VANCOUVER – The 2017 U SPORTS women's field hockey championships will see a much different format from previous years when the two best teams in the nation square off in November. In previous years the U SPORTS champion has been crowned through a four-team tournament, which was originally planned for 2017 at UBC. Now, U SPORTS has announced the new format will feature a best two-out-of-three series between the champions of the Canada West and OUA conferences.



The series will be played at the home field of the Canada West champion. This means UBC is not guaranteed to host the U SPORTS championships in 2017, but will instead have to battle their conference rivals UVic Vikes and Calgary Dinos for the right to host.
 
The six-time defending national champions UBC Thunderbirds begin their Canada West season on September 16th in Victoria versus Vikes.