EDMONTON – A new chapter in Canada West history opens this weekend, as the conference's inaugural women's rugby sevens tournament hits the turf Saturday and Sunday under the University of Alberta's new air-supported dome at Foote Field.

Announced in November 2016, the Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series is a partnership between the conference, B2ten and Rugby Canada, and is aimed at providing Canadian female student-athletes the opportunity to pursue the game of rugby sevens at home.

"The launch of the Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series is a fantastic initiative that will see tremendous growth of female sevens players," Rugby Canada CEO Allen Vansen said back in November. "The competition will provide a new pathway to our national sevens programs and will act as a great development tool for players."

Thanks to the partnership, scholarship opportunities for players at all competing institutions will be available over the course of the three-year pilot project, which will feature teams from the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, University of the Fraser Valley, University of Lethbridge, and University of Victoria. 

Led by U SPORTS player of the year DaLeaka Menin, the Dinos, who captured their first-ever Canada West title in traditional rugby 15s last fall en route to a national bronze medal, are the top seed heading into the first competition this weekend in Edmonton.

A total of 18 games will be played over this weekend's two-day tournament, as the conference's newest sport begins less than a year after the Canadian women's sevens team captured bronze at the Rio Olympics.

"This initiative builds a pathway to the sevens national team while offering student-athletes the opportunity to pursue their university studies in Canada," B2ten's Dominick Gauthier said at the time of the series announcement. "We are pleased to join Rugby Canada, the participating universities and Canada West in support of women's rugby sevens, a sport we believe Canada is well suited to challenge for gold in at the Olympic Games."

For Alberta head coach Matt Parrish, who has led the Pandas 15s program for the past 13 seasons, the new Canada West series is a showcase for the sport. The veteran coach hopes it's the start of something bigger across the country.

"It's been a struggle for a while to fundraise and find funds for an event like this, so the timing from B2ten when they approached us last year was awesome," said Parrish, who coached Canada's women's sevens team at the 2013 Summer Universiade.

"B2ten was clever in coming to Canada West first, because I think this conference is the most developed in the sport, and we will have really good competition. I hope after the three-year period we have this event, that they will look to spread this event out to other conference's and U SPORTS (as a whole)."

For a complete look at this weekend's tournament schedule, please click here.

About the Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series:
2017 marks the first season of the Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series, which has been made possible thanks to Canada West's partnership with B2ten and Rugby Canada. Through their joint support, which will include scholarship opportunities for players at all six competing institutions, B2ten and Rugby Canada are committed to helping Canadian female athletes pursue their athletic careers, including an opportunity to progress to the national team.

The inaugural Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series champion will be crowned Feb. 19 at the University of Victoria, as determined by cumulative series points.

2017 Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series
University of Alberta (Jan. 21-22)
University of British Columbia (Feb. 4- 5)
University of Victoria (Feb. 18-19)

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