The first edition of the 2025-26 cross town rivarly heats up tomorrow at 6 and 8 pm, as the Manitoba Bisons host the Winnipeg Wesmen to cap the first term. Click here for tickets. If you can't make the game live, it will also air on Telus and CBC as Canada West's Game of the Week. Viewers can watch the game on Telus Channel 1997, and CBC on cbc.ca/sports and well as CBC's YouTube channel and CBC Gem. 

Manitoba's women's and men's teams went a combined 4-2 against the Wesmen last season in regular season play. The two teams return a significant portion of their rosters from a year ago, including a vast amount of local flair. Manitoba's women's and men's rosters have a combined 22 players from the province, while Winnipeg features 21 players born and bred in Manitoba. 

In the standings, the 1-8 Bisons are just one game behind the 2-7 Wesmen on the women's side, while the Manitoba men are battling for a top spot with Winnipeg. The Wesmen are 6-3, just one game up on the 5-4 Bisons for third in Canada West's Prairie Division. 

The Bisons women's 22.2 field goals made per game rank eighth in Canada West, and individually, true freshman point guard Taylor Schepp's 10.7 points per game lead the team, and are the second-most in single season school history for a rookie. 

On the men's side, Daren Watts is fifth in Canada West, averaging 18 points per game. He enters play needing just 21 points to reach 1,000 for his career. The Bisons senior class as a whole, comprised of Watts, Mason Kraus, Tito Obasoto, Samuel Jensen and Cieran O'Hara (along with Jonam Kazadi) need just four wins to pass national champions Rick Watts and Darryl Rumsey for the most career league wins won by a group of teammates. They are currently at 59.