The 2017-18 U SPORTS women's hockey major season award winners, All-Canadian and All-Rookie teams were announced on Wednesday, March 14. The University of Manitoba Bisons had one coach honoured with a major award while two players were honoured as a All-Canadian and All-Rookie Team.

Bison Erica Rieder named as 2017-18 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Second Team All-Canadian at the defenceman position while Lauren Taraschuk named to 2017-18 U SPORTS Women's Hockey All-Rookie Team at the goaltender position.

Rieder, 21, had another stellar season in her fourth year at Manitoba while earning her first U SPORTS All-Canadian selection. The Winnipeg native was tied for fourth in conference defenceman scoring (tied for 16th in U SPORTS) in 2017-18 with 11 points (seven goals and four assists) while playing in all 28 conference regular season games. Her seven goals were first among U SPORTS and Canada West defenceman and tied for ninth overall in conference this season. The 5'9" defenceman registered a plus/minus rating of +13 in 2017-18 and tied for third best in Canada West (T-7th in U SPORTS) while being alternate captain for third consecutive season with the Bisons. 

Taraschuk, 18, had an impressive rookie campaign with the Bisons in 2017-18 and earned U SPORTS rookie recognition after being named the Canada West Rookie of the Year. The Winnipeg native was first in U SPORTS and Canada West Goals Against Average with a 0.71 and also second in U SPORTS and conference Save Percentage at .961 while sporting a 10-2-0 record and tied for fourth most conference wins (T-12th in U SPORTS) at 10 while playing in 12 of 28 conference regular season games in 2017-18. Her winning percentage of .909 was best in all of U SPORTS. The 6'0" goaltender was also tied for fourth with five shutouts in Canada West play and had a five game conference winning streak (Oct. 27/17-Nov. 25/17).

"Erica is a big reason why our team has had the success it has had this season and is deserving of this U SPORTS recognition for the first time in her Bison career, " Bison women's hockey head coach Jon Rempel commented. "Lauren had immediate impact in our lineup this season and was a part of a very good group of first year players and to post the numbers she did as a first year goaltender in this league speaks to her ability, talent and perseverance." 

Bison Notes: The Manitoba Bisons women's hockey team are the Canada West champions after the 2018 Canada West Final hosted by Manitoba on March 2-4 weekend. The squad is the first seed for the 2018 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship being held from March 15-18 at Western University in London, Ontario.
The Bisons (regular season: 19-5-3-1; playoffs: 4-1) seek first national championship in their sixth appearance. The Herd will play quarter-final game against the No. 8 seed Queen's Gaels (regular season: 17-3-4; playoffs: 4-2) in their first contest of the Championships on Friday, March 16 at 3 p.m. CT (live webcast and radio broadcast details at gobisons.ca).