Live Stats

The University of Regina's women's hockey team hosts the Alberta Pandas in a crucial pair of Canada West games this Friday and Saturday at The Co-operators Centre. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. on both nights.

Regina and Alberta enter the weekend separated by just one point in the Canada West standings, as the second-place Cougars come in with 32 points and the Pandas have 31. And lying in the weeds in fourth place with 30 points is UBC, as the Thunderbirds have collected 13 out of a possible 14 points over their last seven games to surge up the standings.

Both teams come into the series ranked in the latest CIS Top Ten, as Alberta is ranked No. 8 and the Cougars check in at the No. 10 spot.

The two teams that end up in third and fourth place will host a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series on the Feb. 8 weekend. The reward for whichever team locks up second place is significant, as that team will earn a bye through the quarterfinals and host a conference semifinal series the following weekend.

The Cougars recorded a road sweep over the Pandas in their only other meetings of the season, as Regina took 3-2 and 2-1 wins in mid-November at the Clare Drake Arena on the U of A campus.

“Both games in Edmonton were obviously extremely close,” Hodges said. “We'll need to give a consistent effort for 60 minutes each night and outbattle them if we want to have success against them again this weekend. We'll look to use our speed to put offensive pressure on them and hopefully we'll be able to capitalize on our opportunities like we did this past weekend against Saskatchewan.”

Four fifth-year Cougars will be playing in their final conference games at The Co-operators Centre this weekend as Gina Campbell, Hillary Lerat, Paige Wheeler, and Rianne Wight are all in their final seasons of CIS eligibility. Wheeler and Wight have left significant marks in the University of Regina's career record book, as both players will finish their five seasons ranked in the school's all-time top five in goals scored. Wight ranks third in school history in goals and fourth in points, and needs just two goals and four points to tie Elysia Cobbledick in both categories.

Equally impressive has been the reliability of both Wheeler and Wight, as neither player has missed a Canada West game in their careers and will share a conference record with 124 career games played if they appear in each of the final four games of the Canada West schedule. Campbell is just behind with 118 games played entering this weekend, while Lerat has suited up for 114 Canada West games in a U of R uniform.

One of five Canada West players to average a point per game this season, Wight leads the Cougars in goals (11), assists (13), and points (24). Sawchuk is second on the team with 19 points, while Wheeler is just behind with 18. Carleen Meszaros ranks among the conference's top five blueliners with 11 points, while Toni Ross and Jennifer Schmidt continue to split time between the pipes for the Cougars.

Karla Bourke leads Alberta with 22 points, while fourth-year goalie Michala Jeffries has started seven of the last eight games for the Pandas and has a 1.82 goals-against average to go along with a .925 save percentage this season. The Pandas are coming off of two one-goal losses to Calgary last weekend in Edmonton.

After this weekend, the Cougars will close out the Canada West schedule with two road games at Manitoba.