Bison women on a roll

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This article was published 31/01/2024 (857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team is on a roll and has a red-hot goaltender to thank for some of that success.

Second-year puckstopper Emily Shippam led the Bisons to three consecutive wins — a 1-0 road win over the Calgary Dinos on Jan. 20 and a pair of victories over the visiting Trinity Western Spartans, 2-1 and 1-0, last weekend — to seize control of the sixth and final playoff berth in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association with four regular-season games remaining.

In all, Shippam stopped 72 of 73 shots in three games.

“It starts with the team,” said the 20-year-old St. Mary’s Academy product, following practice at Wayne Fleming Arena on Wednesday morning. “You’re getting closer to playoffs and everyone knows it’s crunch time and you kind of gotta get going. So, right here, everyone stays out late after practice, practising their shots and we’ve got girls staying out every second day practising their shot blocks.

“I think (Tuesday) (interim head coach) Jordy (Zacharias) said we had 20-something shot blocks (last weekend), so you can’t give me so much credit. If that many pucks get through, the game probably doesn’t turn out the same.”

Manitoba, 9-15 in conference play, snapped a seven-game losing streak with the win in Calgary. The Bisons are now in position to lock up their first trip to the post-season since 2021-22 by sweeping the last-place MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton on Friday and Saturday.

Shippam, who shares Manitoba’s goaltending duties with a pair of third-year players, Meagan Relf and Kimberley Davidson, will get the start again Friday.

“Having that confidence definitely helps, especially at the goalie position,” said Shippam. “It’s super mental. So as much as you can prepare yourself physically, it’s also important to go in there knowing you can win games and knowing you have trust in your teammates and that when you need to, you can make big plays.”

The Bisons are beginning to expect Shippam to rise to the occasion.

“You’re getting closer to playoffs and everyone knows it’s crunch time and you kind of gotta get going”–Emily Shippam

“There have been a couple of times where we make errors — we give up a breakaway early in the game or we take a penalty early in the game — where she’s come up big with that first save and it just shifts the momentum of the game for us,” said Zacharias. “And now we’re seeing that the pieces are starting to come together, where they’re obviously confident in their goaltender and she’s confident in the rest of us, too.”

The Bisons are proving to be a resilient bunch, having to adjust to a coaching change in mid-October, when veteran bench boss Jon Rempel went on sick leave. Gene Muller, the school’s director of athletics and recreation, quickly appointed Zacharias, an assistant coach on Rempel’s staff, to the top job.

In addition, recently former U of M men’s coach Mike Sirant was lured out of retirement to serve as Zacharias’s assistant.

“It’s going better and Mike and I have kind of gotten into a rhythm of what we want to do,” said Zacharias, a former U of M player who, at 26, is the youngest head coach in the conference.

Zacharias plotted changes to the team’s practice routine and made other tweaks in areas such as special teams. The results have been encouraging.

“Ultimately, it’s been good for us just in terms of overcoming adversity as a group, making sure we’re all on the same page,” said Shippam. “I think when Jordy took over the team and Mike came in to help her that was kind of best-case scenario for us. I think everyone bought in right away. It was never a question of whether or not we’d be in a good position for the year. I think everyone knew that we had the staff in place that would be there to help us.”

“I think when Jordy took over the team and Mike came in to help her that was kind of best-case scenario for us. I think everyone bought in right away”–Emily Shippam

The future of the program beyond the 2023-24 season and the likelihood of Rempel’s return is unknown. Would Zacharias be a contender should the job be open next season?

“If the opportunity presented itself I definitely would (be interested),” said Zacharias, who was working as a U of M student recruitment officer and enrolled in the first year of a masters program when she was appointed head coach. “I definitely see this as somewhat of a career more than I had in the past. But I don’t really know anything more.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca