Brian Swane, Special to Canada West
EDMONTON – The puck drops on the 2019 Canada West women's hockey post-season this weekend, as UBC meets Regina, and Saskatchewan takes on Mount Royal in a pair of best-of-three quarter-final series.
The Alberta Pandas and the defending Canada West champion Manitoba Bisons have a bye through to next weekend's best-of-three semi-final round and await the quarter-final winners.
No. 6 Regina (9-14-2-3) -AT- No. 3 UBC (14-5-4-5)
- Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sport Centre in Vancouver
- Game 1 – Friday, 4:00 p.m. PST
- Game 2 – Saturday, 4:00 p.m. PST
- Game 3* - Sunday, 2:00 p.m. PST
It's Groundhog Day on the Pacific Coast, where the T-Birds just hosted the Cougars for two games to wrap up the regular season last weekend. UBC won both of those contests, and went 4-0 overall against Regina in 2018-19 while conceding just two goals in the four tilts. UBC is surging, going 6-0-0-1 over its final seven games of the season, contrasted with the Cougars, who have dropped seven straight on the road, including the last two in Vancouver. UBC features two of the conference's top goalies, but whether it's Tory Micklash (1.01 goals against average, .950 save percentage) or Amelia Boughn (1.16, 943) in the T-Birds net, they can expect to see plenty of Regina's Emma Waldenberger. The senior forward was second in Canada West with 108 shots, and scored 10 goals, five of which came on the power play.
No. 5 Mount Royal (11-14-1-2) -AT- No. 4 Saskatchewan (11-10-5-2)
- Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon
- Game 1 – Friday, 7:00 p.m. CST
- Game 2 – Saturday, 7:00 p.m. CST
- Game 3* - Sunday, 7:00 p.m. CST
This series could very well go down to the wire if it's anything like the regular season, which saw the Huskies and Cougars split four head-to-head contests, with three of the games being decided by one goal. If the pressure ratchets up, the edge in experience goes to the home team, which advanced to the Canada West championship series and U SPORTS championship tournament last year, while Mount Royal missed the post-season in 2018. Special teams present an intriguing matchup, with Canada West's second-ranked power play (Mount Royal (18.8%)) going to work against the No. 2 PK (Saskatchewan (90.0%)). Fourth-year goaltender Jessica Vance, who had 12 wins and six shutouts for the Huskies, will look to put up a wall against a Cougars attack led by rookie sensation Breanne Trotter (nine goals, 11 assists).