The fifth place Manitoba Bisons (13-13-0-3) start their 2016 playoff season in Canada West conference women's hockey on the road as they travel to the fourth place Saskatchewan Huskies (11-9-3-5) to play in the Canada West Quarter Final best-of-three playoff series on the February 19-21 weekend.
The best-of-three playoff series commences on Friday, February 19 with a start time of 7 p.m. CT for game one then game two starts on Saturday, February 20 at 7 p.m. CT and, if necessary, game three will be play on Sunday, February 21 at 7 p.m. CT. All playoff contests will be played at the Rutherford Rink (U of Saskatchewan campus) and shown on live webcast at canadwest.tv website.
During this season, Manitoba went 2-2 against Saskatchewan as they split with the Huskies on the road (L 3-2 [2nd OT] on Nov. 20/15; W 3-1 on Nov. 21/15) and split at home (L 3-1 on Jan. 29/16; W 3-0 on Jan. 30/16). Since the beginning of the second half of the 2015-16 season, the Bisons went 4-7-0-1 in reg. season and won three of last four games away.
The last time both teams meet in the playoffs was in the 2009-10 season and Manitoba won at home by a 2-1 game margin (W 2-1; L 2-1; W 3-2) in conference quarterfinal series. In the two previous playoff meetings, Manitoba prevailed as they swept the Huskies in 2009 playoffs (2-0 on March 5; 4-0 on Mar. 6) at home and in 2008 (3-1 on Feb. 15; 2-1 [OT] on Feb. 16) at home. This is the first time the Bisons will face the Huskies in playoff action on the road.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan had five players in the Canada West Top 15 scoring this season. For the Bisons, second year forward Alanna Sharman was eighth with 22 points (ten goals, 12 assists). For the Huskies, Julia Flinton (4g, 22a) was tied for fourth with 26 points, Marley Ervine (9g, 15a) was tied for sixth with 24 points, Kaitlin Willoughby (10g, 10a) in tenth at 20 points and Lauren Zary (8g, 9a) was tied for 12th.
In the nets, Bison third year netminder Rachel Dyck had played in 21 out of 28 conference regular season games and was sixth place in Canada West with a 2.03 Goals Against Average and eighth in Save Percentage at .911 and seventh with eight conference wins. Third year goalie Amanda Schubert is tied for second with three shutouts while Dyck is tied for sixth with two shutouts. Shubert has also played in nine games with 1.16 GAA and .943 Save Pct. with five wins.
Bison women's hockey - 2016 Canada West Quarter Final series away schedule
Date Game Time Place
Fri, February 19 Game 1: Manitoba at Sask. 7 p.m. CT Saskatoon
Sat, February 20 Game 2: Manitoba at Sask. 7 p.m. CT Saskatoon
*Sun, February 21 Game 3: Manitoba vs. Sask. 7 p.m. CT Saskatoon
* if necessary
Bison Notes: Last season, the Bison women's hockey team started the conference playoffs at home and went to the 2015 Canada West conference final. Since Jon Rempel became the head coach of the program in the 2004-05 season, the women's hockey team at Manitoba has made the playoffs in 11 of 12 seasons and the last four consecutive seasons.
