Huskies too tough for T-Birds

The Huskies and Thunderbirds engaged in a battle on Saturday night.

    If anyone doubted the physical and mental toughness of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, those doubts were buried under the falling rust of the ancient Rutherford Rink on Saturday night.

    The Huskies engaged the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, in a classic physical playoff style game, where you almost forgot that bodychecking is against the rules in women’s hockey. The two sides battled to a 1-1 tie after regulation and remained deadlocked after two five-minute overtime periods.

    In a tiebreaking shootout, Huskies captain Kaitlin Willoughby scored the only goal to give the Huskies a 1-0 win in the draw breaking session and a 2-1 victory in the U Sports regular season contest. The Huskies blanked the Thunderbirds 2-0 on Friday night, so it was expected the UBC squad would come with a serious push back.

The Huskies and Thunderbirds engaged in a lot of scrums on Saturday.

    The Huskies handled that push back on all fronts and claimed all four head-to-head regular season meetings with the Thunderbirds in the current campaign.

    Games between the Huskies and Thunderbirds had always been pretty heated, as the two sides have developed a pretty hot rivalry. Fifth-year Huskies centre Kennedy Harris said her side was pretty pumped to sweep all four games in the season series.

    “It is unreal,” said Harris. “We’ve beat them all four games this year, so it is pretty special.

    “We have something special in that dressing room. It is definitely exciting, and we can just build on that.”

    Saturday’s encounter began with a little gamesmanship with the Thunderbirds stepping on the ice after the Huskies and skating by their pre-game huddle. Usually, the visiting team steps on the ice first at Rutherford.
    The physical aspect took shape early when about a minute into the game Thunderbirds centre Mathea Fischer nailed Willoughby with a hip check.

The Huskies and Thunderbirds battle along the boards.

    The Huskies star winger was run later in the opening frame by Thunderbirds right-winger Cassandra Vilgrain.

    The Huskies came with the physical play too in the opening 20 minutes as fifth-year defender Kira Bannatyne nailed Thunderbirds left-winger Emily Costales.

    Both teams ended up with seven power play chances in the contest. There were spots where it appeared the officiating crew was overwhelmed by the intensity of the contest.

    “This group in here we were able to motivate ourselves and get back up and just be the bigger team there I guess,” said Harris.

A Huskies forward gets roughed up by a Thunderbirds player.

    The Thunderbirds took a 1-0 lead with three minutes to play in the second, when right-winger Hannah Clayton-Carroll fed a nice setup pass to centre Logan Boyd who potted her sixth goal of the season.

    As 48 of the 96 regular season games in the Canada West Conference for women’s hockey have ended in shutouts this season, it seemed like Boyd’s tally could be the different in Saturday’s clash.

    The Huskies weren’t deterred by the deficit.
    They came out hard in the third period and outshot the Thunderbirds 12-5 in the frame.
    With 7:25 to play in the third and working on the power play, Harris spotted a loose puck at the right side of the UBC goal and knocked home her second of the season to force a 1-1 tie.

    “I don’t think the goalie had a clue where it was, so it was nice to sneak one in there,” said Harris. “We needed it at that moment. It was good.”

Morgan Willoughby was a force in the physical game.

    Before the third period ended, Huskies defender Morgan Willoughby, who is Kaitlin’s younger sister, threw arguably the hit of the night, when she sent Clayton-Carroll flying through the air with a hip check.

    In the first overtime period, it appeared the Huskies would be in trouble when third year defender Leah Bohlken was given a bodychecking penalty.
    The hosts killed off the infraction and controlled the two extra sessions from there.

    “It is always tough coming off a penalty, but our PK has been so good all year,” said Harris. “It obviously motivates you to just push a little harder back.

    “It is obviously tough getting it early in the period, but we definitely handled it pretty well I think.”

    Jessica Vance turned away 21 shots over 70 minutes and all three shooters she faced in the shootout to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies.

Kennedy Harris netted the equalizer for the Huskies.

    Amelia Boughn turned away 39 shots over 70 minutes and two of three shooters she faced in the shootout to take the setback in goal for the Thunderbirds.

    With the win, the Huskies (16-7-1) move into a tie with the Thunderbirds (16-5-3) for third place in the Canada West standings with 48 points.
    The Huskies earned their 48 points from 15 regulation victories, an extra time win and an extra time loss.
    The Thunderbirds have their 48 points from 13 regulation victories, three extra time victories and three extra time losses.

    In Canada West women’s hockey, teams earn three points in the standings for regulation wins, two points for extra time wins and one point for an extra time loss.

Kaitlin Willoughby finished the night with a signature goal celebration.

    Both the Huskies and Thunderbirds trail the defending U Sports national champion University of Alberta Pandas (17-5-3) by two points for second place.

    The Pandas, who sit first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, have 50 points in the standings coming on 13 regulation wins, four extra time wins and three extra time losses.

    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday when they host the Pandas at 7 p.m. at the ancient Rutherford Rink.
    Before focusing on the Pandas, Harris said her team was going to take time to enjoy what the accomplished against the Thunderbirds.

    “We can definitely take the chance to celebrate this one,” said Harris. “It is exciting.

    “We will just build and take that into next weekend and into practices this week.”

Dogs drop 3-1 heartbreaker in Vancouver

MacKenzie Johnston scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team’s hope of capturing first in the Canada West Conference for a third straight year took a hit on Saturday night.

    Taking on the host University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, the Huskies saw a 1-0 first period lead fade away into a 3-1 setback in a U Sports regular season match.

    Defenceman MacKenzie Johnston scored to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead at the 8:05 mark of the first period with right-winger Josh Roach and centre Logan McVeigh picking up assists. From that point, the Thunderbirds went on to gut out a sixth straight victory.

    Thunderbirds rearguard Riley Guenther netted the equalizer at the 2:30 mark of the second period to force a 1-1 tie. Defenceman Jerret Smith potted a single to put the Thunderbirds up 2-1 at the 3:24 mark of the third. Forward Chase Clayton sealed the 3-1 victory UBC with an empty-net tally inside of the final five seconds of the third.

    Jordon Cooke turned away 27-of-29 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Rylan Toth stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds.

    The Thunderbirds improved to 14-9-1 to sit fourth in Canada West.

    The Huskies fell to 18-5-1 to sit second in Canada West four points behind the first place U of Alberta Golden Bears (20-3-1). The Huskies are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, while the Golden Bears are rated fourth.

    The Golden Bears can’t finish any lower than second in Canada West, and due to that fact, they have a bye locked up into a best-of-three semifinal series in the Canada West playoffs.

    Both the Huskies and Golden Bears have four games remaining on their respective regular season schedules. They meet head-to-head this coming Friday and Saturday in Edmonton.

Shmyr nets 100^th goal in Blades shootout win

Braylon Shmyr scored his 100th career goal on Saturday.

    Overage left-winger Braylon Shmyr netted a big milestone in a barnburner of a win for the Saskatoon Blades.

    Shmyr had a goal and an assist to help power the Blades to a 4-3 victory after a tiebreaking shootout over the Prince George Cougars in a WHL regular season clash on Saturday night before 3,817 spectators at the SaskTel Centre. Shmyr’s tally was his 100th career regular season goal dating back to his time with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

    With the Cougars leading 3-2 late in the third period, Shmyr assisted on Max Gerlach’s goal that tied the game up at 3-3 with under 40 seconds to play in the third. Gerlach’s goal came about 16 seconds after Blades feisty forward Caleb Fantillo had his potential game-tying goal wiped out after a video review that ruled he scored by knocking the puck in with a high stick.

    Saskatoon claimed the tiebreaking shootout 2-1 after it went six rounds. Kirby Dach and Josh Paterson scored for the Blades, while Ilijah Colina tallied for the Cougars.

    During regulation time, Paterson had the Blades first goal, while Joel Lakusta, Colina and Ryan Schoettler replied with singles for the Cougars.

    Tyler Brown turned away 36 shots and five-of-six shooters in the shootout to pick up his first win in goal for the Blades after being acquired before the WHL’s trade deadline on Jan. 10 in a deal with the Regina Pats.

    Isaiah DiLaura turned away 35 shots and four-of-six shooters in the shootout to take the setback in goal for the Cougars, who saw their record move to 18-24-4-4 to sit in the basement of the WHL’s Western Conference.

    The Blades improved to 25-23-2-1 to sit in the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, and they are two points back of the Memorial Cup hosting Pats (25-21-5) for the first wildcard spot. The Prince Albert Raiders (20-20-7-2) trail the Blades by four points and the Pats by six points in the Eastern Conference wildcard race and have two games in hand on both clubs.

    The Blades return to action on Wednesday, when they host the Red Deer Rebels at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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