Currie makes history as first Griffins WHKY player to win Canada West BioSteel Player of the Week
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After a 28-save shutout in last Friday's 1-0 overtime win over Calgary, Griffins goaltender Taya Currie was named the Canada West BioSteel women's hockey player of the week on Tuesday.
It's the first time a Griffins women's hockey player has achieved the honour since the program joined Canada West in 2021.
"I think it's indicative of the growth we're going through right now," said Griffins head coach Chris Leeming of the historic honour for the team. "Taya was definitely a big addition to the program this season. She's somebody who's really devoted to her craft. She's very perceptive and analytical and makes her team better every day, while striving to grow herself.
"I'm really proud of her and I think it's awesome she was able to get that recognition for all the things that a lot of people don't see that she does."
Currie made several tough saves in Friday's contest, including refusing to allow a goal on a late third period Griffins' penalty kill, getting the team into overtime. MacEwan got an early powerplay in OT and Sydney Olsen delivered victory with her 4-on-3 point blast.
"Going into that overtime, we felt confident because of the way she was playing," said Leeming of Currie. "Even though it was 0-0, on the bench and in the room, I didn't feel like there was any panic. There was just so much confidence in her. That's been a huge boost to our team to have somebody that can do that for us consistently. It's been happening from both of our goalies who have played so far."
Both Currie (2.35 GAA, .925 save percentage) and Lindsey Johnson (2.23 and .929) have provided excellent goaltending for the Griffins in 2025-26.
But for Week 5 of the Canada West women's hockey season, it was Currie's play that was the difference in the Griffins' second win of the season as they were outshot 28-19 by the Dinos but still picked up the two points.
"Just watching her play, her body language was on point, she looked really confident, poised and never looked like she got rattled at all," said Leeming. "It was pretty fun to watch and a fun game to coach, overall."
Currie's Canada West player of the week honour is the fourth of the 2025-26 season for Griffins Athletics, following Raeghan McCarthy and Grace Mwasalla in women's soccer and Dwayne Jean Jr. in men's hockey.
