Brandy West-McMaster is ready to take on Canada West Women’s Hockey
It is the start of the USports hockey season and this time around, the Women’s Cougars officially have a new bench boss. Brandy West-McMaster, a former Cougars athlete, has officially been named head coach and is excited to help grow the program she played in.
A history with the Cougars
West-McMaster explains that when she attended the University of Regina (UofR) for her education degree, the women’s hockey program was not yet a part of the USports programming, but was only a club sport through the UofR. It was not until the 1997-98 season that it became a part of USports. McMaster has been able to see women’s hockey grow through both the lens of a player and, now, of a coach.
Last season, West-McMaster was the interim coach for the Cougars and was nominated for Coach of the Year through the university. She said it was an honour, as the nominees are sent in from other coaches at the Canada West conference. Although she did not take the award home, she said she felt reassured that she was taking the program in the right direction.
Everyone’s got to keep the accountability within the team and model the behaviors that we want, to both choose greatness and to be great team players.” -Brandy West-McMaster
A dedication to rightly steer the program
West-McMaster indeed steered the team the right way. She brought them to playoff contention with a third place divisional finish. The previous two seasons, the team finished ninth and eighth place respectively. West-McMaster and the team sat down at the start of last season and decided on a goal: make the playoffs. After meeting this goal, they decided on another: go further in the playoffs.
Many players had never experienced USports playoffs in their career. Now, after last season, the majority have at least one playoff game under their belts. This experience will be invaluable to the team come February.
The future looks promising
The team this season has a large number of veteran (vet) players, including some new senior players with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 experience and another with international experience. West-McMaster is excited for what the vet players can bring to the ice this season.
“We’ve had lots of conversations with all of the players, not only the older and graduating players, about kind of stepping in and knowing who you are and the impact that you have,” said West-McMaster. “Everyone’s got to keep the accountability within the team and model the behaviors that we want, to both choose greatness and to be great team players.”
West-McMaster and the team sat down at the start of last season and decided on a goal: make the playoffs.”
New plates to hit the ice
When asked about the new players hitting the ice for the Cougars, West-McMaster was praising the athletes for their academic prowess. “They’re really, really smart. We actually have one that’s coming in as a UR scholar so when I say smart, I’m not kidding. Another came in with a 97 per cent average coming into university.”
The Cougars pre-season started on Sept. 6, and they finished it with two losses and three wins. Coach West-McMaster said she had jitters about going into the regular season the weekend of Oct. 3. “I mean, pre-season is pre-season and regular season is regular season. The girls are super excited to get going, and they’ve put a lot of work and a lot of time in.”
Season so far
The Cougars split their season opener weekend against the Calgary Dinos, losing Friday night’s game 0-1 and winning Saturday’s game 3-0. Freshman goalie, Amy Swayze, had her first career USports shutout in the second game of her USports career. Freshman Callie Hilhorst had an assist on the opening goal. The following weekend, the Cougars lost in a shootout 4-3 and won their Saturday game 3-2. Although it might not be the hot start they wanted, West-McMaster is ready to use every game as more experience.
“I tell the girls that they need to take risks and sometimes fail to learn. Sometimes, we need to take some risks to give ourselves the best opportunity to compete and sometimes the risks pay off, and sometimes they don’t, but we learn from them, and we learn how to be in those stressful situations that have uncertainty and we can only control what we can control.”
