Brian Swane, Special to Canada West
EDMONTON – After surviving the quarter-final round last weekend, Saskatchewan and UBC now get set to face the top seeds, as the Canada West women's hockey semifinals unfold this weekend in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
Fresh off a bye, the Alberta Pandas and Manitoba Bisons host best-of-three series against the Huskies and T-Birds, respectively. The winning teams will meet next weekend with the conference championship on the line.
You can watch all the action on Canada West TV.
No. 4 Saskatchewan (11-10-5-2 reg. season, 2-1 playoffs) -AT- No. 1 Alberta (19-5-4-0)
- Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton
- Game 1 – Friday, 2 p.m. MST
- Game 2 – Saturday, 2 p.m. MST
- Game 3* - Sunday, 1 p.m. MST
Alberta allowed just two goals while taking three of four games from the Huskies this season, including both meetings in Edmonton, where the Pandas were beaten just once in 2018-19. Saskatchewan's Leah Bohlken scored nine times this season to lead her team and had both Huskies goals against Alberta. The average Saskatchewan game saw just 3.18 goals total between both teams, while Alberta itself scores 2.68 goals per game and boasts the three highest point-producers in Canada West: Alex Poznikoff (15G-22A), Autumn MacDougall (14G-21A) and Kennedy Gasner (12G-15A). Saskatchewan, which out-lasted Mount Royal in three games in the quarter-finals, is looking to make a second straight Canada West Final appearance, while Alberta last reached the final in 2017.
No. 3 UBC (14-5-4-5, 2-0) -AT- No. 2 Manitoba (16-5-4-3)
- Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg
- Game 1 – Friday, 7 p.m. CST
- Game 2 – Saturday, 7 p.m. CST
- Game 3* - Sunday, 4 p.m. CST
This series features the last three conference titlists, with Manitoba have won last season after back-to-back championships for the T-Birds in 2016 and 2017. With 81 goals in 28 games, Manitoba led Canada West for 2018-19, and was particularly explosive at Wayne Fleming Arena, where the Bisons light the lamp an average of 3.21 times per game. For their part, the T-Birds ranked third with 61 goals during the season and scored five in each of their quarter-final victories over Regina. Head-to-head, these teams split their games during the regular season, with each winning once in the other's building, and all four contests being decided by one goal. The Bisons will put Canada Wet's top power-play (20.2%) to the test against UBC's conference-leading penalty kill (91.4%).