The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is all about Milan, Paris, and New York City tonight as Jenna jumps into the fray for a bit of a fashion show on the program tonight! For those that know me, I have the fashion sense of a clown, so having Jenna on the show lends a lot more credence to the fashion opinions you'll hear tonight because she's an icon. We'll rip a few teams for their obvious lack of fashionable ideas while celebrating others among the pieces we'll discuss tonight!
After getting caught up with Jenna, the two hosts discuss thoughts on MacEwan's first half of their inaugural Canada West season, they wish good health and quick recoveries to a couple players who were injured last weekend, and then they dive into the fashion show. Teebz and Jenna break down the new "Jersey" alternate jersey from New Jersey, the new look for Canada at the Olympics, Team USA's new uniforms, and Team Finland's new uniforms. They also chat about the new member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Committee and why this appointment is important, some historical perspective for women's hockey when it comes to the HHOF, the amazing start to the season for the Utica Comets, they circle back to a missed new uniform, and they highlight one official's busy December who has local ties! Our hockey fashion opinions fill the hour tonight, so make sure you tune in at 5:30pm CT on 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!
Before we jump ahead, we'd be remiss here at The Hockey Show if we didn't throw out a Happy Thanksgiving to our American listeners and friends as they celebrate their Turkey Day today! Enjoy the day with family and friends, eat all the delicious offerings, laugh, smile, and make memories after a long break between Thanksgiving gatherings! If you need some goofy hockey talk post-meal, The Hockey Show can fill your ears with some puck goodness!
Where's the best place can you hear tonight's show if you're outside Winnipeg or not near a radio, you ask? The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. 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 do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.
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!
Tonight, Teebz and Jenna chat about first seasons, bad fashion choices, good fashion design, new jobs, hockey history, great starts, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
If the flag to the left looks a little off, you don't need your eyes checked. It simply has been rendered in Canada's hockey colours that they're primarily wear in Beijing at the 2022 Winter Olympics. If that flag's new colours are blasphemous in your view, you're probably like me in asking why Canada needs black in its colour scheme when the red and white colours are so iconic. Canada's Olympic people seem to have no issue with the Great White North going dark, though, so we'll see more black than white at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games.
The first thing that should be mentioned is that none of the teams that play at the Olympics are allowed to use their hockey federations' logos on the front of their jerseys. That means that the Hockey Canada logo is out, replaced with a standard maple leaf since the 2010 Olympics. For countries like Sweden who use the Tre Kronor or the Finns who use a stylized lion, this isn't an issue as they don't use their hockey federations' logos, but it did affect both Canada and the US as they had to move away from their long-used hockey logos.
Because of these rules, Canada seems to recreate their look for each and every Olympiad, and it seems to be getting worse and worse each time. Canada's new look for 2022? It seems very black and red.
I am baffled by these uniforms with respect to the amount of black used, and the all-black uniform is downright un-Canadian in terms of our country's colours. I don't know who green-lit these uniforms or allowed Nike to make them as they did, but I am baffled how Hockey Canada officials would look at these uniforms be proud of representing the country's colours as they are.
Confused at how much black Canada will be wearing while playing for gold, I went looking for the answer to the question, "How can Canada be allowed to wear black when it's not an official colour?"
It turns out that a country doesn't have to use its flag colours if it chooses. Chris Rudge, CEO of the 2010 Canadian Olympic Committee, explained it to the Globe & Mail.
Look, I get Alpine Canada or Speed-Skating Canada not wanting to change their uniforms. It's expensive to outfit a team and, like Rudge stated, people identify their athletes with uniforms they know. If Canadian skiers wear yellow, it's easy to pick them out of a crowd of skiers based on their uniform colour.
Hockey Canada, however, spends more in a month than Alpine Canada likely spends in a decade. As we know, they have new uniforms for each Olympiad, so there is no reason whatsoever why the Canadian Olympic Committee, the IIHF, and the International Olympic Committee can't tell Hockey Canada and Nike to ditch the black uniform and use the country's official colours. There isn't one other country that wears a black alternate uniform at the Olympics, so why does Canada get to be different? Who allowed them to loophole a very reasonable suggestion?
Since you already know my stance on black jerseys as a general rule, my feelings towards Canada's latest entry in the Olympic fashion show follow the same extreme dislike. Canada is always red and white just as the Devils should always be red, white, and green, so there was absolutely no need for a black jersey that eliminates one of Canada's flag colours entirely. That should never be allowed.
This won't be the last time I stand on this hill, but it certainly is the hill I'll die on: stop dressing teams in black if it's not one of their primary colours, and certainly if that colour doesn't appear as a country's flag colour. The Olympics are a two-week tournament, so having an alternate jersey for that timespan is idiotic as it is. But for Canada to have a black uniform at all is pure lunacy.
I'll cheer for Team Canada out of nationalistic pride, but it's hard to cheer for a jersey that you hate. Thankfully, being a proud Canadian means so much more, especially when there's a gold medal hanging around the necks of our hockey heroes.
As a guy who has four black jerseys in his collection of jerseys, the world decided it was time to drop a piano on me with the lastest unveilings that have happened over the last few days. Of the black jerseys I do own, I possess an NHL All-Star jersey from the 1990s, a Dallas Stars alternate "Mooterus" jersey, a Penguins diagonal jersey from the '90s, and a Niagara Purple Eagles jersey. The last one is the hardest to stomach because Niagara are the PURPLE Eagles, but I don't dress Niagara's players. Hockey needs to be more colourful in this writer's opinion, so I avoid black jerseys as often as I can because hockey has more to offer than black and white.
I struggle with the decision to introduce black jerseys into any team's closet unless they already use black prominently in their colour scheme. Boston and Pittsburgh get a pass because that's one of their main colours. Arizona gets a pass for the Kachina jerseys, but only those jerseys. Teams like Carolina, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Jose need to avoid black jerseys altogether and find ways to re-work their current schemes rather than just being lazy with a black jersey. But this is just one man's opinion on the subject, and I certainly have no control over what NHL teams decide to wear.
New Jersey was always the shining example of not giving into a cheap, black jersey when Lou Lamoriello ran the show in Newark. Yes, they wore the red-and-green a few times for special occasions, and the throwbacks always got rave reviews. When the Devils changed their ACCENT colour from green to black, they removed one of the great colour combinations from being seen by hockey fans, but that was as far as Lou went when it came to tinkering with jerseys. And then Lou left, a new regime took over, and now we're being introduced to an abomination.
Jersey's New "Jersey" Jersey
I feel like this jersey was created as a joke before someone of influence saw it and said, "Yeah, you have something here." This is the New Jersey's new "Jersey" jersey that they'll wear as an alternate this season, and I can already feel the anger in me bubbling to the surface.
Martin Brodeur was good at stopping pucks, but he's lousy at designing jerseys. And by lousy, I mean they should never let him design anything ever again. Brodeur is responsible for this crime against humanity, and he literally jammed three teams' worth of history into one jersey. I should also add that these three teams have no relation to one other outside of they all called Newark home at some point.
Brodeur "borrowed" the sleeve striping from the Newark Bulldogs, a minor-pro team that played in the Canadian American Hockey League for one season in 1928-29 after moving from Quebec City where they had been the Castors. The Bulldogs were led by Sprague Cleghorn, seen to the right, but he didn't lead them very far as the Bulldogs finished fifth out of six teams that season, missing the playoffs. They amassed a 14-26-0 record that season, but fell six points short of a playoff spot. It would be the only season of play for the Bulldogs as the Can-Am League would drop to five teams for the 1929-30 season, so kudos to Martin Brodeur for selecting a team to base this uniform on that lasted exactly one season before folding.
The shoulder yoke stripes were "borrowed" from the River Vale Skeeters that played out of River Vale, New Jersey - some 40 minutes north of Newark. The Skeeters played in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, and the teams was made up entirely of reservists from the Winnipeg Rifles Regiment. Hughie Bell, seen to the left, was the star for the Skeeters, but the team's existence lasted from 1939-1942. Of the three seasons that they played, the 1940-41 season saw them turn in their best record as they went 29-34-2, but the team only won 16 and 18 games in the other two seasons. The highlight of their existence might have been in 1939-40 when the Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers practiced with the Skeeters at River Vale Arena. Kudos to Brodeur once more for basing a uniform off a team that held a three-year record of 63-110-13. That's the kind of team that should be celebrated.
We need to pump the brakes here because if we look a little closer, those two sweaters look fairly similar. Yes, the shoulder striping spacing has changed from 1928-29 to 1939-40, but that sleeve striping looks very similar in spacing and number. Did the Skeeters base their sweaters off what the Bulldogs wore one decade earlier? There's no definitive proof, but it's hard not to notice the similarities.
The Jersey Larks, the third team mentioned, seem to be tossed in just because they played in New Jersey. The Larks were residents of the Haddonfield Ice House located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey - some 90 minutes southwest of Newark. The Larks played in the Eastern Hockey League for one season in 1960-61, finishing with a 29-34-1 record for third-place out of four teams in the East Division. They'd upset the Clinton Comets in the first round, but they fell in the semifinal to the New Haven Blades. Alex Kuzma, seen to the right, is wearing what the Larks wore that season, and I'm not sure what Brodeur "borrowed" from this team's sweater outside of the lace-up collar? Either way, another losing team that lasted just one season in the league they played seems perfect for what Brodeur's design work represents.
Now that we know the new jersey is basically a modernized copy of what the Skeeters and Bulldogs wore with no new, unique, or distinguishing design elements to build on the Devils' brand, what exactly is the point of wearing "Jersey" across the team's chest? This is as bad as when the Dallas Stars wore "Dallas" across their chests. And spare me the "it's cool" nonsense because it's not new, it wasn't cool when Buffalo and Dallas did it, and it's certainly nothing about which one should be bragging. Your logo is your brand - wear your damned logo!
The rest of the marketing garbage about the striping meaning something and the lace in the collar meaning something and the crap inside the collar that no one sees meaning something is all just fluff. All that entire chatter is about is selling jerseys. It doesn't help the Devils win games. It doesn't make players stronger or faster. It doesn't make one shred of difference if they were wearing garbage bags or these uniforms - they're both black! - because a jersey is just a jersey. Save the marketing speak for the year-end video.
I know I lumped a lot of blame at the feet of Martin Brodeur, but I feel there should be an equal helping dished out to Jillian Frechette, the senior vice president of marketing for the Devils. She was involved in the design process as well, and she should never be allowed to do anything like that again. I don't know Miss Frechette at all, but she's as much to blame for the calamity of a jersey. This is why designers design clothes and marketing people market them to consumers - marketing people are more worried about their catch-phrases, buzzwords, and target demographics than honouring the game properly.
"But Teebz," you protest, "they did honour the history!", and I responded by pointing out that they simply redesigned the same thing that the Bulldogs and the Skeeters wore. They didn't honour the history as much as they stole it from teams that no longer exist and can't defend those designs. You know who else did that? Some Canadian NHL team. And you know where their script-logo jerseys are now? Mothballed. Guess where this jersey is headed if we're lucky?
I'm pretty sure you know what kind of grade these uniforms are going to receive, so let's not make this longer than it has to be. I hate these jerseys, and "hate" isn't even a strong enough word for how I feel about them. If this design was dropped it on to my desk as someone who held the cards in Newark, I'd light it on fire. And then I'd let that fire consume my office before allowing the building to burn the ground. And then I would ask that the remains be allowed to scorch the earth where the building stood. I hate this jersey that much.
I'd tell you these jerseys deserve a special place in hell, but we already know that they're going to be worn by the Devils this season.
It's rare where I find time that doesn't have me involved in a dozen things that need my attention, but this past week has allowed me to dive into another story that I wanted to tackle. I really enjoyed Power Plays, the first book written by Maureen Ulrich in the Jessie Mac hockey series, so it made complete sense to tackle the second book in the series! Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Face Off, written by Maureen Ulrich and published by Wood Dragon Books, as we dive back into Jessie McIntyre's life in Estevan, Saskatchewan as she enters high school while trying to navigate friendships, relationships, hockey, family, and a number of other problems and situations that teenagers face. Would a new book mean a whole new set of problems for Jessie to solve? It seems likely, but we know from Power Plays that Jessie finds good resolutions to these problems even when her path to the answers seems rocky.
From her bio on the Wood Dragon Books website, "Maureen was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan but grew up in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. In 1976, she returned to Saskatoon to attend university and graduated in 1980 with an education degree. Her first teaching assignment was in Lampman, Saskatchewan, and she has pretty much lived there ever since. Maureen has been writing plays for young people since 1997. In her free time – of which there is not a great deal – Maureen loves to read and write, travel, knit, hang out at rinks and ball diamonds, golf, ski, and ride her motorcycle." It should be noted that Maureen's Jessie Mac series is made up for four books: Power Plays, Face Off, Breakaway, and Shootout!
As summer is coming to a close, Jessie encounters her first major issue as she looks forward to U18 hockey and high school - Mark, her boyfriend, ends their relationship after alcohol and bad decisions lead to some public embarrassment for Jessie. Jessie struggles with her towards Mark throughout the entire story of Face Off as Jessie wonders why Mark suddenly turns cold and ignores her during every encounter the two have.
Beyond her fractured relationship with Mark, there are still other people Jessie has to worry about in Face Off as Kim is still part of her life, Marsha lurks around the edges, and the repulsive Greg still tries to make advances on Jessie. There are new people who we're introduced to in this book, though, as hockey players Brittni and Cory make life difficult for the Xtreme players, Jessie meets Michelle who was a bit of an outcast at Estevan Junior High, and new assistant coach Sue seems cold and uncaring to Jessie. Needless to say, Jessie has all sorts of new personalties to navigate as she makes her way through her first year of high school at Estevan Comprehensive School!
One example of all the personalties that Jessie deals with in Face Off is highlighted in the following passage. It reads,
"It's tough to tell which end of the bench is worse. At one end, Mr. Scott yells at our defence. Jennifer argues anf pouts when Mr. Scott makes her sit out a shift. Even Kim looks uncomfortable. At our end, Cory harps at Crystal for not coming off soon enough, and Brittni stays out as long as she wants, which is often way longer than two minutes. Sometimes my shift is only ten of fifteen seconds. Amber hardly sees the ice."
Needless to say, there are a lot of strong personalities on that bench with whom Jessie will need to co-exist, but can she? Will she?
A new opportunity at the U18 level for Jessie erases some of the worries she's experiencing, but Face Off exposes readers to some recurring issues seen in Power Plays while Jessie faces a new set of problems as well - new bullies, peer pressure to hurt others, self-harm, and poor decisions made by drinking make up some of the story arc in Face Off. Jessie struggles with some of these issues as she tries to find solutions for each of them, but some are beyond her control. Will her world spin out of control because of these issues she's facing?
If there's one constant I've found in reading these two books by Maureen Ulrich, it's that Maureen doesn't sugarcoat the issues. She's very clear about these issues facing teenagers, and her description of them may make readers uncomfortable. That emotional response felt by the reader means that Maureen is doing her job well, and there were definitely a few times in Face Off where I know I felt uncomfortable with the subject matter simply because I don't think about it a lot. By having this uncomfortable feeling bubble to the surface, Maureen is doing what everyone else should be doing: talking about these issues with their friends and family so that the stigma surrounding these situations isn't a wall preventing someone from seeking help.
Like Power Plays, Face Off was another easy read for me as I was drawn in by the story once more. The 192-page book doesn't speak above the heads of its readers, and the subject matter is completely relatable for adults while younger readers may relate to situations they've experienced, seen, or heard about in their own lives. And while Jessie doesn't always make the reight decisions, young readers will see the cause and effect of her decisions. Because Maureen sprinkles these lessons into a realistic and entertaining story about being a teenager and dealing with life, Face Off is absolutely deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!
There are situations and discussions that wouldn't be suitable for younger kids, but the vast majority of Face Off deals with moments that young men and women will experience. Because of this, Face Off would earn a PG-13 rating, and I'd recommend this book for teens and older. Look for Face Off at your local bookstore or library today!
It's back to a normal edition of The Rundown as class was back in session on the ice for eight of the nine Canada West teams. MacEwan got a chance to extend their holiday for another week as they had the bye week, but there were intrigung matchups across western Canada with a battle for first-place taking place in Calgary, a showdown between two good teams in Vancouver, a meeting in Saskatoon for teams looking to get their seasons on winning streaks, and a meeting in Regina between two teams needing points. In short, it was another busy weekend so let's get to it on The Rundown!
FRIDAY: We'll start with that battle for first-place as Mount Royal was hosting Manitoba while holding a one-point edge over the Bisons in the standings. In knowing that Mount Royal is ranked fourth in the nation, this would be the kind of weekend where Manitoba could send a statement on whether it plans on competing for a Canada West banner or just took advantage of some weaker teams in the early part of the schedule. Friday night's game saw Manitoba start its veteran goalie in Erin Fargey while fifth-year senior Zoe De Beauville got the call for the Cougars!
The opening frame saw Mount Royal control the period for the most part, but that control was lost before the midway point as Sarah Dennehy found the back of the net on the power-play for her first goal of the season at 8:24, and the Bisons grabbed the 1-0 lead. Beyond that, the shots that Fargey turned aside did test her, but she was good on all challenges as we'd hit the break with that one-goal lead holding despite Mount Royal holding a 9-4 edge in shots.
We'd jump to the midway point of the second period where the next notable event happened. With Mount Royal on the power-play, Courtney Kollman ripped her sixth goal of the season past Fargey at 10:10 to even the score at 1-1. 90 seconds later, Ashley Keller introduced herself to the Mount Royal faithful when she found room past De Beauville off a feed from Halle Edwards for her fifth goal of the season, and the Bisons went back up by a goal! The Mount Royal power-play wouldn't waste an opportunity in this period, though, as Tianna Ko scored her sixth goal of the campaign at 18:57, and we'd go into the second intermission with the score tied at 2-2!
With a significant lead in shots-on-net, it felt like it may only be a matter of time before Mount Royal made one of them count, and that would happen at the 6:46 mark of the third period when Anna Purschke potted her second goal of the season to put Mount Royal up 3-2. That would literally be all the offence necessary for the Cougars on this night because they outshot the Bisons for a third-straight period despite Manitoba playing the last 1:41 with six attackers. When the final horn sounded, the Mount Royal Cougars had downed the Manitoba Bisons by that 3-2 count. Zoe De Beauville earned her sixth win of the season after stopping 12 shots while Erin Fargey took the loss on a night where she made 28 saves.
Highlights are... well, not here. Despite Mount Royal posting two new videos to their YouTube channel in the last two weeks, they posted no highlight packages nor did they put any replays of goals on their Twitter account. When someone offers free promotion of your athletes, you'd think they'd jump at the offer, but I guess "free" is simply not worth the effort.
SATURDAY: Mount Royal looked to extend their lead over the Bisons and the rest of the field with a sweep of the Bisons while the Bisons needed a win to keep pace with the Cougars. As shown in the game on Friday, these two teams are fairly even, but the Cougars did earn the vital two points. Saturday saw Kimmy Davidson sent to the blue paint for Manitoba while Zoe De Beauville was looking for her conference-leading seventh win in the Mount Royal net!
The goaltenders seemed quite satisfied in matching one another save for save throughout the first period. There weren't many shots for De Beauville to turn aside as Manitoba registered just two shots in the period, but Davidson was good on all nine she faced. Through one period, we were still locked at 0-0.
When the second period started, Davidson and De Beauville were back at it with their stingy ways as Davidson stopped all ten shots she faced while De Beauville turned aside the four shots she faced. However, like one night earlier, you were getting the sense that Mount Royal's ability to put pucks on net may pay off eventually as they led 19-6 in shots through two frames. No, that's not a typo.
And just as I alluded to, the Cougars would finally break through as Taylor Sawka found room past Davidson at 3:55 for her fourth of the season as Mount Royal went up 1-0. It looked like this game was over as the Cougars' defence absolutely smothered the Bisons all game, but Manitoba's third shot of the period and ninth shot of the game off the stick of Molly Kunnas was the equalizer the Bisons needed!
Wait, is that a highlight? You're darn right it is, and I had to rip that from the Bisons women's hockey Twitter account to post it here! In any case, Molly's power-play marker was her second goal of the season and, with 14 seconds left, it would send this game to overtime as the Bisons earned themselves a point with the late-game heroics!
With Athena Hauck still sitting in the penalty box serving the second-half of a double-minor to start overtime, we'd get a game-winner early in the free-hockey period. And it was a woman who had spent a lot of time in Calgary prior to joining the Bisons who ended this one!
Trechelle Bunn's first goal as a Manitoba Bisons defender is a memorable one as she ripped the puck over De Beauville's shoulder and under the bar for the power-play, overtime, game-winning goal! In short, that's a PPOTGWG - do they keep stats for that?
In any case, the Bisons escaped with the 2-1 overtime win over the Cougars! Kimmy Davidson earned her second win with a 33-save performance while Zoe De Beaville took the loss on a night where she only made eight saves.
Highlights of this game are... above? Sorry, Mount Royal fans, but your school simply refuses to show off the talent head coach Scott Rivett has assembled for you. Perhaps it's time to ask them to do more for your athletes?
FRIDAY: The last time the Pandas and Thunderbirds squared off was the Canada West semifinal that took place in Edmonton. Both games finished in 1-0 victories for the Pandas as they swept the T-Birds out of the playoffs, but the series was anything but friendly. Would we see these two teams renew that fierce battle in Vancouver this weekend? Halle Oswald started for the Pandas while UBC went with former Edmonton Pandas AAA netminder Elise Hugens in their crease!
The first period was inconclusive in terms of scoring as there were no pucks that made their way behind the two goalies. Alberta did have 3:12 of power-play time, but it was UBC outshooting the Pandas 7-5 through 20 minutes in a 0-0 stalemate.
I mentioned the power-play time above because one of those penalties carried over into the second period. Alberta didn't score on the power-play - they missed by two seconds - but they did break the stalemate when Madison Willan found Megan Wilson on a 2-on-1, and Wilson snapped a shot past Hugens for her first Canada West goal just 50 seconds into the period to give Alberta the lead! The defensive battle would resume after that until late in the period.
Ireland Perrott got a couple of whacks at the puck as Oswald tried to cover it, but it would end up in the Alberta net for Perrott's third goal of the season at 15:32 which tied the game at 1-1! That score would hold into the second break as we looked for winner heading to the third period!
As an aside, individial highlights are better than nothing. Beggars can't be choosers, right? Let's just roll with this while teams are willing to make the available.
Late in the game, UBC was pressing and they had Alberta pinned in their zone when the puck found its way to the point where Ashton Thorpe hammered back towards the Alberta net. She wouldn't score, but the puck would pinball around a little until Ashley McFadden found it on the doorstep!
McFadden's second of the season was a dagger with 1:08 to play, so you knew Alberta was going to play desperate hockey for 68 seconds. That threat would be eliminated, though, when Rylind MacKinnon iced the game with her fourth of the season as the UBC Thunderbirds claimed the 3-1 victory over the Alberta Pandas! Elise Hugens was solid in earning her fourth win of the season with a 15-stop night while Halle Oswald took the loss in a 22-save effort.
If you came looking for Alberta Pandas highlights to go along with the UBC highlights above, that's not happening. UBC posted videos of four swim meets over the last two weeks, but there are zero hockey highlights. I'm not here to rip on swimming, but how about a little equal coverage, UBC?
SATURDAY: After suffering their second regulation loss on the season, the Pandas needed a bounce-back game to get themselves back ahead of UBC in the standings. UBC, meanwhile, was looking to put some gap between themselves and Alberta with another win on Saturday. Kirsten Chamberlin was between the pipes for the Pandas while Elise Hugens earned her second start of the weekend after a great showing one night earlier!
If you're a Pandas fan, this is not the first period recap you want to see because it was pretty much all UBC for the first 20 minutes. Karine Sandilands scored her first Canada West goal in her career when she tore down the left wing, out-manoeuvred the Pandas defenders, and sniped a beauty past Chamberlin to make it 1-0 just 2:32 into this contest. The T-Birds would double that lead at 11:28 on the power-play.
That was Joelle Fiala who appeared to whiff on the puck at the backdoor, but she got enough of it to send it past Chamberlin for her second of the season at 11:28! And Rylind MacKinnon would rub a little more salt in the wound as she scored with seven seconds left in the period as her blast from the blue line was good for her fifth tally this year. When all was said and done in the first period, UBC held a 3-0 lead, an 11-5 advantage in shots, and a serious chunk of offensive zone time.
The second period was more of the same as UBC continued to pressure Alberta all over the ice, but the goals were reduced somewhat. In fact, there was only a single goa scored in the period, and it came at 14:13.
This is textbook "keep your stick on the ice" from Kenzie Robinson as she redirects the Shay-Lee McConnell feed to the crease past Chamberlin for her third goal of the season, and UBC was up 4-0 through 40 minutes of play.
's second
The third period was all about clamping down defensively for the T-Birds, and they did just that as they limited Alberta's second chance opportunities on the three power-plays they surrendered to shutout the Pandas on this day as the T-Birds secured the 4-0 victory. Elise Hugens claimed her fifth win and conference-leading third shutout after stopping all 23 shots sent her way while Kirsten Chamberlin was tagged with the loss after stopping 24 shots.
Highlights are few and far between at UBC for their own team. You would think a shutout by your ace rookie in the net would be worthy of some sort of highlight package, right? What do the players need to do to get their athletics department to throw together a few clips of how well they played?
FRIDAY: Calgary headed east to Saskatoon for a date with the Huskies this weekend, and earning points was a top priority for both teams. Saskatchewan was struggling to score goals in any situation while the Dinos seemingly were having issues preventing goals from being scored. Something would have to give this weekend if one of these teams wanted to climb the standings. Gabriella Durante was in the Calgary net Friday night while the Huskies opted to start Colby Wilson in this one. And because it matters to me, Calgary wore their black alternate uniforms for this affair.
While both teams were looking for scoring, it should be noted that goaltending has yet to be a problem for either team. That was on full display in the opening period of this series as Durante and Wilson were showing off their best stuff in keeping these two teams off the scoreboard. With no goals scored, the only statistic to report is that Saskatchewan led 7-5 in shots after 20 minutes depsite having a four-minute advantage in the middle of the period.
The goaltending clinic continued in the second period as Durante and Wilson continued to maintain their clean scoresheets. The parade to the penalty box saw a few more names added to the list as the game was showed its physical side, but neither side could take advantage of the extra player on the ice. We'd head to the third period still locked in at 0-0, but with Calgary up 15-14 in shots.
The third period felt like a carbon copy of the previous two periods, but one miscue changed everything. Just before the midway point of the period, Saskatchewan was looking for a change when Emily Holmes dumped the puck in on Durante from center ice.
Holmes' dump-in was put on net and I'm not sure if Durante lost sight of it or she simply misplayed it, but Holmes didn't have to skate far to celebrate with her teammates as her dump-in ended up in the Calgary net for her first Canada West goal at 7:54 as Saskatchewan grabbed the 1-0 lead!
The chess matched continued after that goal as the Dinos looked to press when possible as they needed the equalizer. However, another seemingly harmless play ended up costing the Dinos late in the game.
Durante made the initial stop on the long shot from Bourassa, but the puck popped loose and Abby Shirley swept it by Durante for her first of the season at 17:11 to make it a 2-0 game for the Huskies. Just as they did for the previous 57:11, the Huskies locked down their zone for the remaining 2:49, and the final horn would sound on the 2-0 victory by the Huskies! Colby Wilson picked up her first Canada West win and her first Canada West shutout with a 22-save night while Gabriella Durante took the loss after making 23 stops.
Highlights? You already got them. For the record, Saskatchewan didn't load any up on their YouTube channel. Instead, I did after I ripped these videos from their Twitter feed. Not apologizing for that either.
SATURDAY: I've made it clear a few times on this blog that I will not celebrate blowouts. There is no need to make the team on the receiving end of that blowout go through it all over again, so this is your foreshadowing that Saturday's game didn't end well for one of the Huskies or Dinos. That being said, Calgary started Dayna Owen while Saksatchewan went with Camryn Drever.
In a scary moment just 31 seconds into this game, Calgary's Holly Reuther fell hard into the boards and required medical attention. She was stretchered off the ice by paramedics who safely made sure she was secure in the ambulance before hauling her to a local hospital. I can't imagine starting a game like this, and my thoughts go out to Holly, her teammates, her family, and her friends in this time. I truly hope she's not seriously hurt in any way, and she's back on the ice for the Dinos soon. Get well, Holly. This game is better with you in it.
After that scary moment, the game eventually resumed some 30 minutes later. Usually when something like that happens, a team either comes out with fire or sees them deflated in a big way. For Calgary, the latter was true as the Huskies went to work. Abby Shirley scored her second goal of the season on the power-play at 1:54. Kendra Zuchotzki added her first Canada West goal on a power-play at 4:10. After a Calgary time-out, it looked like things may settle down, but Sophie Lalor added her third goal at 8:44 to end Dayna Owen's night as Gabriella Durante replaced her in the Calgary net. The goalie change mattered little to the Huskies, though, as Abby Shirley scored again at 9:28 to make it a 4-0 lead. While Durante would settle in for the last half of the period, it was pretty clear that the Dinos had more important things like the health of Holly Reuther on their minds as the first period came to a close.
Just eight seconds into the second period, Bailee Bourassa made it 5-0 with her first goal of the season. Alli Borrow would get one back for the Dinos at 8:27, but the Huskies would go up by five once again when Kendra Zuchotzki scored her second of the game while on the power-play at 12:58. After 40 minutes, Saskatchewan held a 6-1 lead.
Sophie Lalor would add her second of the game on the power-play at 14:52 in the third period, and Kennedy Brown rounded out the scoring with her second of the season on the power-play with 25 seconds remaining as the Huskies trounced the Dinos by an 8-1 score. Camryn Drever earned her fourth win with a 25-save performance while Dayna Owen was the goalie of record in the loss as she stopped just one of the four shots she faced in the 8:44 she played. For statistical purposes, Gabriella Durante stopped 19 of 24 shots in 51:16 she played in relief of Owen.
Honestly, the result doesn't matter to me. I know Saskatchewan won and that matters for the bigger picture, but, right now, I'm just hoping that Holly Reuther's injury isn't serious, and her visit to the hospital was more precautionary than anything. I haven't heard any updates and I'm not going to seek them out as Holly deserves some privacy at this time, but there are things that are more important than hockey scores.
Here's hoping Holly is back on the ice soon because she's a helluva player for the Dinos. And just to make everyone feel a little better, here's an owlet being pet and looking like it's enjoying every second of the attention. Happy baby animals make me smile.
FRIDAY: Trinity Western made their first-ever visit to the Queen's City as the Regina Cougars hosted the Spartans for a pair of games this weekend. Both teams needed points in an effort to move up the standings in an effort to claim a playoff spot, so these games were big for both teams despite where they sit in the standings currently. Kate Fawcett was in the nets for Trinity Western while Arden Kliewer got the start for the Cougars!
We didn't have to wait long for the ink to be spilled on the scoresheet in this game as Jordan Kulbida decided to get the party started!
Kulbida's third of the season came just 1:12 into this game, and the Regina Cougars held the early 1-0 lead! Kliewer was solid in the opening frame in the Regina end of the ice as she kept the Spartans off the scoreboard as the Cougars took that one-goal lead into the break after leading 12-7 in shots.
The two teams resumed their back-and-forth play in the second period, but it would be Trinity Western who found the twine at 8:16 while on the power-play!
Neisha Germann's top-shelf snipe was her second of the season, and it evened the game up at 1-1! And just as Kliewer did for Regina in the first period, Kate Fawcett was solid throughout the second period as she turned aside nine more Regina shots as this game moved to the third period tied 1-1 with Regina holding a 21-18 egde in shots.
The close-checking contest continued through the opening minutes of the third period until we neared the midway point of the period when the Cougars struck once again!
Lauren Focht's first Canada West goal comes on the power-play at 9:39 to give Regina the 2-1 lead! From there, the Cougars played solid defensive hockey as they shut down the Spartans through the final ten minutes. Focht's goal would be the game-winner as the Regina Cougars downed the Trinity Western Spartans by a 2-1 count! Arden Kliewer made 22 saves to pick up her second win of the season while Kate Fawcett suffered the loss despite making 33 saves in this game.
Highlights are above. Regina hasn't uploaded anything to YouTube in four months. It's not hard to upload these video clips.
SATURDAY: While they're not mathematically-eliminated by any means, the Spartans needed a split to remain in the conversation for the final playoff spot in Canada West. Regina, meanwhile, looked to make things interesting in the standings with another win. Mable Maltais got the nod for Spartans in the back-half of the set while Katie Crowther was in between the pipes for the Cougars.
The Spartans stormed the gate in this game as they came out firing on all cylinders. Olivia Leier scored her first Canada West goal by cleaning up a goalmouth scramble as she fired the puck past Crowther at 8:42 to put the Spartans up 1-0. They'd double their lead and record a little history at the same time minutes later when Chloe Reid found herself on a shorthanded breakaway. The Cougars would track Reid down to disrupt her shot, but Jordyn Matthews followed up and she potted the rebound for her first Canada West goal and Trinity Western's first-ever shorthanded Canada West goal at 16:48! On that same power-play, though, the Cougars would get the goal back.
Lauren Focht was left all alone at the side of the net where she chipped her second goal and second power-play goal over Maltais to cut Trinity Western's lead to 2-1 at 17:07, and that score would hold into the break with Regina holding a 12-6 advantage in shots.
Lauren Focht was having herself a weekend this weekend based on the number of highlights in which she appears!
Focht's second of the game at 7:07 was her third goal and third power-play goal of the season, and it tied the game at 2-2! Trinity Western went back to work, though, as Olivia Leier scored her second goal of the game by cleaning up another rebound in front of Crowther to make it a 3-2 game for TWU, prompting Sarah Hodges to send Arden Kliewer out to replace Crowther in the Regina net. While things improved for a few minutes, the Spartans struck again before the end of the period as Kailey Ledoux scored her first Canada West goal when she finished off a wrap-around goal that started at her own blue line at 18:13, and the Spartans carried a two-goal lead into the third period for the first time in their short history!
The Cougars continued to throw pucks at the Spartans net, but Mabel Maltais was dialled in for this game. However, the Cougars would claw their way back into this game.
Jordyn Blais' shot was stopped by Maltais, and Lilla Carpenter-Boesch jumped all over the rebound left out front by Maltais for her fourth goal of the campaign which cut the Spartans' lead to 4-3 at 12:07! The Spartans, though, locked down the defensive zone for the final eight minutes of the game as Regina couldn't find the equalizer, and the Trinity Western Spartans earned the 4-3 victory over the Regina Cougars! Mabel Maltais earned her first Canada West victory with a 30-save effort while, despite what the scoresheet says, Katie Crowther was the goalie of record in this game as she stopped five of eight shots she faced in 27:13 of work. However, Arden Kliewer was tagged with the loss despite stopping nine of ten shots in 31:31 of work.
We already know Regina's not doing highlights, but check out this awesome camera angle they posted on Twitter. That's the work of Arthur Ward who runs Arthur Images and is the official photographer of the Regina Cougars. Honestly, I need more of these angles in games. This is awesome - great work, Arthur!
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S HOCKEY
School
Record
Points
GF
GA
Streak
Next
Mount Royal
6-1-1-2
16
35
15
L1
BYE
Manitoba
5-3-2-0
14
28
23
W1
vs ALB
UBC
6-2-0-0
12
32
9
W2
@ SAS
Saskatchewan
5-1-0-2
12
19
9
W3
vs UBC
Alberta
1-3-3-1
9
15
19
L3
@ MAN
Regina
3-5-0-2
8
20
25
L1
@ CAL
MacEwan
3-5-0-0
6
12
22
W1
@ TWU
Calgary
3-7-0-0
6
22
38
L4
vs REG
Trinity Western
1-6-1-0
4
8
31
W1
vs MAC
The Last Word
I spoke of the importance of special teams last week during the conference bye, and we saw special teams play a huge role in wins this week. The only teams who are sitting below 10% in power-play efficiency are Calgary and Trinity Western. And to no one's surprise, they're sitting at the bottom of the conference. However, Trinity Western saw a shorthanded goal factor into a big win over Regina this past weekend, and I made mention how important shorthanded goals were to wins. Improve your special teams, and you'll win.
I'm also going to point out that individual clips of goals are better than nothing when it comes to highlights, but, for the love of all that's good, it extends the length of this article by a country mile and creates a ton of extra work for me. Highlight packages are so much easier to post at the end of the recaps, take up far less room on these write-ups, and show highlights from BOTH teams at the same time. I apologize for making everyone scroll through all the individual highlights, but I'm committed to showing everyone how great these women are when it comes to doing amazing stuff on the ice.
If you want to that to change, I implore you to speak to your local teams to see if they can get their athletics departments to lend a hand. Otherwise, what you see above might be the unfortunate standard moving forward.
I'm not going to add anything else because of the length of this piece already, so we'll leave it at that for this week. I may circle to revisit the highlights once more, but at least they're sorta posted this week.
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