Flashback Friday - “West is the Best”

Cougar hockey star rips up CIAU women’s league

By Darren Steinke
Special to CIAU.ca

Brandy West in action for the Cougars in the 2000-01 campaign.

    (*Note – This piece originally ran on the CIAU.ca website on January 4, 2001. Unfortunately in Canadian sports, pieces like this usually get lost for the ages. I rediscovered this piece and decided to run it as a flashback post, so it could see the light of day once again.*)

    In CIAU women’s hockey, there are players, there are stars, there are superstars and then there is Brandy West.

    West is the undeniable premier player in the CIAU. In her first two years with the Cougars, she has been a CWUAA first team all-star twice, the CWUAA rookie-of-the-year in 1999, the CWUAA player-of-the-year twice and a CIAU all-Canadian twice.

    Over her first two seasons, this third-year forward has scored 63 goals and recorded 47 assists for 110 points in 50 games. Up to the Christmas break of this season, West has averaged 2.17 points per game in regular season play. She is arguably the greatest female athlete in the history of all University of Regina Cougars programs.

    “She probably works as hard as anybody on the ice and off the ice as well,” says head coach Sarah Howald. “She is the first one in the gym in the summer and the last one out as well.

    “She has got the goal scoring tough that not very many people are blessed with.”
    West, who hails from Langbank, Saskatchewan, started playing hockey with the boy’s team in Kennedy, Saskatchewan at age seven. She joined the team after spending a year watching a friend play.

Brandy West was the CIAU player-of-the-year in 2000-01.

    Even though she played on a boy’s team, West says she was treated like any other play. The sport was a way of life in her home-town area.

    “It was what you did after school,” she says. “You went outside and played shinny out in the dugout.

    “That is what you did in the winter.”

    After growing up playing hockey, West decided to attend the University of Regina to get her education degree. Since the sport of women’s hockey was growing, the U of R did not have a team in CIAU women’s hockey during her first year. She spent that season playing on a women’s club team.

    When the University of Regina established a Cougars Women’s Hockey Team in her second year, West decided to tryout. She did not realize what she was about to accomplish.

    “It was unexpected,” says West, who is the Cougars team captain. “I came out and tried my hardest.

    “I started out with some good players and put some in.”
    The move also brought Howald into West’s life. Aside from her grandfather John Cancade, West says the biggest influence in her hockey career has been Howald.

    “She has given me new things to try,” says West.
    This five-foot-six forward’s efforts on and off the ice have been appreciated by her teammates. They see her as the team’s leader.

Brandy West, right, takes part in a ceremonial faceoff in February of 2001.

    “She always puts the team before herself,” says teammate Tanya Hutcheon. “She is an open ear. You can always talk to her.”

    Guen Kernaleguen, who plays defence for the Cougars, says West is usually cheerful and good-natured.

    “I think she is definitely a role model for a lot of female athletes,” says Kernaleguen. “She brings spectators, and she brings other female athletes out.”

    Despite her individual success and the success of the Cougars, West has obtained her accomplishments in relative obscurity compared to the other Cougars women’s programs. The U of R’s traditionally strong and established women’s basketball program often overshadows West and her team. It is a situation that does not bother West.
    “This whole thing is real new for me, so any recognition at all is kind of like an honour,” says West. “You see the basketball team, and they are winning all the time.

    “Those are the teams that are going to get the recognition.”

    However, West’s Cougars are on a path to establish a tradition of excellence that will match their basketball counterparts. After the Cougars Women’s Hockey Team completed their first season with a 7-19 overall record, the U of R met the heavily favoured University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the Canada West quarter-final in the 1999 playoffs.

Brandy West, left, and the Cougars are all smiles after a goal in 2000-01.

    West scored four goals as the Cougars eliminated the Huskies with a 5-3 victory. She regards that game as the most memorable moment of her hockey career.
    After losing in the 1999 Canada West semifinal 4-1 to the University of Alberta Pandas, the Cougars moved on to post an impressive 18-4-2 overall record last season. This success did not translate into playoff success.

    The Cougars finished fourth in the 2000 Canada West Championship tournament after suffering one-goal losses to the University of Calgary Dinosaurs and the University of Manitoba Bisons.

    West believes this is the year the Cougars can make a long playoff run.

    “This year we are going to be close,” says West. “We are going to come a long way this year.”

Besides hoping to help the Cougars obtain their playoff goals, West also has a dream of playing hockey after university.

    “I’d like to go all the way to the Olympic team,” says West. “I will keep trying as long as I can.”

Howald sees this type of potential in West.

    “I don’t think it is out of reach for her,” says Howald. “I think she has a shot at national team at some point.”

    Until that time, the Cougars look forward to having West as a key part of their team. They are also glad she still has two years of eligibility remaining after this year.

    “I think when she is gone it will be a big loss for our team,” says Hutcheon. “It will be a big letdown when she leaves the rink.”

The Cougars are 2001 CWUAA champs. (Photo from Erin Balfour-Marshall)

    (*Epilogue – West was named the CIAU player-of-the-year for her exploits in the 2000-01 campaign. West topped the Cougars in regular season scoring with 22 goals and 15 assists for 37 points powering the Cougars to a first place finish in Canada West with a 13-1 record. In February of 2001, West led the Cougars to their only Canada West title to date. They swept the Pandas in the best-of-three Canada West Championship series 2-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Regina. West helped the Cougars advance to the CIAU championship in Late February of 2001 in Calgary, where they fell 4-3 to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. West’s jersey from the 2000-01 campaign sits in the Hockey Hall of Fame.*)

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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