Saskatoon, SK – We’re down to just eight teams in U SPORTS women’s hockey, so this is where things get interesting. 

With the Mount Royal Cougars bowing out in the Canada West semifinal, last year’s national champions will not defend their title meaning the Golden Path trophy is officially back up for grabs.

 Last year’s stunning win by the #8 seed Cougars pretty much proved that in a four day tournament, anything can happen and eight teams head to Merlis Belcher Place in Saskatoon with a chance to take home the top prize in U SPORTS women’s hockey. 

1. Concordia Stingers (RSEQ champion | 25-0-0)

No matter how you feel about anyone else, it feel impossible to say that the Concordia Stingers aren’t the heavy favourite heading into the National Championship. That’s what happens when you deliver a perfect 25-0-0 regular season on the way to three-peating as RSEQ champions. 

Things got a little complicated in the RSEQ playoffs as the Stingers finally showed a few cracks but then also immediately powered through them. They dropped a 2-1 decision to the Ottawa Gee-Gees in Game Two of the RSEQ semifinal thanks to a 58 save masterclass by Aurelie Dubuc but rebounded for a 13-0 win in Game Three to advance. In the RSEQ final vs Montréal they dropped Game One 3-2 before taking a 4-1 decision in Game Two and a 10-4 win in Game Three to clinch the championship. 

There isn’t really anything the Stingers did wrong this season. They delivered the top powerplay in the country at 29.4% and the top penalty kill at 95.0% while averaging 4.28 goals per game. Perhaps the only risk heading into National for the Stingers is the chance of getting goalied as in their quarterfinal with the Saskatchewan Huskies, the Stingers face one of the top goalies in the country in Camryn Drever.

Still, with the bitter taste of their stunning loss to Mount Royal in the national final from a season ago still lingering, the Stingers have to have eyes on the national title and nothing else.  

2. UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champion | 24-1-3)

Last year’s U SPORTS bronze medalist is back on the hunt for gold. The Thunderbirds rolled their way through the Canada West regular season and finished 24-1-3, earning the top spot in the conference.

In the Canada West playoffs, the Thunderbirds needed three games but dispatched the Calgary Dinos in the semifinal before dropping the Alberta Pandas in the Canada West final in three games. The win, in a similar fashion to Concordia and UNB, gave the Thunderbirds a three-peat as Canada West champions. Now UBC is back at U SPORTS nationals after falling in a tough 3-1 loss to Concordia in the semifinal a season ago and taking the bronze in a 3-2 win over the Montréal Carabins

You can’t talk about the Thunderbirds this season without talking about Mackenzie Kordic. The senior finished first in Canada West with 15 goals and 35 points and earned U SPORTS All-Canadian second-team honours along with her teammate in fifth year defender Ryland Mackinnon. That’s along with defender Jaylyn Morris who earned a spot on the All-Rookie team after a four goal and 16 point rookie season. 

The one question mark for the Thunderbirds comes with a powerplay that operated at 21.7% in the regular season but fell to just 5.6% in the post-season. 

3. UNB Reds (AUS champion | 21-5-2)

As the UNB Reds Men’s program looks for it’s 10th title at the U CUP in Toronto, the UNB Reds women’s program looks to finally end the wait and add a Golden Path Trophy to the collection.

It was another banner season for the Reds, who completed their three-peat as AUS champions by sweeping the StFX X-Women in two games. Sydney Oitomen won it all for the Reds in double overtime in Game Two.

UNB and StFX duelled for top spot in the AUS all season but a 5-2 loss to the X-Women on the season’s last day gave StFX top spot by a single point. In the end, though it was UNB taking their third straight title.

The Reds bring the conference’s top offense to Saskatoon thanks to their three-pronged attack of Lillian George, Katelyn Scott, and Payton Hargreaves, who finished first, second, and fourth in AUS scoring. In net, Kendra Woodland did what she has done for years now and peaked in the AUS playoffs with a 0.89 GAA and a .970 save percentage in six playoff games.

The Reds finished fourth in 2022 and got upset by Montréal in the quarterfinal, and finished seventh a season ago. Even if it isn’t gold, it has to be a message of a medal or bust on their third try for this UNB Reds group.

4. Waterloo Warriors (OUA champion, 18-7-3)

It’s already been a historic season for the Waterloo Warriors.

Thanks to Paige Rynne’s overtime winner, the Waterloo Warriors stunned the Toronto Varsity Blues and the Varsity Arena crowd last week to take the 2024 McCaw Cup championship, their first McCaw Cup in program history.

So, at this point, the Warriors are already playing with house money this season, but after one championship, they have to have their eyes on another. After finishing third and fourth in OUA scoring in the regular season and first and third in scoring in the McCaw Cup playoffs, a lot of the Warriors’ chances will ride on the backs of Leah Herrfort and Tatum James.

One of the X-factors for the Warriors in their quarterfinal matchup vs the StFX X-Women will come on the special teams. The Warriors boasted the top penalty kill in the OUA in 2023-2024 in the regular season and, after allowing a pair of powerplay goals in Game One against Laurier, have been perfect since. They’ll go up against a StFX powerplay that was middling in fourth in the AUS regular season at 17.0% and was 3/19 in their last seven games in the AUS playoffs.

5. STFX X-Women (AUS Finalist | 21-6-1)

This had to feel like it was supposed to be the year that StFX might break the hold that UNB has on the AUS.

Thanks to their final game win, the X-Women earned the top spot in the conference and home ice advantage for their potential eventual battle with the Reds (that ended up happening)

In that first game, though, Kendra Woodland delivered a 33-save shutout. When the matchup went back to Fredericton, StFX scored on their first shot but were shutout the next 39. Sydney Oitomen scored the overtime winner to give the Reds the title.

That puts StFX into the fifth position at Nationals as they look to improve on their sixth-place finish from 2023. There are definitely compelling pieces for the X-Women. Maggy Burbidge led the program with a point-per-game output of 14 goals and 28 points in 27 games while Amaya Giraudier put up the second best GAA in the conference at 1.70.

As we covered above though the biggest challenge for the X-Women will come on special teams as their middling power play was off and on throughout the season and will go up against the country’s third-best penalty kill at 93.0%. 

If the X-Women continue to struggle to cash in with the extra skater, it could be a tough weekend in Saskatoon.

6. Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA finalist | 19-8-1)

The last two times the Blues made it to the U SPORTS National Championship they fell in the opening round and funny enough, both times they were the higher seed and both times it was to Mount Royal in 2020 and 2023.

This season though the Blues enter the tournament in the sixth seed after dropping a heartbreaker in overtime to the Waterloo Warriors, denying the Blues a third McCaw Cup since 2020. With a core of veterans led by fifth years Taylor Trussler, and goaltender Erica Fryer who are now back at nationals for a third time, this year has a very “last dance” vibe for the Toronto Varsity Blues.

Their opportunity starts with Erica Fryer who put in a strong performance after taking back full control of the net as a fifth year. Fryer finished second in the OUA with a 1.39 GAA and also picked up a save percentage of .939, finishing sixth.

The biggest red flag for the Toronto Varsiy Blues though comes on their powerplay that was powerless throughout much of the season finished at 7.4%. It got marginally better converting at 10.7% but went just 1/17 in their final four games.

Facing the UNB Reds in the quarterfinal the Blues will be in tough as they try for their first title since 2001. 

7. Montréal Carabins (RSEQ finalist | 13-10-2)

The Montréal Carabins had the rare opportunity to host the national championship a season ago. They fell short though as Mount Royal’s magical run saw them take down Montréal 3-1 in the semifinal. After getting blown out in the RSEQ Championship game the Carabins return to national looking for a little bit of revenge.

It was a mixed campaign for the Carabins this season as they slipped behind the Bishop’s Gaiters into third in the RSEQ standings. In the playoffs against Bishop’s the Carabins fell behind 1-0 in the series before taking a 4-1 win in game two and needing a triple-overtime power play goal from Amelie Poire-Lehoux to take the 2-1 win in game three. 

There were standouts for Montréal though led by Kelly-Ann Nadeau, who finished with five goals and 14 points to earn second-team All-Canadian honours. The Carabins will be in, facing the UBC Thunderbirds in the opening round 

8. Saskatchewan Huskies (Canada West Quarterfinalist/Host | 19-7-2)

Can the #8 seed do it again? That will likely be up to the performance of fifth-year Huskies goalie Camryn Drever.

For the Huskies this season the problem this season came offensively. They finished with 63 goals in 28 games in the Canada West regular season and followed that up by getting shutout in back-to-back games to get eliminated by the Calgary DInos in the quarterfinal.

However, Saskatchewan’s net performance was unproblematic. Camryn Drever, the 2024 U SPORTS Player of the Year, very rightfully earned that title, going 14-6-0 with a 1.35 GAA and a .935 save percentage. It was necessary as only eight times in 20 starts did the Huskies score more than three goals.

With a weaker offence, the odds are stacked against the Huskies to be this year’s upset team, but as the eighth seed Laval Rouge et Or once again showed in Men’s Basketball a week ago, you never know until you play the game.