A handful of familiar faces will renew acquaintances on the ice this weekend as the Calgary Dinos take on the Mount Royal Cougars.
The Canada West Women’s Hockey semi-final, which is being dubbed the playoff version of the “Crowchild Classic”, will feature four former Northern Capitals in Sage Desjardins (Calgary), Kelsey Roberts (Calgary), Taylor Beck (Calgary) and Victoria Byer (Mount Royal).
All four enjoyed lots of on-ice success with the Caps during their BC Female Midget AAA playing days winning a pair of provincial titles along with the Macs Midget AAA Hockey Tournament (Female Division).
(Photo supplied by David Moll, Dino Athletics)
Roberts believes it’s a huge accomplishment to make the jump to university hockey.
“I think it’s awesome that there are girls coming from Prince George and the BC league out to Canada West. I think that is exciting for us and for younger girls coming up to see that it’s possible.”
Roberts is having her best season between the pipes for the Dinos going 16-6-0-1 in 25 games this season, helping Calgary to a second-place finish during the regular season compiling a team record of 18-7-1-2.
“Our team has just really come together this year, we’ve been putting a lot of pucks in the net keeping our defensive zone pretty clean and I think it’s been an entire team effort that has made my season so successful.”
Like Roberts, Desjardins is in her fourth season at the U of C, stating this year has been the most enjoyable.
“Our team is just a lot happier this year, it’s been pretty fun. We didn’t really lose any girls last season so it’s not a completely different team, we did gain a lot of rookies that brought a lot to the game and it really made a positive difference.”
“It’s been really cool to play with Kelsey now for eight years and it’s kind of insane when you put it in perspective like that we have been able to play with each other that long and even Taylor (Beck) joining us it’s like she never really left and we have all played together since bantam,” added Desjardins.
Desjardins has four points in 28 games this season while Beck experienced a spike in offense with two goals and seven assists during her second year in Calgary.
Beck said the whole experience along with the opportunity to reach the finals is pretty exciting.
“I’m just getting in the dirty areas, getting some points, which is pretty good I guess.”
“Me, Kelsey and Sage, we all had lots of success with our team in high school, winning the Mac’s and two provincial titles, it would be pretty cool to get back to a series like that.”
Byer, on the other hand, is in her third season with Mount Royal who finished with an even 14-14 record, good enough for fourth place in the conference.
She thinks it will be a little awkward lining up against three of her ex-teammates with so much on the line after playing in so many big games together during their days with the Capitals.
“It definitely is weird when they come down on you when you’re looking at them and thinking this used to be my teammate and now I need to stop them. It’s even weirder when my team is scouting them out, especially against Roberts, learning how to score against her is tough.”
With Mount Royal beating out the Regina Cougars in the opening round followed by the UBC Thunderbirds improbable sweep over the Saskatchewan Huskies, the stars became aligned for the two schools to compete in the semis.
Byer believes it would be monumental if Mount Royal could pull off another upset.
“It would be a dream come true for us, we’ve been fighting for the past few years since I have been here to get to this position and I think we only have more room to grow and I think our team is ready to get there and move on to that final victory.”
“I think it will be exciting as it’s always a good competition between us to see who’s team can come out on top after playing together for so many years, I think the rivalry U of C and MRU is huge no matter what.”
“With Crowchild being a really big event here in Calgary and just knowing where this next playoff round may take us is huge,” added Byer.
Puck drop for Game One is tonight at 6:00 PM Pacific Time from the Father David Bauer Arena with Games Two and Three (if necessary) at five o’clock.