WHKY: Battlefields ready for top teams in Canada West
Your complete 2023 Women's Hockey semi-finals preview
By Brian Swane, special to CW
Week two of the 2023 Canada West women’s hockey playoffs features the same final four teams as one year ago, just with the opponents flipped.
After last week’s quarterfinal round, postseason action continues with a pair of best-of-three semi-finals beginning Friday, as the UBC Thunderbirds host the Saskatchewan Huskies while the Mount Royal Cougars visit the Alberta Golden Bears.
In the 2022 semis, UBC beat Alberta 2-0 and Saskatchewan swept Mount Royal. The quartet includes teams representing eight of the last nine universities to claim the Catherwood Cup. Semi-final winners advance to the championship series, scheduled for March 3-5.
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MATCH-UPS
Mount Royal Cougars @ Alberta Pandas
Clare Drake Arena – Edmonton, AB
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- Game 1 – Friday, February 24 – 2 p.m. MST
- Game 2 – Saturday, February 25 – 2 p.m. MST
- Game 3 (if necessary) – Sunday, February 26 – 2 p.m. MST
MRU is the only member of this year’s semi-final quartet without a Canada West women’s hockey title in its history. If that’s going to change in 2023, the Cougars first need to get past the Pandas, who have a record 14 Canada West championships to their name.
The Cougars clawed their way past the Trinity Western Spartans last weekend, winning the quarterfinal in three games. MRU rebounded from a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 2 to defeat TWU 3-1 in the series clincher at Flames Community Arena in Calgary.
Alberta had Week 1 of the playoffs off, the Pandas’ reward for finishing second in the Canada West standings. This was another tremendous season for the perennial powerhouse Pandas, who outscored opponents 75-39 over 28 games and were on a 12-game winning streak before dropping the finale of their schedule, 3-2 to the Manitoba Bisons on Feb. 11.
The 2022-23 schedule saw the Cougars and Pandas split a pair of contests in Calgary, while Alberta beat MRU twice in Edmonton. The cumulative score from the four games was 11-8 in the Pandas’ favour.
Alberta is led by 2022-23 Canada West First Team All-Star goaltender Halle Oswald, along with Second Team All-Stars Taylor Anker on defence and Madison Willan at forward. The Cougars have their own trio of 2022-23 All-Stars: blueliner Emma Bergesen and forward Tatum Amy on the First Team, along with Second Team forward Courtney Kollman.
The Pandas and Cougars last faced off during the postseason in 2020, when Alberta swept MRU to win the Canada West championship series.
Saskatchewan Huskies @ UBC Thunderbirds
Doug Mitchell Thunderbirds Sports Centre – Vancouver, BC
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- Game 1 – Friday, February 24 – 7 p.m. PST
- Game 2 – Saturday, February 25 – 7 p.m. PST
- Game 3 (if necessary) – Sunday, February 26 – 3 p.m. PST
While defending champion UBC had a quarterfinal bye after finishing atop the regular season standings with a record-setting 24 wins, Saskatchewan swept the Calgary Dinos to set a date between the T-Birds and Huskies for a third consecutive postseason.
UBC swept Saskatchewan out of both the 2020 and 2022 playoffs. In last year’s championship series, the T-Birds didn’t so much as allow a goal, beating the Huskies by scores of 4-0 and 1-0 in overtime at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
In 2022-23, the Huskies and T-Birds played four times, with UBC holding a 3-1 edge in the regular season series.
UBC has been perfect at home this season, winning all 14 of their games at the Thunderbird Sports Centre, including two against the Huskies last month. Saskatchewan, however, is road-tested, after winning two playoff games to upset the Dinos at Father David Bauer Arena just a few days ago.
Now the Huskies must find a way to win twice in three games against a T-Birds team that won its last 12 games of the regular season, and will have lost just once in the previous 15 weeks by the time the puck drops for Game 1 on Friday.
Saskatchewan goalie Camryn Drever, who was excellent in turning aside 52 of 56 shots over the Huskies’ two wins in Calgary, will need to stand tall against an explosive T-Birds squad that led Canada West with 97 goals in 28 games during the regular season. Meanwhile, after scoring eight goals against the Dinos last week, the Huskies will look to solve UBC’s last line of defence, second-year goalie Elise Hugens, who ranked first in Canada West for both goals against average (1.05) and save percentage (.949).
UBC has won four Canada West titles since 2012. Saskatchewan’s only championship came in 2014.
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
For all the latest on the CW 2023 Women's Hockey Playoffs, visit Championship Central.