The overview – odds and ends

The games have started again, but there will be no official Canada West games until next week. A handful of teams are playing exhibition games this weekend and I’ve tried to find some information about each of those games. I don’t know why teams in Canada West keep this information secret if it’s an opportunity to sell the college game to more people, but this is the reality we live in when it comes to college hockey in Canada. That frustration aside, we’re still a week away from the official start of the second half of the season, so let’s take a look at what’s been happening here and elsewhere on the website. The rundown!

FRIDAY: The Alberta Pandas returned to action on January 2 as they welcomed the NAIT Ooks to the Clare Drake Arena! NAIT plays in the ACAC, where they currently sit in third place with a record of 7-8-1-0, so the Pandas welcomed a solid team into their barn. This would be the second time the Ooks and Pandas have tangled, as Alberta won a match 6-1 in September, so the Pandas wanted to make it a 2-0 record against NAIT. Would they shake off the holiday rust and send the Ooks home with a second loss?

Ooks goals: Grier Slabaida (1)
Ooks assists: no game sheet
Also netminder: no game sheet

Pandas goals: no schedule, but Alberta scored a lot
Pandas assists: no game sheet
Pandas netminder: no game sheet

Result: 7-1 win for Alberta over NAIT.

SATURDAY: The Saskatchewan Huskies and Mount Royal Cougars traveled to Thunderchild First Nation on Saturday for a match at a neutral site. Thunderchild First Nation is located about 2.5 hours northwest of Saskatoon, near Turtleford, Saskatchewan, and they opened a brand new wellness and athletics center in 2024 that is an absolute gem in their community. The Regina Cougars spent a week there earlier this season and I’ll post video of their adventure below. Last night, however, the Cougars and Huskies made their mark at the Thunderchild Wellness Center as both sides tried to shake off the holiday rust with a spirited game. Which side would achieve a victory?

Cougars goals: Sydney Benko (1)
Cougars assists: Summer Fomradas (1), Allee Gerrard (1)
Cougars netminder: No stats shown

Huskies goals: none
Huskies assists: none
Huskies netminders: No stats shown

Result: 1-0 win for Mount Royal over Saskatchewan.

SUNDAY: The Alberta Pandas played a second match in three days this weekend as they will face the Edmonton U18 Junior Oilers White team tonight at 6pm local time at the Mill Woods Recreation Center. At the time of writing, the game had yet to start, but the Pandas aimed to hand the 13-3-0-0 Oilers a loss tonight. Edmonton is ranked second in the U18 AAA AFHL standings, so tonight’s matchup could be a beauty between these two teams!

Don’t even ask about division. I’m not interested in that setup. It’s one conference, nine teams, and we’ll see who’s the best in the West.

Here you will find your updated rankings with who is playing who. That UBC-Mount Royal series should be fun, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the battle between Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The latter has all kinds of play-off implications for both teams depending on the results, so next weekend could be a big one for a few teams in need of points! As mentioned above, the Regina Cougars spent a week at Thunderchild First Nation last summer, working with First Nation youth and participating in cultural learning of the Thunderchild First Nation people. Of course, they took to the ice and also worked on growing as a team, but the video of their experience shows that this opportunity was special for both groups!

Honestly, opening these doors for First Nation youth is so big considering how isolated some First Nation communities can be. With the Regina Cougars heading there for the season and the Mount Royal Cougars and Saskatchewan Huskies playing a game this weekend, it’s something the children of Thunderchild First Nation won’t soon forget, and I hope the players who went there have the same appreciation for the lessons of their Indigenous neighbors. Playing more games in that beautiful arena doesn’t hurt either! I wrote on Friday about how the Italian women’s national team has been practicing in Montreal in an effort to prepare for the upcoming Milan-Cortina Olympics, and they got some match action against the Concordia Stingers on December 13. Concordia are first in the RSEQ so it looked like it could be a very competitive match, but it turned out that the Azzurri were perhaps further ahead than anyone expected them to be after thrashing Concordia!

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13: While no one is suggesting we send the Concordia Stingers to Italy to represent Canada, the score in this game shows just how good Olympic hockey is, even when we’re playing a team that has virtually no chance of being on the podium. However, everyone had fun and the Italians showed that they are almost ready for their first match on home soil on February 5!

Azzurri goals: 8 different players including Kristin Della Rovere, Kayla Tutino and Justine Reyes
Azzurri assists: a number, but no stats shown
Azzurri netminder: no stats shown

Stingers goals: none
Stingers assists: none
Stingers netminders: Both Belle Mende and Jordyn Verbeen played, but no stats shown

Result: 10-0 victory for Italy over Concordia.

No doubt everyone in Canada will be cheering for the Canadian women as they play in Group A at the Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament. Canada opens its tournament on February 5 against Finland before playing Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the US on February 10. All five teams from Group A make it to the medal round, meaning Canada West fans may have a reason to cheer for another team through the group stage to boost Canada’s chances.As we know, former Calgary Dinos head coach Carla MacLeod will travel to Italy as head coach of the Czech Republic, but she will be joined by Mount Royal Cougars head coach Scott Rivett as one of her assistant coaches! Scott and Carla have worked together before, with Carla serving as his assistant coach on the Mount Royal bench during the Cougars’ ACAC days, and Scott was most recently Carla’s assistant coach at the Women’s World Championship!

Scott will likely be on Mount Royal’s bench for the Crowchild Classic weekend in late January, but he will miss Mount Royal’s bye week and their final weekend on Feb. 13 and 14 against Saskatchewan. With the medal games set to be played on February 19, I imagine Scott would want the Cougars to have secured first place in the East Division to guarantee a quarterfinal appearance in the Canada West playoffs, so we’ll see what happens.

Just to clarify, the Czech Republic will play Team USA on February 5 to open their Olympic tournament, so we might want to cheer on the Czechs that day. Canada and the Czech Republic play on February 9 where Carla and Scott will become enemies, but we hope that both Carla and Scott have excellent tournaments and lead the Czech Republic to a medal!

The coming hockey weeks are ‘prove it’ time for a number of teams. If a handful of teams want to make the playoffs, it’s time to bite the bullet, play, score goals, make saves and earn wins. There isn’t much runway left if any of those teams want to get airborne, so start racking up points in groups next weekend.Six weekends of hockey is all that remains in the Canada West regular season. Will your team make a run for a playoff spot?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!