Bears and Pandas back in business for November home openers

Fall is officially here with the leaves, and winter is upon us. That means another round of sports is starting up here on campus.

The Bears and Pandas soccer teams, Pandas rugby, and Bears football are all wrapping up their seasons. Now, there are three new sports to watch and love. Six teams return to Silent Ice Arena and the Saville Community Sports Centre for their home openers.

Bears and Pandas start their seasons at Silent Ice Arena

On October 16 and 17, our UAlberta hockey teams started their conference games in Nisku at Silent Ice Arena. Both teams faced the MacEwan University Griffins twice, once at Silent Ice in Nisku and once as the visitor across the river at the Downtown Community Arena.

The Pandas hockey roster introduces six new first-year players to their forward and defence lines. The roster also welcomes four transfers to the team: Kiera Mulder (Red Deer Polytechnic), Daniella Martorana (Merrimack College, NCAA), Jaylah Bottle (University of Ottawa), and Scarlett Jones (University of Toronto). The rookies are finding their place as, during their home opener, Martorana (one assist) and Cassia Severin (one goal) both found themselves on the scoresheet. The Pandas as a whole are starting to find their bearings as they win one, lose one against the Griffins. 

The Golden Bears hockey team also has a fresh roster of faces this season. 10 first-years join the den along with eight transfers. Kyle Masters (Wichita Thunder, AHL), Aidyn Hutchinson (Northern Michigan University, NCAA), Dylan Handel (Concordia University of Edmonton), Ryder Matter (Michigan Tech, NCAA), Aiden Yakimchuk (Lindenwood University, NCAA), Beckett Langkow (Ontario Tech University), Caelum Dick (University of Alaska Fairbanks, NCAA), and Dwayne Jean Jr. from MacEwan University.

Last season, U Sports changed its guidelines on how student-athletes can transfer to the NCAA and vice versa. Players can now transfer without having to sit out for 365 days if they were a non-graduating student. These changes meant that we lost 13 players from the 2024-25 season to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), but now we are seeing a greater exchange as NCAA players are transferring to play for the Bears.

The home opener weekend finished with the Pandas winning 3-1 and then losing 2-1 in overtime as visitors downtown. The Bears won both games, with a 3-1 win downtown against the Griffins. Then they hosted the Griffins in an exciting 2-1 win in overtime with the home crowd.

With 12 Pandas home games and 14 Bears home games to go, there will be plenty of action to watch. This season on the ice, the rookies join the seasoned players against promising Canada West competition.

Coming out of the preseason, volleyball is back in action for the 2026-27 season

Volleyball’s first night back at Saville Community Sports Centre will be November 6 against the Trinity Western Spartans. The Golden Bears will play at 7:45 p.m. after the Pandas at 6:00 p.m.

Entering the conference season, the Pandas volleyball team is ranked first overall in U Sports. They participated in the University of Toronto’s exhibition tournament, winning all their games. Returning players Laila Johnson, Ronnie Dickson, Allie Moore, Sara Gray, Mackenize Pool, Misha Hameed and Sophia Magus are seen as leaders with their contributions to UAlberta’s wins. The Pandas welcomed four rookies this season, along with transfer Selima Guidara from McGill University.

The Pandas have been and continue to be a force to be reckoned with across Canada. Last season, they ranked first all season with only two losses in 31 total games. They also won the Canada West title and won the national title, their eighth trophy in program history. 

The Golden Bears volleyball team has promising results from their preseason games. At the FOG Classic in September, hosted at Saville Centre, the Bears won five of six games. They lost to Mount Royal but beat NAIT, MacEwan, Red Deer Polytechnic, and the Université de Montréal. In the tournament hosted by Mount Royal University, they swept with three wins against Queen’s, Université Laval and the University of Waterloo.

Newcomers Louis Charbonneau and Tyson DeZutter lead the team in kills going into the regular season. Marek Edwards and Luke Weddell lead in digs in the preseason. Weddell is also at the top of assists with 50 in his seven games played. Owen Harris leads the team in blocks, followed by Jonah Karsten. Charbonneau and DeZutter join the team as two of the four first-years. From NAIT, Ben Weiss joins the team, along with Karsten from MacEwan. 

Alberta basketball returns at home against Trinity Western

Basketball follows volleyball back to Saville Centre starting November 13, where they will play the Trinity Western Spartans. The Pandas start at 6:00 p.m., with the Bears starting after at 7:45 p.m. in their home openers.

Pandas basketball adds two transfers to their roster. Chloe Sutherland and Kate White join the team from Concordia University of Edmonton and Wilfrid Laurier University, respectively. Four rookies enter the roster as well. The Pandas crushed the Thompson Rivers tournament, with three wins against the host, the University of Fraser Valley and the University of British Columbia-Okanagan. In the statistics books, from the tournament plus a win against the University of Northern British Columbia, returning players Mishynn Miller, Annacy Palmer, Reece Hall and the two transfers have already racked up over 20 points each. 

The Golden Bears basketball team starts their regular season with lots of practice under their belts. They attended the Victoria Vikes Invitational, with three close losses to end September. In October, they won two out of three at the Ron and Jane Graham Shootout hosted by the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. At their own invitational at Saville Centre, they went two for two. They beat both the University of the Fraser Valley and the University of Northern British Columbia.

Eli Johnson and Jack Snead join the team as rookies, and Izzy Helman (Camosun College) and Darren Hunter (UNBC) join the squad as transfers. Helman has found his place on the team with 139 points in the preseason. These impressive points are followed by returning players Caiden Kushnir, Nash Semeniuk, Matthew Osunde and Kyle Varner adding 110, 76, 68, and 60 points in the eight games these five players have played.

How to get in on the action

For the hockey teams in Nisku, the best way to get there is by driving. There is no public transit that will allow you to get back into the city without having to wait until Monday morning. But don’t worry! All the games, both home and away, are on CanadaWest.tv, meaning you can watch at home.

For the volleyball and basketball games, all games are at Saville Community Sports Centre in the Competition Gym. From North Campus, hop on the LRT to the South Campus/Fort Edmonton stop to get to the facility.

All Golden Bears and Pandas conference games are free for students if you have redeemed them online at BetheRoar.ca. Just like the hockey games, both volleyball and basketball games are also livestreamed. The roar of the crowd and the atmosphere of the games are something you don’t want to miss out on with the A-Team’s activities, as well as sightings of your mascots GUBA and Patches. To see the schedules of when to cheer on your favourite teams and athletes, take a look at the bearsandpandas.ca website to learn more.

These three sports start now, go until the end of November before the exam break and then start up again in January. The start of the playoffs is generally in the middle of February, with the Canada West finals in early March.