A young, impressive Bisons squad is hot on the heels of a first-round bye. This weekend, they'll need four points to keep pace with their competition.
As Bisons women's hockey (9-5-2) host the ninth-place Trinity Western Spartans (2-12-1) at Wayne Fleming Arena, the Herd know they have some winning and scoreboard-watching to do, as just two points separate second-place Saskatchewan and fourth-place Manitoba.
The top two seeds in Canada West earn a bye to the semifinals.
This weekend, the Huskies — who have two games in hand on Manitoba and four in hand on third-place UBC — are on a bye. UBC will visit Calgary, where the Dinos are in a playoff bubble with two other teams and have plenty to play for.
Manitoba has had a somewhat shaky start to the second half of their season. After a long layoff of 48 days between conference games, the Bisons split a road series at MacEwan, blanking the Griffins 3-0 before losing a 2-1 nail-biter. Still, their young guns continue to perform, with goalie Kimmy Davidson recording her first university shutout on Jan. 14 and
Julia Bird,
Kylie Lesuk and
Sarah Dennehy all scoring goals.
Overall, Manitoba has lost four of seven after starting the season 6-1. They'll be hoping some home cooking is on the menu, though, as the team plays four of their final six games in Wayne Fleming Arena.
A Feb. 11-12 series against the Huskies looms as critical, but the key for the Bisons until then will be to get as many points as possible — keeping pace with the other powerhouse teams in Canada West.
HOOFPRINTS
- Manitoba has three players in the top ten of rookie scoring in CW: Ashley Keller (9 points), Kylie Lesuk (7 points) and Julia Bird (6 points)
- Kimmy Davidson (.965) and Erin Fargey (.929) are in the CW top ten for save percentage
- Both teams are looking to improve on the power play, as Manitoba has scored 7 PP goals (7th in CW) and Trinity Western just four (9th in CW)
Conference Statistics
U SPORTS Top 10
