WHKY: UBC named favourites to repeat in 2022-2023

Your full 2022-23 team-by-team season preview ahead of Friday's opener

CALGARY - Western Canada's best university hockey players are rearing at the gate. With the puck set to drop on another action-packed season of Canada West women's hockey, coaches from across the conference have dubbed the UBC Thunderbirds as the favourites to hoist the Catherwood Cup for the second straight year.

The Thunderbirds have the conference's top two scorers from 2021-22 returning this year, poised to prove their program as an offensive juggernaut capable of winning it all in back-to-back years.

Standing in their way is the Mount Royal Cougars, who finished with the best regular season record last season and captured four of the six major awards from the conference. The team is chasing down its first-ever CW Championship title in women's hockey, with the talent and ambition to do so despite graduating a couple key players.

The Saskatchewan Huskies round out the top three, the team that beat out the Cougars in last year's semi-final best-of-three in two tight games. The team is coming off a national bronze medal and has kept playoff star goalie Camryn Drever for another year, who has proved she and the Huskies can rise to the big moments.

It all starts Friday, when the defending CW champs travel to Calgary to take on the Dinos, the Cougars head to Edmonton to tangle with the Alberta Pandas, Regina welcomes MacEwan and Saskatchewan heads to Langley to face off against Trinity Western. All games begin at 7 p.m. local time, except the TWU/SSK match-up, which goes at 7:15 p.m. For the complete schedule, click here.

WOMEN'S HOCKEY ON CANADA WEST TV

Every women's hockey game will be available live and on demand this season exclusively on Canada West TV – the official streaming home of the conference. To purchase your pass, click here

2022-23 CW WHKY PRESEASON COACHES POLL

Team - Points (First-place votes)

  1. UBC Thunderbirds - 63 (7)
  2. Mount Royal Cougars - 52 (1)
  3. Saskatchewan Huskies - 46 
  4. Alberta Pandas - 43 (1)
  5. Calgary Dinos - 38 
  6. Manitoba Bisons - 34
  7. MacEwan Griffins - 17 
  8. Trinity Western Spartans - 16
  9. Regina Cougars - 15

Click here for your full team-by-team preview.

 

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About Canada West

Since 1972, Canada West (CW) has been a leader in Canadian university sport, working to provide our student-athletes the opportunities to excel in sport, the classroom, and their communities. CW and our 17 members from across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba collectively carry on a legacy of competitive excellence, as our champions proudly go on to represent the conference at U SPORTS national championships.

Canada West – training leaders, building champions.