourselves, the Ice Wings were not making the playoffs in any fashion as the top-eight teams from the ten-team league qualify for the playoffs. What might hurt more than anything, though, was that they were just seven points out of a playoff spot when they informed the league they could not continue. Was there a chance? Of course, although we'll never know now.

At the time they withdrew, Maria Lobour was the leading scoring with four goals and seven assists. The leading goal scorer, though, was Stanislava Sidorenko who left the team and had her contract terminated back on November 2, 2021 when she had six goals and ten points for the team to lead the Ice Wings at that time. Sidorenko is now playing with her hometown White Bears as she was born in Chelyabinsk, signing with the club on November 4.

Alexandra Gorshkova was tied for the lead in defender scoring with two assists, but it's her golf championship plus/minus that gets noticed quickly as she led the clubhouse with a -55! Marina Lzaraeva also had two assists as a defender, but her -14 is nowhere near as impressive. Just ten players had points for the Ice Wings before they locked the doors on the women.

Daria Lavrukhina was the best netminder for the Ice Wings as the hometown Yaroslavl native was 1-6-0 on the season with a 6.73 GAA and an .848 save percentage. Alexandra Safonova was 0-12-1 in her time with the Ice Wings on the strength of a 7.90 GAA and an .866 save percentage. If you're asking where the other two losses went, they were forfeits based upon rescheduled games that will no longer be played, so the 20 games that these two netminders played are split between them.

That closes the book on the first, and perhaps only, season of existence for the Yaroslavl Ice Wings. It certainly didn't end the way anyone wanted, but there have been a lot of teams whose finances have dried up with no fans either choosing not to watch or being unable to attend. I don't know if either of those situations were applicable to the Ice Wings, but I do know the latter will certainly apply for the rest of the season with the team officially off the ice.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Rundown - Going Pro

Today, The Rundown is all about the professional women's hockey players who once called Canada West home. There are a vast number of women working in all sorts of fields across the planet after having played Canada West hockey, but there are a handful who are still playing the game today in a professional manner. These women aren't making millions of dollars by any means, but they are still living out a dream where they're being paid to play the game they love or attempting to make that dream happen. In either case, I'm going to guess there are a lot more women who suited up for Canada West teams playing professionally than you might think! Let's take a look at who is playing where this week on The Rundown!

As part of the fun in seeing these women do their thing on the professional stage, I'll pull highlights from where ever I can in order for you to see these women in action. Not everyone has highlights since some leagues are stuck in the stone age, but I've done my best in digging up highlights from this season for you to enjoy!

Name	League	Team	Country
Celine Tardif	SDHL	Leksands IF	Sweden
Kelly Murray	SDHL	SDE Hockey	Sweden
Hannah Clayton-Carroll	SDHL	SDE Hockey	Sweden
Mathea Fischer	SDHL	SDE Hockey	Sweden
Emily Costales	ZhHL	KRS Vanke Rays	China

UBC has three players playing together on SDE in Sweden which, if you scroll through the rest of the teams, seems like a bit of a Canada West All-Star team in the Swedish Women's League. That being said, Celine Tardif is also over there as a member of Leksands IF, and Emily Costales may be playing for Team China at the Olympics after suiting up for the Rays in the Russian ZhHL. Needless to say, UBC is doing a good job at graduating players into professional leagues.

Hannah Clayton-Carroll cleans up the rebound off the Kelly Murray shot in front of the net as the two former UBC Thunderbirds open the scoring on the power-play for SDE over MoDo on December 4, 2021!

Mathea Fischer forces the turnover before taking the pass and finishing off the breakaway for a beautiful effort. How many times did we see that in Canada West? Hint: many.

Name	League	Team	Country
Alex Poznikoff	PWHPA	Calgary/Team Scotiabank	Canada
Autumn MacDougall	PHF	Buffalo Beauts	USA
Kennedy Ganser	PHF	Buffalo Beauts	USA
Lindsey Post	SDHL	SDE Hockey	Sweden
Megan Eady	SDHL	SDE Hockey	Sweden
Alex Gowie	EWHL	MAC Budapest	Hungary

There's an explanation needed here because Alex Gowie actually played for the University of Calgary before going to Hungary to play there where she gained citizenship to play for the country internationally. She returned to Canada after a few years, though, and finished her studies at the University of Alberta. For clarity's sake, players will be listed with the school they graduate from in order to prevent confusion. Beyond that, both MacDougall and Ganser were drafted by the Beauts into the PHF (formerly the NWHL), Alex Poznikoff scored her first PWHPA goal last month, and both Lindsey Post and Megan Eady are part of that SDE/Canada West All-Star team in Sweden.

Alex Poznikoff beats Erica Howe up high! Note the assist from former Bisons defender Brigitte Lacquette who played one season with Manitoba before graduating from Minnesota-Duluth!


A number of Autumn MacDougall's goals in the PHF in one nice clip.


It felt like Canada West all over again on December 4, 2021 when Lindsey Post absolutely robbed MoDo's Jaycee Magwood on the backhand! I seem to recall her flashing the leather like that a lot!

Name	League	Team	Country
Moeko Fujimoto	Smile League	Toyota Cygnus	Japan
Erin McLean	EWHL	Aisulu Almaty	Kazakhstan

Honestly, finding any information on Fujimoto was harder than one could imagine, but she is still playing in Japan. Erin McLean actually earned her citizenship in Kazakhstan where she now competes for the country internationally.

Unfortunately, highlights for either player seem to be non-existent.

Name	League	Team	Country
Kelsey Roberts	PWHPA	Calgary/Team Scotiabank	Canada
Iya Gavrilova	PWHPA	Calgary/Team Scotiabank	Canada
Megan Grenon	PWHPA	Calgary/Team Scotiabank	Canada
Alexandra Vafina	ZhHL	Dynamo-Neva St. Petersburg	Russia
Laine Grace	EWHL	DEC Salzburg Eagles	Austria

Kelsey Roberts had an outstanding showing at the PWHPA event last month as she showed why she was the Canada West Player of the Year in 2020. Gavrilova has been a star since her time with the Dinos, and it hasn't stopped in her professional hockey life. Megan Grenon may not be a household name, but she was a very defender for the Dinos program. Alexandra "Sasha" Vafina is still one of the best Russian players suiting up in her homeland with St. Petersburg. Laine Grace was a solid defender for the Dinos as well, and she's playing regularly in Salzburg.

Kelsey Roberts makes a ridiculous save in the PWHPA game on December 18 as she goes post-to-post laterally. Unreal!

Iya Gavrilova shows off her hands as she opens the scoring in the PWHPA game on December 19, beating Erica Howe.

Check out the great feed from Alexandra Vafina (#29) to teammate Polina Bolgareva for the goal in this highlight!

Name	League	Team	Country
Kaitlin Willoughby	PWHPA	Calgary/Team Scotiabank	Canada
Danielle Stone	SDHL	HV71	Sweden

I honestly thought there would be more former Huskies playing professionally around the globe, but finding them has been harder than I'd like to admit. Kaitlin Willoughby is still bringing amazing skills to the PWHPA ice when she's on it, and Danielle Stone continues to be an excellent scorer for HV71 in Sweden.

Kaitlin Willoughby earns an assist on Alex Poznikoff's goal. Watch for #17 in the celebration after the goal!

Check out the ridiculous hand-eye coordination from Danielle Stone on this deflection in the high-slot for HV71 against Lulea.

Name	League	Team	Country
Jaycee Magwood	SDHL	MoDo	Sweden
Martina Maskova	Extraliga Zen	HC Banik Pribram	Czechia

Jaycee Magwood is doing in Sweden what she did here in Canada in terms of being a consistent scorer. Martina Maskova returned home to Czechia after spending a couple of seasons in Regina, and she's now playing for Pribram's Extraliga team some 45 minutes southwest of Prague.

Watch this individual effort that Jaycee Magwood puts on in overtime to help MoDo defeat HV71. Like she did in Regina, this is a highlight-reel goal that features a toe-drag around a defender and a determination to score that is all too familiar from Jaycee Magwood!

Name	League	Team	Country
Becca King	PWHPA	Toronto - Team Sonnet	Canada
Erica Rieder	SDHL	MoDo	Sweden
Alexandra Anderson	SDHL	SDE Hockey	Sweden

Again, I thought there might be more Bisons out there, but a number of the women who had been playing professionally have since transitioned into their professional lives. That being said, Becca King is still suiting up for the PWHPA after playing with the Markham Thunder in the CWHL. Erica Rieder has been a solid defender for MoDo since making the jump to Sweden. Alex Anderson was playing defence with SDE before moving to forward for the club.

Erica Rieder jumps up into the high slot area, and she buries a goal against Djurgarden on December 28 to open the scoring for MoDo!

Alex Anderson is the finisher on this tic-tac-toe play by SDE against Lulea after the turnover on December 5, 2021!

Name	League	Team	Country
Maddy Noonan	DamEttan	Södertälje SK	Sweden

The former Pronghorns recruit made the jump to Sweden's second-highest women's division after the University of Lethbridge folded their hockey program, and Maddy Noonan hasn't looked back as she's having another outstanding season for Södertälje.

Highlights for some of the upper European leagues are hard enough to come by, so finding a second-division highlight reel for Maddy Noonan wasn't happening despite my best efforts.

The Last Word

There have been a number of other players who have played in leagues across the world as well. UBC's Tatiana Rafter was part of the ZhHL in Russia and part of the NWHL here in North America. Mount Royal's Kennedy Bozek played in the EWHL. Manitoba's Maggie Litchfield-Medd was a high-scoring forward in the SDHL. All three, along with countless others, have decided to follow their professional, non-hockey lives at this point, but this is why support at the Canada West level matters: these women deserve to follow their hockey dreams as much they're encouraged to follow their academic ones.

I get that not every woman is seeking a professional hockey career at the end of the university career, but it's a door that shouldn't be closed simply because there are very few opportunities to do so. If players choose to follow their academic pursuits by staying in school or by venturing out into employment, that should be their choice as opposed to being their ONLY choice right now. We need to start finding a way to give women better opportunities to play this game at high levels once they've used up their university eligibility.

As shown above, there are a pile of women doing amazing things on the ice, and I really hope that we see another wave of talented, smart women join them with names like Anna Purschke, Bailee Bourassa, Lauren Warkentin, and Chantal Ricker all set to close the book on their storied university careers. Losing some of this incredible hockey talent simply because the option to play hockey isn't available is a travesty that we really need to correct sooner than later.

With Bailee Bourassa already working as a nurse in Saskatoon, it would seem likely that she's going to choose her field of study over the option to play hockey. I don't fault her for that as she's very good at what she does, but I wish that she had the option to choose whether she wanted to play hockey for a few more years at the professional level or go into nursing full-time.

What I do know is that I feel pretty lucky that I've been exposed to some of the best women's hockey players on the planet while covering Canada West hockey over the last decade, and I'm truly grateful for having had that experience and making friendships with some of the women that played. I can honestly say that I'm a fan of the women mentioned above regardless of their association to rival schools, and seeing them take their incredible skill that I got to watch for so long to the next level is why we need to find a way to create a professional league for these women.

If you haven't seen these women play, my advice would be to correct that oversight in the second half of the Canada West season. If you have watched them play and haven't been impressed, give them another chance. With more people supporting university women's hockey and minor-league girls' hockey, the rise in fans will be noticed by those who curate this game. If they see more and more people supporting the women, it will be hard for them to ignore the obvious: it's time for a professional league for the women who dream of more.

With that, I'll see you at the games in 2022!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Following Dreams

You may not be aware of this fact, but there's an Olympic hockey tournament being played this week in the city of Nottingham, England from October 7-10! I should qualify this statement by stating that it's a pre-qualification tournament for four teams looking to get into the Beijing Olympics in Feburary, but there is a cool Canada West tie-in to this tournament! Let's take a peek at what's happening across the pond with this tournament!

There are three spots up for grabs in the 2022 Beijing Olympic women's hockey tournament for countries around the world who qualify through a series of tournaments. This would be one of these tournaments, but this particular event was originally scheduled to take place in South Korea before the Korean government requested that the tournament be moved with respect to the pandemic measures in that country. Needing a place to play, the tournament was relocated to Nottingham where all of Great Britain, Korea, Iceland, and Slovenia will battle for a chance to move on in this qualifying stage as they seek one of those three spots in the 2022 Olympics!

The team that wins this four-team event in Nottingham isn't out of the woods yet, but it does get them one step closer to competing for an Olympic gold medal in February. I suspect that Korea, Iceland, and Slovenia will do everything in their power to prevent Great Britain from being the team that wins the tournament, but I can tell you that, as a Canada West women's hockey fan, I am cheering for Team Great Britain in this event as they have a Calgary Dinos player skating for them!

Goaltender Ella Howard, seen to the right in a previous IIHF tournament wearing her Great Britain colours, will tend nets for the Calgary Dinos in the near future, and it's exciting to see her chasing her Olympic dreams as one of the two netminders the British squad has named for this tournament. While seeing any Canada West players - former or current - chase their Olympic dreams is always exciting, seeing Howard playing such a vital role for Great Britain at the age of 18 means we'll likely see her compete on the international stage for a long time for her country while also being a big part of the Calgary Dinos women's program for the foreseeable future!

Of course, the University of Calgary is used to having women's hockey players represent their countries at the Olympics. Hayley Wickenheiser was part of Team Canada while she played with the Dinos and while she earned her degree while both Iya Gavrilova and Sasha Vafina suited up for Russia during and after their Canada West playing days with the Dinos came to an end. Having the first British netminder in Canada West women's hockey history go off and represent her country is just part of life at the Calgary campus, it seems.

There are other players who have also represented their teams on the international stage from across the Canada West landscape as well. Of course, we were lucky enough to watch Venla Hovi for a few seasons with the Bisons, and the Olympic and World Championship medalist made large impacts with Team Finland and with the Bisons before retiring.

Mathea Fischer from UBC proudly represented Norway in a number of IIHF competitions during her time at the Vancouver school. Fischer has yet to skate in the Olympics as Norway is looking to qualify for that opportunity as well, but she was part of the 2019 Women's World Hockey Championship Division-1 tournament where she helped Norway finish in third-place. There will be lots of opportunities for Mathea to represent Norway in the future, and you can catch her playing this season with SDE in the SDHL!

Playing alongside Fischer for Norway was defender Emma Bergesen who currently plays for the Mount Royal Cougars! Bergesen was also part of that 2019 Women's World Hockey Championship Division-1 Norwegian squad that finished in third-place, but she'll be back at Mount Royal this season as the Cougars look to build upon their incredible run to Nationals last season of which Bergesen was a part.

It should be noted that both Fischer and Bergesen will likely be part of the Norwegian squad playing in the 2022 Olympic Qualification Round 3, Group C tournament in Chomutov, Czech Republic from November 11-14, so they too will still get a chance to follow their dreams of being in the Olympics as long as they can win that qualifying tournament. They'll be facing the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the winner of one of the three qualifying tournaments like Great Britain is trying to win.

There is one player guaranteed to be skating at the Beijing Olympics this year who has a Canada West background. Emily Costales is currently playing for the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays in the ZhHL (the Russian women's professional league), and it would appear that the Chinese national women's team will be selecting most, if not all, of these women for their entry into the Olympics as the host country! Costales was a standout forward with UBC for two seasons after transferring in from Syracuse University in the NCAA, and it appears she's set to make her Olympic debut in February!

Needless to say, we've been pretty blessed with amazing talent in Canada West women's hockey, and I'm hopeful we'll see other players make their national teams' rosters before their careers are over. Perhaps Regina's Adela Juzkova will play for the Czech Republic at some point. Maybe Manitoba's Polina Goncharova gets a shot with Russia or the Bisons' Miressa Mäkelä suits up for Finland. Heck, maybe someone like Mount Royal's Anna Purschke or Alberta's Kirsten Chamberlin gets a shot with Canada at some point!

Whatever happens in the future, it's pretty clear there are some exceptional athletes competing in Canada West. Ella Howard of Great Britain is the next name in a long line of international stars seen in Canada university hockey out west, and we're excited to watch her and Team Great Britain compete in Nottingham starting on Thursday! Go Ella, and here's hoping Great Britain moves on!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Defending Their Gold

Hockey USA was busy today as they announced the 27 players who would be traveling to Blaine, Minnesota for the 2021-22 U.S. Women's National Team Residency Program that will begin in October as Team USA gears up for the Beijing Olympics in February 2022. There are no real surprises in these 27 names that will throw anyone for a loop, but it should be noted that the players who were named will likely all participate in Calgary in August at the IIHF Women's World Championship as well. That means the Calgary tournament will give the Team USA coaches a good idea where to start come October when 27 American women arrive at the Super Rink to defend their Olympic gold medal.

As stated above, there are no real surprises here. Fourteen women were members of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics gold medal team. Eleven players will be seeking their first Olympic team roster spot. Two more will be looking to rejoin the team after not being selected to play in Pyeongchang. All 27 women, however, are some of the best players on the planet, and it appears that Team USA will go into the Beijing Olympics as the gold medal favorites once again.

We'll start with the newcomers because there are certainly some fun players in this group. These eleven players are Caroline Harvey, Savannah Harmon, Jincy Dunne, Natalie Buchbinder, Abby Roque, Grace Zumwinkle, Hayley Scamurra, Jesse Compher, Britta Curl, Lacey Eden, and Abbey Murphy. I don't want to put the cart before the camp results here, but Abby Roque, Jincy Dunne, Savannah Harmon, and Britta Curl seem like they may have the best chances of these eleven players to make the squad based on their performances during the US legs of the PWHPA tournament.

The fourteen returnees include Cayla Barnes, Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Alex Cavallini, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Kali Flanagan, Nicole Hensley, Megan Keller, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Kelly Pannek, Maddie Rooney, and Lee Stecklein. With Cavallini, Hensley, and Rooney all returning, it seems the goaltending position might be unshakable until one of those ladies chooses not to play. The remaining eleven players form the foundation of an already juggernaut-like team, so having a few of those newcomers join them will only make Team USA stronger.

That being said, the two players who are looking to rejoin the US Olympic roster are Alex Carpenter and Megan Bozek who both played in the ZhHL with the KRS Vanke Rays last year, helping them win the Russian league's championship. Both Carpenter and Bozek will be highly motivated after missing out on Pyeongchang in 2018, so expect them to make a splash and keep a few of those newcomers or perhaps bump one of the 2018 players off the roster. Both players are impactful when on the ice, so I expect them to make camp a little more interesting with their presences.

Hockey USA provided a few interesting facts as the average age of these players is 25.4. Caroline Harvey (10/14/02) will attend camp as the youngest player while Hilary Knight (7/12/89) will be the oldest. Knight, for what it's worth, is seeking to become just the fourth US women's hockey player to make four Olympic hockey teams. While it seems impossible to even consider her being cut, it's almost entirely certain she will join Julie Chu, Jenny Potter and Angela Ruggiero as the fourth woman to do so.

The fact that 27 players are headed to Blaine for the camp means that of those 27, only four will be sent home. As per Hockey USA, "[t]he final 23-player roster for the 2022 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team is expected to be revealed in very late December or early January" which seems like an awfully long time to keep players in suspense from an October camp, but I'm not in charge of those decisions.

Based on the 27 names shown above, there will be no easy games against the US once again when the 2022 Beijing Olympics open. Dare I say, but it seems that Team USA will have a spot on the podium thanks to the 23 women who will eventually named as part of this team based on past performances at various levels. With gold medals on the line, the American women will be hungry for more as they look to defend their gold medals from 2018, and that should worry the rest of the field.

The only question that may be asked is who can stop them from doing it again?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Ten Players Signed

I posted an update on the Yaroslavl Ice Wings last week that mentioned they were holding tryouts for players seeking a spot on their roster for the upcoming 2021-22 Russian Women's Hockey League (ZhHL) despite the KHL still needing to vote them into the league as an expansion squad. The Chelyabinsk team had been far quieter than Yaroslavl had been as it, too, prepared for the vote for inclusion, but they made a big statement today that should be felt across the Zhenskaya Hockey League despite them not being a part of the league yet. Russian hockey is full of surprises!

While the vote will likely be unanimous once the KHL's Board of Governors convene, it would appear that both Yaroslavl and Chalyabinsk are putting their carts before their horses in attracting and signing players. I'm not here to criticize their methods, though, but every expansion I've seen usually involves being accepted as a team into a league before players can be signed. Maybe the rules are different in Russia?

Whatever the case may be, the addition of the Yaroslavl and Chelyabinsk teams is simply academic at this point because the contracts are real. Belye Medveditsy announced ten players who will be signing up for them next season today, so let's take a look at who each of these players are.

Chelyabinsk has a goalie under contract that has ZhHL experience! That's Milena Tretyak who played with KRS Vanke Red Star last season where she was 6-0-0 with a 1.01 GAA and a .935 save percentage in seven appearance. The 21 year-old appears to be one of Russia's goaltenders of the future having already played for them nationally at the U18 Women's World Championship, and she'll get a shot at commanding a crease for Belye Medveditsy. Her blueline won't have the names she regularly saw last season in front of her, but Tretyak is a solid netminder who is capable of winning games with a little help. This signing is a great start for Chelyabinsk around which they can build.

Competing with Tretyak will be 22 year-old Yulia Artyomova. Artyomova didn't see much ice time with Dynamo-Neva St. Petersburg last season, appearing in a single game where she was not the goalie of record while giving up no goals. She does have 50 games of ZhHL experience to her credit, though, where she has recorded an 18-21-0 record, a 3.15 GAA, and a .900 save percentage. If Artyomova can find her way back to playing at the level she was at in 2019-20 with SK Gorny where she was 9-9-0 with a 2.85 GAA and a .901 save percentage, her and Tretyak will be a formidable duo for Belye Medveditsy for years to come. If there's one thing Chelyabinsk can brag about early on in their setup, it's that they have two excellent, young goalies on the roster.

The two signed defenders of Belye Medveditsy might be called the "mom's club" because of a couple of similarities. Natalya Vorontsova, seen to the right, is a 25 year-old defender who took the last three seasons off to raise her baby that she had in 2018! Prior to her taking some time off, she had played seven seasons in the ZhHL where she scored seven goals and 18 assists over 140 games with Agidel Ufa and SK Gorny. She's a solid defender who helped Russia with the 2018 Universiade gold medal, and she likely be one of the pillars that Chelyabinsk leans on in their first season of play. She does seem to take more penalties than an expansion team may want with 108 PIMs to her credit thus far, so we'll see if she can clean that part of her game up to help Belye Medveditsy.

The other half of the "mom's club" back on defence for Chelyabinsk is 21 year-old Alina Orlova. Orlova took last season off for the birth of her daughter as the second wave of Orlova women's hockey players begins. Orlova played four seasons with SK Gorny where she has seven goals and 11 assists in 117 games, but she's also similar to Vorontsova in that she has a high number of penalty minutes over that career. To date, Orlova has spent 139 minutes in the sin bin, so it would appear that Chelyabinsk is going to have a physical blueline based on the history of these two defenders.

We'll start with the most veteran player of the forwards in 31 year-old Inna Dyubanok who missed the entire 2020-21 ZhHL season after the team she signed with, Dynamo SPb, dissolved and contracted. With rosters already full, the Russian couln't find a home and missed the season. What should be pointed out is that Dyubanok can both forward and defence - something she has done both on the international stage and in the ZhHL. My guess is that after not playing for a season, Dyubanok will want to show she's still got game, so expect her to add to her 85 goals and 186 assists in 215 career games. She likely will come to camp with a purpose, and that should bode well for Chelyabinsk.

Yekaterina Zakharova also comes to Chelyabinsk having played both forward and defence in her career. The 26 year-old was a defender last season for SKSO Yekaterinburg where she scored three goals and added three helpers. Her career stats won't blow anyone away - 18 goals and 27 assists in 278 career ZhHl games - but she's a solid defensive presence on both the forward lines or from the blueline. She filled in as an alternate captain at times last season for SKSO, so Chelyabinsk will have some leadership added to the room in Zakharova. She also logged 23 minutes per game for SKSO as she anchored the blueline, so Belye Medveditsy is getting a player who will be a leader in the room and on the ice. Having players who can fill dual roles like Dyubanok and Zakharova also will give the Chelyabinsk coaching staff a ton of flexibility in making lineups each night.

There likely should have been more accolades given for forward Tatyana Shatalova's signing, but her 2020-21 season in the NWHL was derailed before it ever got started. The 21 year-old was one of the players on the New York Riveters team who contracted COVID-19 early in the bubble, and she was never able to make it into a game. She was a decent performer for the Riveters in 2019-20 where she had two goals and ten assists in 23 games, so we'll have to see how she bounces back after dealing with COVID. She should provide a scoring spark for Belye Medveditsy if she rebounds to her full potential.

In what has to be one of the more interesting paths taken in hockey, 21 year-old Ilmira Taipova played a couple of seasons for SKIF Nizhny Novgorod before suiting for eight games last season with Gümüs Patenler SK in Turkey! Taipova was a scoring sensation for the Silver Skates in Turkey, racking up 17 goals and nine assists in ten games compared to just one goal in 23 games in the ZhHL. If she found her scoring touch in Turkey, it would appear that Chelyabinsk is hoping she brings that talent back to the ZhHL with her. At 21 years of age, though, Belye Medveditsy has lots of time to work with her.

Chelyabinsk did bring in another player with some recent championship experience as they went and signed 20 year-old Maria Pushkar from KRS Vanke. Pushkar played one season with KRS Vanke after two seasons with Tornado Dmitrov. To date, she has recorded 11 goals and nine assists in 90 ZhHL games, but did match a career high last season from her rookie year in scoring eight points. She doesn't have the scoring prowess of a Dyubanok or a Zakharova yet, but Pushkar is just entering her fourth season of professional hockey at the age of 20, and there's a lot to like about a young player who has already been a part of a ZhHL championship run early in her career.

The last player of the ten signings is the youngest player, but she's also a homegrown player after growing up watching Traktor and eventually playing for Fakel, the local women's team. 19 year-old Alina Narudinova comes home to Chelyabinsk to join Belye Medveditsy after playing three seasons in Ufa and Yekaterinburg. In 70 career ZhHL games thus far, Narudinova has ten goals and ten assists with 17 of those points coming in the last two seasons with SKSO Yekaterinburg. If Belye Medveditsy needed someone to build local marketing around, Narudinova would be a good choice as she's young, she has championship experience as she was part of the 2018-19 Ufa team that won the ZhHL, and she's an emerging talent in the league. If Chelyabinsk needed someone to market, I'd start with Alina's story of being the local kid who grew up to join the pro team!

With ten players under contract now, the vote to include both Yaroslavl, who indicated they had seven contracts being negotiated last week, and Chelyabinsk seems rather unnecessary aside from it being a formality at the KHL's Board of Governors meeting. What should be noted is that Chelyabinsk is building a strong, young team sprinkled with a few veterans who will pass on knowledge and leadership to these younger players.

If there's one thing that worries me slightly, it's that three players who they signed played no hockey last season whatsoever. While I'd never suggest that players shouldn't be allowed to have babies or anything of that ilk, the catch is that the ZhHL is getting better in terms of overall talent year after year. Missing a season for any reason already would make it difficult to jump back in, but there's a reason why these women are elite athletes. I suspect that Chelyabinsk will see these women contribute.

It appears one expansion team is closer to being ready for the 2021-22 season. We'll have to see who else gets signed in the coming weeks by both Yaroslavl and Chelyabinsk.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!