The Bisons women's hockey team played in 12 one-goal games this season, including four victories in a row in their final seven contests, and they're looking to use their grit, tenacity and competitive edge to fuel them to victory as the No. 6 seed in the 2023-24 Canada West playoffs. 
 
Up first is a tilt with the defending national champion, No. 3 seed Mount Royal Cougars. First puck drop is Friday at 3 pm CT on the road, with games two and three (if necessary) at the same time. Watch all the action live on canadawest.tv.
 
Mount Royal won all four games against the Bisons in the regular season, however two of those contests were one-goal games, and one of them went to overtime. 
 
Overall, the Bisons out-shot MRU in their four contests, peppering 105 shots on the opposition's net. They also scored a short-handed goal, courtesy of forward Dana Goertzen, who led the team with a career-high seven markers, including two in the regular season against the Cougars.
 
"I think the biggest thing we're emphasizing is we've had two one goal games against them. Both of our Saturday games we were possibly the better team towards the end, if not the whole game," said head coach Jordyn Zacharias, a Bisons alum who played on the program's only national championship roster in 2017-18. 
 
"We've been trying to feed off that and not focus on so much the results, but how we played in certain nights against them."
 
Overall, 17 different Bisons scored a goal this season, and five different players had a tally against MRU. Goertzen and Camryn Gillis led the way with two. 
 
In net, Emily Shippam had a career high five wins, including four in a row during the late season playoff push, while Meagan Relf had a career high 353 saves.
 
This is Manitoba's first playoff series since the 2019-20 campaign, and the only member of the roster who's won a playoff game is captain Katie Chatyrbok, dating back to 2018-19 when Manitoba advanced to nationals for a second year in a row. 
 
"Playoffs is a whole other ball game compared to the regular season. Once playoffs start, everyone is on an even slate again. We learned that the hard way when we made playoffs and played Sask [at home in 2019-20], who we swept both times, but we got swept in the playoffs," said Chayrtbok, a veteran of 133 total games as a Bison.
 
"Part of it is instilling the belief in everyone that we can do it. I think Jordy's done a really good job of it so far. The expectation is that we win this weekend and that we can do it. I think that part, and the mental prep and the pressure of going into a weekend where it's do or die, easing that is important."