Top seed oozes confidence as playoff semis begin
How did the first-place University of Pandas hockey team survive a season-ending injury to their conference-leading scorer?
By coming up with another conference-leading scorer, of course.
And this weekend, they open their U-sports post-season with a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at Clare Drake Arena on Friday (2 p.m., Canadawest TV) after finishing on top of the standings at 19-8-1-0.
“Just the confidence of going into semifinals without having to struggle through quarter-finals,” said Pandas head coach Howie Draper, whose squad earned a first-round bye last weekend. “Every team in our league, they’re contenders in my opinion, so to just slide into semis is a real positive. But, for us, the extra week to prepare and get healthy, that was all very important for us.”
Not to mention home-ice advantage.
“We’ve probably got the most unique ice surface in Canada West now that Saskatchewan is in a new facility,” Draper said about the oldest barn in the loop, the Pandas’ 3,000-seat home, which opened back in 1959. “Absolutely, it goes a long way and it kind of caters to our game. We’re quick, so there’s a lot more tight spaces and we do well in those.”
But it hasn’t exactly all been smooth skating for the Pandas, who lost the services of reigning Canada West points-getter Alex Poznikoff to a broken leg 18 games in. At the time, she had nine goals and 15 assists for a conference-best 24 points, which still ended up fourth overall this year. Instead, the scoring title went to linemate Autumn Macdougall, who was the runner-up to Poznikoff a year ago before the pair sat one and two in points this season right up until the injury.
“She’s been coming on, every year that she’s been with us she’s been a stronger player,” Draper said of Macdougall, a fifth-year kinesiology student out of Cole Harbour, N.S., whose 17 goals and 31 points were tops in Canada West to earn her second conference scoring title. “So I think this was just a natural progression for her.”
But she didn’t do it alone, obviously. As a team, the Poznikoffless Pandas rallied together to win eight of their last 10 games to capture first place.
“I think the cool thing is we’ve seen a lot of our players step up: Regan Wright has really taken a step forward, Kennedy Ganser has been phenomenal, Madison Willan,” Draper said, running down the roster. “Just everybody. Everybody’s contributed to offence when we most needed it. We’ve had players fill in on PK and special defensive situations, as well, which Alex played a big part in.
“So just to have that kind of mentality from everybody that they’ve all got to do a little bit more,” said Draper, pointing out it wasn’t like Poznikoff was completely absent over the past six weeks.
“She’s probably one of the hardest workers trying to get through an injury that we’ve ever had.
“She’s been a very strong source of inspiration for all of us, as well.”
In fact, the possibility exists that the season-ending part of the injury was only referring to the regular season of her fifth and final year of eligibility, as Poznikoff might just make it back in time to rejoin the team somewhere along their playoff path.
“It’s pretty hard to really know,” Draper said. “She’s made some tremendous gains on a daily basis, so anything ’s possible.
“But in the same light, we certainly don’t know for sure. There’s no certainties with respect to the injury, but we’re optimistic she’s going to get back in time for at least a portion of the playoffs. Hopefully we can go in deep.”