WHKY Final Preview

Article by Brian Swane, special to CW

Feb. 29, 2024 - Not only is the upcoming 2024 Canada West women’s hockey championship series a meeting of the best teams this season, it’s a battle between the greatest programs in conference history.

The Alberta Pandas and UBC Thunderbirds each will look to add to their legacy when they face off for the Catherwood Cup at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver. Games 1 and 2 are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. If necessary, Game 3 will take place Sunday. All games start at 3 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live and on-demand at CanadaWest.TV.

Saturday’s Game 2 will also be featured as the Canada West CBC Game of the Week.

UBC and Alberta finished first and second, respectively, in the 2023-24 standings. The Pandas have won the Catherwood Cup a record 14 times and is seeking its first Canada West gold medal since 2020. UBC is No. 2 with five conference titles and can join Alberta as the only teams in Canada West women’s hockey history to three-peat.

Alberta and UBC have combined to win six of the last seven Canada West championship titles, and this will be the third series in the last four postseasons pitting the Pandas against the T-Birds. The last team to beat the T-Birds in a playoff series is the Pandas, who swept UBC in the semi-final round in 2020 on the way to winning their most recent championship.

In five all-time appearances in the Canada West women’s hockey championship final, the T-Birds have never lost, including a 2-1 victory over Alberta in 2017.

"We're excited, it's going to be an absolute battle and dogfight," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "Every year is different – we can't rely on what we've done in the past."

The T-Birds and Pandas each hosted the other for a pair of games during the regular season. They split the first two meetings, at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton all the way back in September, with UBC coming out on top by a 3-2 score before Alberta prevailed 2-1 in overtime. The Pandas and T-Birds didn’t see each other again until February in Vancouver, where the home side won both games, by scores of 3-1 and 2-1 in a shootout.

"It's going to take our best game (in the championship series)," Alberta head coach Darren Bilawchuk said. “We saw them not too long ago, and we know they will be a handful once again.”

UBC Thunderbirds

(24-1-3 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)

How They Got Here: first in standings; quarter-final bye, defeated Calgary 2-1 in semifinal.

Key Player: Fifth-year defence Rylind MacKinnon ranked first in goals (10) and tied for the lead in points (22) among Canada West blueliners, while scoring the third most power-play goals (5) in the conference, en route to a First Team All-Star selection.

Key Stat: UBC scored a conference-best 4.0 goals per game during the regular season, while every other Canada West team averaged less than 3.0 goals for per game.

Alberta Pandas

(21-3-4 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)

How They Got Here: second in standings; quarter-final bye, defeated Mount Royal 2-1 in semifinal.

Key Player: Fifth-year goaltender Halle Oswald was named a Canada West Second Team All-Star after tying for the conference lead in both shutouts (5) and goals against average (1.25) among qualified netminders during the regular season.

Key Stat: Oswald is one of six players Alberta has remaining from its 2020 Canada West championship-winning team that eliminated UBC in the semi-finals.