Cougars blank Huskies 2-0 in playoff type encounter

Huskies LW Kenzie Lausberg (#22) shields off a Cougars defender.

University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team got a tune up for the post-season.

On Saturday, the Huskies finished out hosting a two-game regular season set against the defending U Sports champion Mount Royal University Cougars before 711 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place. In that clash, the smallest moment in time proved to be the difference when it came to earning a victory and taking a defeat.

The two sides entered the third period locked in a 0-0. The Huskies, who are rated 10^th in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings, started the frame working on the power play, and during that opportunity, star left-winger Sophie Lalor rang a shot off the crossbar.

The Cougars celebrate a goal from Athena Hauck (#29).

After that power play expired, Cougars fourth-year left-winger Athena Hauck found herself alone in front of the Huskies net. She wired home a midrange shot to the top left corner of the Huskies goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 5:26 mark of the frame.

With 12.9 seconds remaining in the third, Cougars fourth-year centre and team captain Lyndsey Janes popped home an empty-net goal that cemented a 2-0 victory for the visitors, who are rated ninth in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings.

“The margin of error tonight was we had a centre who lost an assignment for like three seconds, and that is the margin of error,” said Huskies head coach Steve Kook. “That would be playoff hockey.

“Outside of that, it was a solid game. Outside of that, we are going to overtime. Outside of that, we are going to a shootout.”

Athena Hauck had the winning goal for the Cougars.

While the Huskies came out on the wrong end of the scoreboard, Kook thought Saturday’s game as a big bounce back one for his squad after they dropped a 4-1 decision to the Cougars on Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place. In Saturday’s regular season clash, Kook said the Cougars ultimately showed the pedigree which saw them win the U Sports championship last year.

“Given our performance last night which I thought was terrible with the exception of (Huskies star netminder) Cam (Camryn Drever), it was a 180 degree turnaround,” said Kook. “We just totally got off script yesterday.

“Today, we played on script. Kudos to them, I think they blocked probably about 10 or 12 shots in the last five or six minutes, and a couple of them had to crawl off the ice. They’re a national champion, and that is what they are willing to do.

Paris Oleksyn jets into the offensive zone for the Huskies.

“They block shots right in the gut and the chest and crawled off the ice.”

The setback saw the Huskies fall to 17-7-1-1. With two games left on their regular season schedule, the Huskies are locked into fourth place in the Canada West Conference standings. They will open the post-season hosting a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series against either the 11-13-2 U of Calgary Dinos or the 10-15-1 U of Manitoba Bisons.

U of S has lost three straight, and the skid started on Jan. 27 with a 2-0 setback against the U of Alberta Pandas in Edmonton. The Pandas, who are rated fourth in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings, sit second in the Canada West Conference with a 19-3-1-3 mark.

Camryn Drever stopped 24-of-25 shots in goal for the Huskies.

The Cougars improved to 20-6 with the win over the Huskies to sit third in Canada West just two standings points behind the Pandas. Both the Cougars and Pandas have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The defending Canada West champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings, have first place in Canada West locked up with a 22-1-1-2 mark. They will have home ice advantage throughout the Canada West playoffs in the U Sports post-season.

The Thunderbirds, Pandas, Cougars, Huskies, Dinos and Bisons will be the six teams taking part in the Canada West playoffs.

Scout Anderson (#30) makes one of her 15 saves for the Cougars.

Huskies third-year left-winger Paris Oleksyn said Saturday’s clash with the Cougars was a game where her squad had to battle for everything. She said those types of games will be the norm for her squad in the post-season.

“This game was definitely a good stepping stone going into playoffs,” said Oleksyn. “It kind of taught us what to expect in playoffs.

“I really thought like we battled like a playoff game. We worked hard. It sucks that we didn’t get the lucky bounces our way.

“We hit a few posts and stuff like that. I think as a team we played a lot better today, and we played like a playoff game.”

Sophie Lalor wired a shot off the crossbar early in the third.

Saturday’s encounter started out a tight checking one. The Huskies first shot on goal in the contest came at the 13:50 mark of the opening frame from defender Kendra Zuchotzki, and at that point in time, the Cougars only held a 4-1 edge in shots on goal. Mount Royal held a 7-2 edge in the shots on goal department after 20 minutes.

In the first half of the second period, the Huskies had a pair of power plays. With a one skater advantage, the Huskies had great puck movement and set up some strong scoring chances. They did everything they could right on the power plays but weren’t able to crack on to the scoreboard due to solid work from Cougars second-year netminder Scout Anderson.

Kendra Zuchotzki brings the puck up ice for the Huskies.

Both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play on Saturday. The Huskies seemingly had the stronger chances to score on their power plays, which played a factor in the game’s final outcome.

“On the power play in the second period, (McKenna) Bolger hits the top of Scout Anderson’s stick, and it goes out the other way,” said Kook. “(Sophie) Lalor puts one off the crossbar here (in the third period).

“They blocked probably more shots than we got through.”

After the Cougars went ahead, the Huskies best chance to get the equalizer might have come when second-year right-winger Jayde Cadieux was denied from point-blank range at the right side of the Mount Royal net.

The Cougars celebrate an empty-net goal from Lyndsey Janes (#12).

Drever stopped 24-of-25 shots to take the setback in net for the Huskies. Anderson turned away all 15 shots she faced to pick up her third shutout win of the campaign.

The Huskies close their regular season schedule traveling to Winnipeg to take on the Bisons this coming Friday and Saturday at the Wayne Fleming Arena. Friday’s game is set for 7 p.m. local time and Saturday’s clash is tabbed for 3 p.m. local time.

Oleksyn said her Huskies will be focused on getting back into the win column before the post-season rolls around.

“We know what we need to do to get the job done,” said Oleksyn. “We know what we don’t have to do.

“We just have to focus on capitalizing on the important parts of the game and work together as a team.”

Huskies captain Kennedy Brown will soon graduate from the team.

NOTES – Saturday’s game was “Seniors Night” as the Huskies honoured their graduating players presenting them with jerseys in a pre-game ceremony. The Huskies graduating players include Drever, Lalor, captain Kennedy Brown, Isabella Pozzi, Kara Kondrat, Kenzie Lausberg and Kate Ball. Ball still has one more season of U Sports eligibility remaining, but she is slated to graduate from the Kinesiology program at the U of S and plans to move on to her next life chapter. The Huskies held a kids skate following Saturday’s game.

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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Huskies put impressive cap on season at U Sports nationals

Women’s hockey squad takes home bronze medal

The Huskies had an impressive showing at U Sports nationals.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team penned a happy ending to the most unique chapter in team history.

On Sunday at the MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the Huskies blanked the University of New Brunswick Reds 2-0 in the bronze medal game at the U Sports elite-eight women’s hockey championship tournament. The bronze medal win equaled the Huskies best result at U Sports nationals matching what the team accomplished in 2014.

The Huskies have made four trips to U Sports nationals in team history, and in a normal sports campaign, advancing that far in the post-season would be a success story in itself.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, things in the sports world and outside the sports world haven’t operated like normal since the first stoppages in North America started back on March 11, 2020.

The 2020 U Sports men’s and women’s hockey tournaments along with the men’s and women’s volleyball tournaments got their first day of action in on March 12, 2020 before the rest of the action at those events was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U Sports didn’t hold any national championships in the 2020-21 campaign. The Canada West Conference that the Huskies play out of didn’t take part any meaningful games in 2020-21.

On the Huskies front, no one knew what to expect out of the 2021-22 campaign after the whole conference had a season off. No one knew if there were going to be any stops or starts as the campaign went along.

The Huskies lost Jordyn Holmes to a broken leg at nationals.

Actually, there was no guarantee that the season would be played to a completion.

Still, the Huskies marched through the regular season posting an 11-7-2 record to finish fifth in the Canada West Conference standings. In the Canada West playoffs, the Huskies swept the University of Manitoba Bisons 2-0 in a best-of-three quarter-final series in Winnipeg and swept the Mount Royal University Cougars 2-0 in a best-of-three semifinal series in Calgary, Alta., to advance to the Canada West Championship Series and earn a spot at U Sports nationals.

In the Canada West final, the Huskies were swept 2-0 in the best-of-three set by the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Vancouver. The series closed with the Thunderbirds taking Game 2 of the series 1-0 in overtime.

After that bump in the road, the Huskies reset and ventured off to Charlottetown for U Sports nationals with a sizable contingent of supporters in family and friends. The Huskies were so good at nationals that it is possible they could have possibly won the whole thing, if two or three breaks went their way.

They opened play on the event’s second day on Friday taking on the Ontario University Athletics champion Brock University Badgers in a quarter-final contest. The fifth- seeded Huskies played arguably their best game of the season in that outing blanking the fourth-seeded Badgers 4-0.

At the 6:12 mark of the second period of that contest, rookie forward Sara Kendall ran it back to her days with the Swift Current Innovation Credit Union Wildcats under-18 female AAA team opening the contest’s scoring on a sweet backhanded wraparound.

The Huskies surged for three goals in the third with singles coming off the sticks of rookie defender Brooklyn Stevely and third year forwards Kara Kondrat and Nicole Fry. Kondrat picked up an assist on Fry’s empty-net tally and was named the Huskies player of the game in what might have been her best game at the U Sports level.

Kendra Zuchotzki turned heads as a rookie on defence.

Star third-year netminder Camryn Drever made 27 saves to pick up the shutout win for the Huskies. Netminder Tiffany Hau stopped 29-of-32 shots sent her way to take the setback in goal for the Badgers.

While the win over the Badgers was a great game for the Huskies, they did face adversity. Before Kendall scored her goal to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead, the team’s gritty, speedy, heart and soul third-year forward Jordyn Holmes broke her left leg on a crash into the boards and was lost for the rest of the tournament.

She had to have surgery on Saturday in Charlottetown to help start her injury recovery process.

In a semifinal on Saturday, the Huskies faced the top seeded Concordia University Stingers, who were the champions of the Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec. Before the game, Holmes standing ovation from the crowd, when she arrived to cheer on her team.

In the semifinal contest, the Stingers came away with a 2-0 victory with Audrey Belzile and Maria Manarolis potting singles in the second period. Stingers netminder Alice Philbert made 20 saves to pick up the shutout win in goal.

Drever turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. The Huskies put up a big fight but weren’t able to find a traction moment to start a comeback.

They almost got that traction moment with four minutes remaining in the third, when Kendall rang an in close shot off the post of the Stingers goal.

Camryn Drever cemented herself as a top goalie in U Sports.

The Stingers would advance on to blank the sixth seeded Nipissing University Lakers 4-0 in the U Sports championship game on Sunday to capture the Golden Path Trophy.

Before the tournament’s title game was played, the Huskies took the ice for the bronze medal game against the second seeded Reds, who were the Atlantic University Sport conference champions.

At the 7:51 mark of the first, the Huskies jumped ahead 1-0 on a blast from the left point by rookie defender Kendra Zuchotzki. 

At the 14:08 mark of the second, rookie forward Jasper Desmarais ran it back to her days with the Prince Albert Northern Bears under-18 AAA scoring a beauty goal on a three-on-one rush that ultimately sealed the 2-0 victory.

Desmarais blew down the right wing, got in close and roofed home a shot past Reds netminder Kendra Woodland.

Woodland made 23 stops to take the setback in goal for the Reds.

Drever turned aside all 17 shots she faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Huskies. The alumna of the St. Albert Slash female under-18 AAA team posted four shutouts in the Huskies nine total post-season games.

When Drever joined the Huskies, she came with the reputation of being a clutch goaltender having backstopped the Slash to Esso Cup titles in 2017 and 2018 as national female under-18 AAA hockey champions. Following this post-season run, Drever has cemented her place as one of the top goaltenders in all of U Sports.

Following the win over the Reds, Huskies veteran head coach Steve Kook got to put the first bronze medal around the neck of the team’s fifth-year captain in Bailee Bourassa. Bourassa is the lone fifth-year player on the squad.

Bailee Bourassa is a golden role model on and off the ice.

After receiving her medal, Bourassa presented the rest of the bronze medals to the rest of the team. 

Bourassa finished her degree in nursing and returned to the Huskies after deciding to pursue her master’s degree in nursing taking on the role of captain.

Having helped her hometown Weyburn Gold Wings in and Esso Cup title in 2014, Bourassa wanted to help the Huskies get a good restart this season after a season off in 2020-21. 

She played a big part in helping the Huskies stay relevant and show you can play high-level hockey in Canada’s U Sports ranks and get a sound education that can take you on to a great career when the playing days come to a close.

Bourassa has become the perfect example of the golden role model on and off the ice. She has always represented the team in the community with class and grace.

Forward Abby Shirley, who is the long fourth-year player on the team, was another key returnee who helped show the way and be a leader for the Huskies young generation.

Third-year defender Isabella Pozzi provided a steady hand to the Huskies back end, and she was named to the U Sports championship tournament all-star team. The Huskies have a rookie group on the back end who came into their own in the post-season and have the potential to be even better in future seasons in Stevely, Zuchotzki, Larissa Bohlken and Emily Holmes, who is Jordyn’s younger sister.

While she didn’t get any goals at U Sports nationals, third-year forward Kennedy Brown came through in clutch moments in the Canada West playoffs. She had her chances at nationals and will be another key returnee in future seasons.

Kennedy Brown came through with clutch post-season goals.

Overall, the journey the Huskies took to win a bronze medal at U Sports national on Sunday was unlike any season the Huskies have played to date. 

All the time players spent training on their own or as a team in a 2020-21 campaign that didn’t happen seemed worth it for sure after Sunday’s win.

During training time when there was no certainty of when the next game was going to be, some players had to be questioning if it was time to close the book as far as competitive hockey was concerned.

Credit has to go to all teams in U Sports for making the season happen and able to be played to a conclusion where a national champion was crowned.

After the NCAA still crowned a national women’s hockey champion in the Division I ranks in 2020-21, minor hockey players in the female game in Canada had to wonder if going down to the United States was ultimately going to be the place where they could play high-level hockey at the post-secondary level in the future.

Now, U Sports is back as a destination female players in Canada’s minor hockey system that want to continue playing high-level hockey at the post-secondary level.

The Huskies have shown they will continue to be a place where good things can happen in the classroom and on the ice whether you come from the province of Saskatchewan or any other community in Canada.

The Huskies renewed their legacy of being a great team to play for.

Ultimately, that reminder might be the lasting legacy of the 2021-22 Huskies team.

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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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.