After three years, the Manitoba Bisons will return to playoff hockey on Friday, as the women's team host the Saskatchewan Huskies in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series.

The Friday-Sunday series at Wayne Fleming Arena will be open to spectators, as fans can purchase tickets on Showpass. Game day health and safety protocols are in effect. It will also be available to stream pay-per-view on Canada West TV presented by Co-op and on the airwaves in Winnipeg on UMFM 101.5.

Manitoba (13-7-0) and Saskatchewan (11-7-2) will pick up right where they left off two weeks ago, as they finished their respective regular seasons against each other at Wayne Fleming Arena. The Bisons swept that weekend and have swept the regular season as a whole, going a perfect 4-0 against the Huskies.

In matchups with the Huskies this season, forwards Sam Sichkaruk, Julia Bird and Halle Edwards have led the way for the Herd scoring two goals each; the first Edwards goal was an OT winner on Oct. 29, a 1-0 Manitoba win.

Edwards, a second-year and former Central Plains Capitals player, has been at the top of Manitoba's scoring attack. She has seven goals and nine assists in 18 games this season, scoring three on the powerplay and two game-winners including the one against the Huskies. Edwards is a team-high +8 in her time on the ice.

Between the pipes, Manitoba will rely on the excellent tandem of third-year Erin Fargey — who was in Jon Rempel's goalie rotation in the team's last post-season appearance in 2019 — and first-year Kimmy Davidson. The two have ten and seven starts, respectively, and both have a save percentage above .935. Davidson leads Canada West among qualified goalies with a .960 save percentage.

Sask's veteran to watch is graduating player Bailee Bourassa. Her seven goals and four assists have led an offence that has struggled at times, as the Huskies are sixth in Canada West with 44 goals scored in the regular season.

The winner of the series advances to play either one-seed Mount Royal or two-seed UBC on the road in next weekend's semi-final.

HOOFPRINTS

• Penalty kill is a strength for both team… Manitoba is first in CW at 89.9%, Saskatchewan is fourth at 87.5%
• Sophie Lalor has points in two of the last three for the Huskies… second on the team with 10 points overall
• Bisons rookies make up half of the team's top points scorers: Ashley Keller (11), Kylie Lesuk (11), Julia Bird (10) and Jena Barscello (7)

Conference Statistics
U SPORTS Top 10