CW Coaches Poll: Griffins voted ninth ahead of Friday's season opener
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The MacEwan Griffins will begin the 2023-24 Canada West women's hockey season on Friday night in Calgary (7 p.m.), looking to make the playoffs for the first time in program history.
The quest will also continue with their home opener on Saturday (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
SEE THE GRIFFINS' FULL SCHEDULE HERE
Canada West unveiled its 2023-24 Coaches' Poll on Wednesday and the Griffins were voted to finish ninth out of nine teams, garnering 20 points in the poll. UBC (72), Mount Royal (60) and Alberta (59) topped the poll.
The Canada West regular season runs through Feb. 10 with the top six teams qualifying for playoffs and attempting to make the U SPORTS national championship March 14-17 in Saskatoon, Sask.
2023-24 CW WHKY PRE-SEASON COACHES POLL
Team - Points (First-place votes)
- UBC Thunderbirds - 72 (8)
- Mount Royal Cougars - 60
- Alberta Pandas - 59 (1)
- Saskatchewan Huskies - 49
- Calgary Dinos- 47
- Manitoba Bisons - 39
- Trinity Western Spartans - 27
- Regina Cougars - 22
- MacEwan Griffins - 20
WOMEN'S HOCKEY ON CANADA WEST TV
Fans can catch all the action through the new look CanadaWest.TV, which now allows fans to watch games on popular Connected TV apps like Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV.
GRIFFINS' SEASON PREVIEW
Key Performer: G Brianna Sank (Fourth Year, Ardrossan, AB)
2022-23 Stats: 6W, 2.66 GAA, .913 SV%, 1377:04 minutes, 641 saves
No goaltender in MacEwan program history has more saves in a season than Brianna Sank had in 2022-23 as her 641 total was the second-most in Canada West. That speaks to how important she was to the Griffins' efforts and will be again as the team enters its third season in the conference, aiming to take the next step towards earning a playoff spot. Sank also set a program standard for minutes played in a season in 2022-23 (1,377:04) and will again be relied upon heavily to give the Griffins a chance to win.
From the Coach: "Settling into the league the past few years has given perspective on what it takes to compete at this level. Continuing to grow our level of competitiveness weekly and the execution of our style of play will allow us to leverage our strengths to begin finding more opportunities to be successful as a team," -Chris Leeming
