The University of Regina women's hockey team will kick off the 2014-15 Canada West playoffs this weekend in Winnipeg. The Cougars and Bisons are to meet in a best-of-three quarterfinal for the right to move on to a conference semifinal.

Regina earned sixth place in the conference, and will meet the third-seeded Bisons this weekend. The top two seeds in the conference, held by the Alberta Pandas and UBC Thunderbirds, earned byes through to the semifinals.

The Cougars finished the season with a 6-9-11-2 record after splitting with the Saskatchewan Huskies last weekend. The Cougars won 5-4 in a shootout on Friday night before travelling to Saskatoon and falling 2-1 in the season finale.

Kylie Gavelin and Kylee Kupper led the way in Friday's win, each with three points. Gavelin had two goals and an assist and Kupper notched three assists, as well as the shootout winner. Carleen Meszaros and Stephanie Sawchuk (pictured) also scored for the Cougars.
Meghan Sherven scored in Saturday evening's loss.

"We're definitely on the right track over the last couple of weekends," head coach Sarah Hodges said of the team's offensive production. "We're still looking for some more consistency, but we've made huge progress.

The Bisons (14-5-7-2) are coming off a split with the fourth-place Calgary Dinos. Manitoba won the first of the two-game set 4-1 before falling 4-3 in the rematch.

The Cougars and Bisons met four times in the regular season, and the Bisons won three of those games. Three of the four meetings needed overtime to be decided. The two teams split in the opening weekend of the season, with the Bisons claiming a 1-0 double-overtime win and the Cougars rebounding for a 3-2 overtime victory. The Cougars travelled to Manitoba in January for the second series, and were swept by the Bisons. Manitoba won the first game 2-1 in overtime before exploding for a 6-1 win in the final regular season meeting between the two teams.

"They work really hard and have a good balance," Hodges said of the Bisons. "They have one line that can do a lot of damage so we have to be aware when they're on the ice and play everybody close."

Regina is led by Gavelin, who is tied for sixth in the conference with 13 goals. She has also registered eight assists, giving her a team-high 21 points. Sawchuk and Emma Waldenberger have both had a strong second half of the Canada West campaign, Sawchuk finishing with 14 points and the rookie Waldenberger recording 12.

Triston Riemer and Meszaros have been productive as defenders, both earning 12 points. Meszaros has six goals and Riemer has one. Alexis Larson has also chipped in from the blue line, netting three goals and 11 total points.

Toni Ross and Jennifer Schmidt split time in net for the Cougars. Ross finished the regular season with a 7-7-1 record, a 2.33 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Schmidt posted a 8-4-1 record, 2.43 GAA and a .915 save percentage.

Bisons rookie Alanna Sharman finished first in Canada West scoring this season with 40 points. She is currently on a nine-game point streak in which she has notched 21 points. Alana Serhan is tied for fifth in the conference with 26 points on 17 goals.

Rachel Dyck has seen the majority of time between the pipes for the Bisons, posting a 16-4-1 record. Dyck has a 1.70 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage as well.

Regina travelled to Manitoba last season for the conference quarterfinal, and ended up with a sweep over the Bisons, winning 2-0 and 3-1.

The Cougars and Bisons will square off on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. if a Game 3 is necessary.