Canada West Playoffs Start Today at UVic: Vikes v Alberta and UBC v Lethbridge
The CanWest championships take place this week, Thursday and Sunday, with the top two teams going to the national finals in Guelph in two weeks time. The winners from today’s matches will qualify and also meet on Sunday to determine final ranking. The UVic and UBC rosters for today are listed below, also the CanWest media release with more information and streaming information.
UVic Vikes
1 Kira Smed
2 Kendra Cousineau
3 Sasha McKee
4 Celia Probe
5 Piper Walsh
6 Ivy Poetker
7 Emily Findlay
8 Larah Wright
9 Macy Wiebe
10 Elle Douglas
11 Cypress Des Ormeaux Schmidt
12 Maggie MacKinnon
13 Maddy Grant
14 ShonDreya Smardon
15 Olivia Newsome
16 Remee Brown
17 Hana Veysi
18 Samara Sadden
19 Emma Grootendorst
20 Emilie Nicholl
21 Akwaima Akpan
22 Kyla Warren
23 Emilie Sinclair
24 Emilie Brett
25 Marin O’Regan
UBC
1 Maya Nowotny
2 Abi Stanley
3 Angel Boswell
4 Poppy-Anne Elcock
5 Anya Prokopich
6 Mya Koleba
7 Anna Plate
8 Sierra Hasse
9 Sara Tehrani
10 Lana Dueck
11 Jaime Dickson
12 Shalaya Valenzuela
13 Adia Pye
14 Teniola Epemolu
15 Sarah MacPherson
16 Chenuki De Zoysa
17 Savannah Pelletier
18 Alli Dobson
19 Caitlin Pearce
20 Ella Kirk
21 Jesse Knaggs
22 Lanae Davenport
23 Gerry Atkins
24 Ayva Kennedy
25 Saylor Pickrell
from CanWest
For the first time in more than a decade, the Canada West Rugby 15s Championships are heading outside Alberta, with a new conference champion set to be crowned on Vancouver Island.
The University of Victoria Vikes will host the 2026 Final Four at Wallace Field, with semifinal action getting underway Thursday afternoon.
This year’s semifinal matchups once again pit the conference’s west coast powers against scrappy prairie sides eager to pull off an upset.
First up, the second-seeded Lethbridge Pronghorns take on the third-seeded UBC Thunderbirds at 1 p.m. PDT. That game will be followed by the top-seeded host Victoria Vikes battling the fourth-seeded Alberta Pandas at 3 p.m. PDT.
Championship Sunday will feature the Bronze Medal Game at 11 a.m. PDT, followed by the Gold Medal Final at 1:30 p.m.
All games will be available to stream on Canada West TV – Powered by BioSteel. Fans can purchase a Championship Package with access to all games for $19.99, or can purchase each game individually for $12.99.
Fans looking for ticket, venue and additional information are encouraged to visit the Win The West homepage for more details.
Semifinal #1: No. 2 Lethbridge Pronghorns (4-2) vs No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds (3-2)
Thursday, Oct. 22 – 1 p.m. PDT
Quick Overview: The defending national champion Thunderbirds are chasing a return to the Canada West final after seeing their five-year conference title streak snapped last season. Standing in their way are a speedy Pronghorns squad that finished the regular season 4-2 and has found its stride down the stretch, winning their final two games while scoring over 30 points in each.
Key Players: UBC fly half Sarah MacPherson led the conference with 45 points, including four tries, while Teniola Epemolu paced the Thunderbirds with five tries. Lethbridge counters with fourth-year fullback Zina Umeh, whose six tries led the conference, including five across the Pronghorns’ final two games. Jayda Morrison added at least one convert in all six regular-season contests.
Head-to-Head: UBC dominated the teams’ lone regular-season meeting, earning a 51-7 win in Lethbridge. The Thunderbirds built a 34-0 halftime lead, with Sierra Hasse and MacPherson each scoring twice.
Semifinal #2: No. 1 Victoria Vikes (5-0) vs No. 4 Alberta Pandas (1-5)
Thursday, Oct. 22 – 3 p.m. MDT
Quick Overview: The defending conference champion Vikes enter championship weekend as the top seed after a perfect 5-0 regular season, while Alberta faces an uphill battle against a Victoria offence that has scored more than 60 points three times this season, including a 60-14 win over the Pandas on Oct. 1.
Key Players: Victoria’s Maggie Mackinnon leads the team with 41 points, including 14 converts and two tries, while Olivia Newsome tops the Vikes with five tries. Maddy Grant, Piper Walsh and Kendra Cousineau have added four tries apiece. For Alberta, Kate Alcock leads the way with 35 points, including 12 converts, while Mayeling Henry Rodriguez (five tries) and Kaitlin Tetteh-Wayoe (four) headline the Pandas’ attack.
Medal Game Schedule
Bronze Medal Game: Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2
Sunday, Oct. 25 – 11 a.m. PDT
Gold Medal Game: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2
Sunday, Oct. 25 – 1:30 p.m. PDT
Regular Season Standings
| Team | GP | W-L | PTS | BONUS PTS | PCT |
| Victoria | 5 | 5-0 | 25 | 5 | 1 |
| Lethbridge | 6 | 4-2 | 20 | 4 | 0.667 |
| UBC | 5 | 3-2 | 16 | 4 | 0.64 |
| Alberta | 6 | 1-5 | 8 | 4 | 0.267 |
| Calgary | 6 | 1-5 | 4 | 0 | 0.133 |