Especially for the host team.

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The Bisons played 4 hours, 15 minutes and 12 seconds between Friday and Sunday last weekend, needing every last tick of the clock to get past the Alberta Pandas in an instant-classic best-of-three semi-final that featured two games that needed extra time to decide a winner, the last going into a fourth overtime periods before Jordyn Zacharias scored to send the Bisons and their fans into exhausted elation.

They’ve since had four days to recover from that series, but allowed much less time to bask in its outcome.

“It can’t be an anti-climatic weekend, because when you have such an emotional type of victory in an emotional series like that, the biggest thing is the emotional piece,” says Bisons coach Jon Rempel. “This is only Step Two for us, we’ve got other goals in mind here. 

“Helping the group understand that your emotional level is going to have to get right back up there quickly, I think that’s going to be the key for us this weekend.”

Fatigue is no such concern to the Huskies, who roll into Winnipeg having swept UBC last weekend. Saskatchewan’s semi-final series ended a day earlier and was nearly seven periods shorter than the unforgettable Bisons-Pandas affair.

The Huskies, winners of 13 of their last 15 Canada West games spanning the regular season and playoffs, are firing on all cylinders. Granted, if something’s broke at this time of year, you’re likely not going to be able to fix it, which is why Rempel had no problem giving his team a well-deserved day off the ice on Monday.

“At this point I don’t think practice is important,” Rempel says. “It’s more about feeling fresh, mentally and emotionally and physically. Right now it’s more about how the players are feeling.”

Entering the championship final, players on both sides have reason to feel equal parts confidence and uncertainty, given each team won twice against the other during the 2017-18 season. Three of those four head-to-head meetings were decided by one goal, and the other was a two-goal game with an empty-netter.

Manitoba finished first in the Canada West standings with 64 points, six ahead of the second-place Huskies, and ranked among the highest-scoring teams, with 66 goals in 28 games, though the Huskies allowed a paltry 31 goals this season, fewest in the conference.

“They’re incredibly disciplined and defensive-minded in how they play this year.” Says Rempel. “Its tough to generate stuff off the rush against them. They’re physical, they’re pretty balanced up front, they obviously have great goaltending and for what’s at stake this weekend it’s going to be much more of the same (as during the season) and that’s the way Canada West has been the whole year.”

The calibre of Canada West women’s hockey continues to increase across the landscape, producing a parity reflected in this year’s finalists; the Huskies are in the championship series for just the second time in 14 years and first since winning their only conference title in 2014, while Manitoba is seeking to capture its first Cartherwood Cup in seven years. Both teams have qualified for the U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship, hosted by Western University in London, Ont., March 15 – 18.

“It’s hard to get out of Canada West, it just is … any given year in our conference, there’s been four or five teams that consistently could win, and getting there is just hard,” says Rempel.

“We’re happy where we are, and I think both programs are really good solid programs. I think it’s great for our conference, and I’m happy that both of us are able to go.”

The entire series can be viewed online by tuning into Canada West TV – the official streaming home of the conference.

MANITOBA BISONS

• How they got here: defeated Alberta 2-1 in best-of-three Canada West semifinal
• Canada West championships: 2009, 2011
• National championships: none
• Regular season leaders: goals – Jordyn Zacharias (12), assists – Alana Sharman (20), points – Jordyn Zacharias (21), wins – Rachel Dyck (12), shutouts –Rachel Dyck, Lauren Taraschuk (5)

SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES

• How they got here: defeated UBC 2-0 in best-of-three Canada West semifinal
• Canada West championships: 2014
• National championships: none
• Regular season leaders: points - goals – Kaitlin Willoughby (9), assists – Kaitlin Willoughby (19), points – Kaitlin Willoughby (19), wins – Jessica Vance (14), shutouts – Jessica Vance (9)