Armed with plenty of momentum, the Bisons women's hockey team heads to UBC for the Canada West championship, looking for their first conference title since 2018. They'll face a 26-2 UBC team that's been ranked No. 1 in the country all season. This is the first time the two schools are facing off for the Canada West Championship since 2016. Both teams have already qualified for nationals, taking place in Waterloo from March 19-22. Game one of the conference final goes tomorrow at 9 pm CT. Catch the game live on canadawest.tv.

The Thunderbirds have been the class of U SPORTS all year, and are making their fifth straight appearance in the Canada West Championship. They defeated Manitoba in both games during the regular season, however the Herd did take UBC to a shootout on November 8th in a 3-2 victory for the the T-Birds. Manitoba was one of just three teams to force UBC past 60 minutes on the year. 

A lot has changed since the team sides faced off in 2025. Manitoba went 9-1-2 to conclude the regular season, and proceeded to knock off defending conference champion Alberta and Mount Royal on the road in consecutive weekends. It was the program's first road playoff series win in a decade, and they head to Vancouver with all kinds of confidence, looking to secure the fourth conference banner in program history. 

"We talk about being a connected group, whether that's on defence or offence. All six of us on the ice, I include our goalies in that, we defend together and we create offence together," said Bisons head coach Jordan Colliton.

"We share the puck, we're predictable to each other. We know what we're trying to do in different areas of the ice, and we know where each other need to be, it doesn't matter the pairing or the line. It helps us to make decisions quicker, and we can take advantage of other team's breakdowns because of it."

Manitoba has the top six leading-point getters in the conference playoffs, led by senior forward Brenna Nicol. In just six games, the Nipigon native has tied her career high of eight points, achieved in 20 regular season games in 2022-23, and this past season. Nicol's eight playoff points are the fourth-most in a season by a Bison, just five behind Venla Hovi for the school record, set in 2016.

As a team, 11 different Bisons have scored a goal in the playoffs, led by Nicol, Sadie Keller and Bird, who all have three goals. Meanwhile, 16 different players have recorded a point. 

In net, veteran goalie Emily Shippam has a 1.84 GAA, and she's now 3-0 in series-deciding game threes in her career, after topping Trinity Western in triple OT last year, along with Alberta and MRU this season.