WHKY: Historically even teams set for action-packed CW Championship Final
Saskatchewan and British Columbia begin their battle Friday for the Catherwood Cup
Brian Swane, special to CW
Since 2014, Saskatchewan and UBC have met in a Canada West women’s hockey playoff series four times. The Huskies have won twice; the T-Birds have won twice.
So for the latest chapter in their rivalry, it seems most appropriate that the stakes have been raised higher than ever before. This time, the Catherwood Cup is on the line.
UBC is hosting Saskatchewan in the best-of-three Canada West women’s hockey final this weekend at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver. The first two games are scheduled for 7 p.m. PST on Friday and Saturday, while Game 3 if necessary will be played Sunday at 2 p.m. PST.
This marks the teams’ fifth meeting of the last eight postseasons, but first in the championship series. Previously they played each other in the semifinal round on three occasions, and once in the quarter-finals.
History offers little to separate the Huskies from the T-Birds. They’ve split their 10 previous Canada West playoff games against each other, with Saskatchewan scoring a total of 15 goals, one less than UBC. When they last met in the postseason, two years ago in Saskatoon, both games needed overtime before the visitors prevailed.
During the 2021-22 regular season, the T-Birds and Huskies split a pair of games in November at Merlis Belsher Place, each winning by a two-goal margin.
UBC is seeking its fourth Canada West women’s hockey championship, which would break a tie with Manitoba for second most all-time, trailing only Alberta which has a record 14 titles. The Huskies, who captured their first Catherwood Cup in 2014, have an opportunity to join the aforementioned T-Birds, Bisons, and Pandas as the conference’s only teams with multiple championships.
Catch all the action streaming live on Canada West TV. Admission to the games is free and tickets must be reserved in advance.
UBC Thunderbirds
(14-6-0 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
How They Got Here: second in standings; quarter-final bye, defeated Alberta 2-0 in semifinal.
Key Player: Second-year forward Chanreet Bassi, who was the conference’s regular season leader in both points (22) and assists (15), scored the series-winning goal and added two assists in UBC’s 5-1 victory over Alberta in Game 2 of last weekend’s semifinal.
Key Stat: UBC led Canada West in 2021-22 with 72 goals (3.6 per game) and scored five or more goals in seven of their 20 regular season games.
Saskatchewan Huskies
(11-7-2 regular season, 4-0 playoffs)
How They Got Here: fifth in standings; defeated Manitoba 2-0 in quarter-final, defeated Mount Royal 2-0 in semifinal.
Key Player: Third-year goaltender Camryn Drever was named the Canada West Hockey Player of the Week after backstopping the Huskies to their sweep of Mount Royal, turning aside 85 of 86 shots combined in the two games against the Cougars.
Key Stat: The Huskies are 4-0 on the road in the 2022 postseason, outscoring the opposition 10-3 over the four games, with two shutouts.
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