Huskies put up fight, Stingers take victory 4-0

Top seeded Concordia advances to U Sports tourney semifinal

Emilie Lussier celebrates her second of two goals for the Stingers.

The Concordia University Stingers winning pedigree came through.

On Thursday night in a quarter-final contest at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament, the top seeded Stingers absorbed the best shot from the pesky eighth seeded host University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The Stingers proceeded to play skilled and physical and slowly took the contest away from the Huskies causing a raucous crowd 2,364 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place to fall quite.

When the dust settled, the Stingers blanked the host Huskies 4-0 to advance to the semifinal round. Concordia will play the fourth seeded University of Waterloo Warriors in Saturday’s first semifinal set for 4 p.m. at Merlis. That clash will see the Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec champions in the Stingers face the OUA champions in the Warriors.

Emmy Fecteau scored the Stingers first goal on Thursday.

The Huskies will take on the St. Francis Xavier X-Women in consolation semifinal set for 10 a.m. on Saturday.

“That one stings for sure,” said Huskies captain Kennedy Brown, who is in her fifth and final year of U Sports eligibility. “I mean it didn’t feel like a 4-0 game on our part.

“I think the girls battled really hard. We knew we were coming up against some steep competition them being ranked number one in the country coming off an undefeated regular season. To instill a little bit of fear in them early on and get a couple of chances, I mean that is all we can ask for from our team.

“We pop a couple of those early on, and it is a completely different game for us. For them to get a lucky bounce on that first one, it was definitely not the outcome we wanted. I mean I couldn’t have asked for more of an effort from the girls.”

Isabella Pozzi brings the puck up ice for the Huskies.

The Stingers came into Thursday quarter-final with a history of having won the U Sports title in 2022 and having fallen in the U Sports championship game a year ago to the Mount Royal University Cougars. This season, the Stingers posted a perfect 25-0 record in the regular season and a 4-2 mark in the post-season that saw them capture the RSEQ title.

The Huskies finished fourth in the Canada West Conference with a 19-7-2 mark and fell in a best-of-three conference quarter-final series in a series deciding Game 3 to the U of Calgary Dinos 2-0.

Backed by a vocal home crowd that was the largest to see a women’s hockey game in Saskatchewan’s history outside of contests involving Canada’s Senior National Women’s team, the Huskies came flying out of the gate. They had numerous quality scoring chances in the first period holding a 11-7 edge in shots on goal.

Part of the crowd of 2,364 cheers on the Huskies.

The Stingers exited the frame with the only goal coming from the stick of captain Emmy Fecteau. On a delayed penalty call situation, Fecteau took a shot from the right faceoff dot in the U of S zone, and the puck deflected off a Huskies skater, flipped high in the air and floated over top of Huskies star goaltender Camryn Drever into the net to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead.

Huskies head coach Steve Kook said it was tough to exit the opening 20 minutes down 1-0 on the scoreboard with his side having played well in the frame.

“The plan was to always take our swing at these guys,” said Kook. “We had nothing to lose.

Camryn Drever made 37 saves in goal for the Huskies.

“You look at the first period, we hit a post on an empty net. (Bronwyn) Boucher hits a crossbar. On the power play, SK (Sara Kendall) slides it through their goalie’s five-hole, hits the back leg and comes back out.”

Kook said he could sense the crowd at Merlis really wanted to erupt with noise, and he thought the outcome of the contest could have gone a different way had the Huskies scored in that frame.

“I think if we get one we get multiples, especially with the crowd the way it was,” said Kook. “We haven’t played in front of this size of a crowd, and I don’t think they’ve played in front of this size of a crowd either.

Rosalie Begin-Cyr scored the Stingers second goal on Thursday.

“I seriously thought if we would have got one we would have got more.”

The Stingers began to take control of the contest coming out of the first intermission. At the 3:12 mark of the second, fifth-year right-winger Rosalie Begin-Cyr popped home an insurance goal that gave the Stingers a 2-0 edge.

In the third, first-year left-winger Emilie Lussier scored to push the Stingers advantage out to 3-0. She added an empty-net goal to round out the 4-0 final in the Stingers favour with 40.6 seconds remaining in the frame.

“I think it was a really, really fun game to play and be a part of,” said Stingers head coach Julie Chu, who was named the U Sports coach of the year on Wednesday. “We have some experience in that locker room, but we also have a really young team in other aspects of it.

Kara Kondrat brings the puck up ice for the Huskies.

“I think for us we know that we dodged a bullet in that first period. I think we needed to start on time. They definitely started on time.

“We were lucky that (netminder) Jordyn Verbeek did a great job for us in that first period. We know that we were lucky to come out 1-0 out of that. I liked our response in the second and in the third period.”

Verbeek stopped all 26 shots she faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Stingers. Centre Justine Yelle and left-winger Emilie Lavoie each had a pair of assists for Concordia.

Drever turned away 37 shots to take the setback in net for the Huskies.

A group of youngsters cheer on the Stingers.

Chu said her squad will turn their attention to the task at hand in the semifinal round, but her club was going to take in the spoils of victory on Thursday night.

“I think for us we’re going to enjoy this one for today,” said Chu. “It is not easy to win, and it is not easy to win against that team.

“It is a battle, and it was a battle tonight. They played really, really well. I know that we are really grateful to play here and then to be able to earn the win and have an opportunity to play in the semis on Saturday against Waterloo.

“I think for us we will enjoy it for now and do the right things in our rest and our recovery. Once we wake up, we are going to turn the page and start our preparation and our focus towards what we need to do on Saturday to be successful.”

The Stingers celebrate their win on Thursday night.

While the Huskies can’t play for a national title, Brown said she still wants to do what she can to play two more games with the U of S side before graduating from the U Sports ranks. The emotion of how tough it was to fall to the Stingers was visible in the tears in Brown’s eyes, but she still wants to press on.

“That is kind of our focus now is just to if can draw out our season a little bit more, especially us as six years, us super vets,” said Brown. “We don’t want to be done by any means, so if we can play one more on Sunday, that would be a dream come true.

“We didn’t want to be on the consolation side of things, but that is the reality of a tournament like this. It is win or die. When you are ranking eighth and you know you are coming up against number one, those are some stiff odds to fight against.

“Our focus is to come out Saturday fresh and again just leave a mark, leave it all in the ice and hope to play on Sunday.”

James’ hat trick powers Warriors to 6-1 win

Tatum James (#88) celebrates her second goal on Thursday.

Tatum James was on fire for the University of Waterloo Warriors.

The third-year left-winger had a hat trick and one assist to power her Warriors to a 6-1 victory over the St. Francis Xavier X-Women in Thursday’s first quarter-final of the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament. The contest started out as a tight one with the fourth-seeded Warriors holding a 1-0 edge after 40 minutes before avalanching offensively in the third period.

James scored just 27 seconds into the contest to give the Warriors a 1-0 edge. After a scoreless second, the Warriors scored three straight goals to surge their advantage out to 4-0 before cruising to the 6-1 win at Merlis Belsher Place.

Defender Sarah Bestic scored at the 7:36 mark of the third to put the Warriors up 2-0. James added her second of the contest at the 11:33 mark of the third and completed her hat trick scoring a short-handed empty-net goal at the 16:20 mark of the frame.

Centre Ireland McCloskey tallied on the power-play for the X-Women at the 17:29 mark of the third to trim the Warriors lead to 4-1.

Tatum James had a hat trick and an assist on Thursday.

Left-wingers Carly Orth and Madison Pritchard rounded out the scoring with singles for the Warriors. James picked up an assist on Pritchard’s power-play tally.

Mikayla Schnarr stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors, who are the OUA champions. Amaya Giraudier turned away 22-of-27 shots to take the setback in net for the X-Women, who are the tournament’s fifth seed. Giraudier, who is in her third year with the X-Women, is an alumna of the Swift Current Innovation Federal Credit Union Wildcats under-18 AAA team.

The X-Women play in a consolation semifinal at 10 a.m. at Merlis against the eight seed and host University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The Warriors advance to play in a semifinal against the top seeded Concordia University Stingers at 4 p.m. at Merlis. The Stingers are the champions of Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec.

The second set of the quarter-finals are set for Friday at Merlis. The Canada West champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who are the second seed, face the Universite de Montreal Carabins, who are the seventh seed, at 1 p.m.

The Warriors celebrate their win on Thursday.

The AUS champion University of New Brunswick Reds, who are the third seed, take on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, who are the sixth seed, at 7 p.m.

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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Dinos’ Wood soaks in homecoming series win

U of C downs Huskies 2-0 in series deciding Game 3.

Gabriella Durante, left, and Dana Woods celebrate a Dinos series win.

Dana Wood got to run it back in Saskatoon.

The fifth-year captain of the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team has experience her share of success in her hometown of Saskatoon. For three seasons from 2015 to 2018, Wood played defence for the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team.

During that period of time, Wood helped the Stars win two SFU18AAAHL titles, two Western regional playdown series and make two appearances in the Esso Cup female under-18 AAA national championship tournament. Wood’s final game with the Stars came in the championship final of the 2018 Esso Cup played at the County Lifestyle Centre in Bridgewater, N.S. The Stars fell in that contest 2-1 to the St. Albert Slash from Alberta.

Dana Wood is playing her final season with the Dinos.

On Sunday at Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus, Wood and the Dinos faced the host Huskies in a series deciding Game 3 of a Canada West quarter-final series. The 23-year-old picked up an assist on the Dinos winning goal as they blanked the Huskies 2-0 to take the series 2-1.

The Huskies claimed Game 1 of the set 2-1 on Friday at Merlis, and the Dinos claimed Game 2 by a 2-0 scored on Saturday at Merlis. Wood had numerous family and friends in attendance among the 307 spectators on Sunday and throughout the weekend. It felt like old times for her to experience a playoff series win in her hometown.

“It was super awesome,” said Wood, who had career highs in goals (three), assists (nine), points (12) and plus-minus (plus-nine) appearing in all of the Dinos 28 regular season games. “I think everyone kind of wanted to stay in Calgary.

A number of Dana Wood’s family and friends came to cheer the Dinos.

“It was between U of S and MRU for who we were going to play for this round. Most people wanted to stay in Calgary to avoid the seven drive, but I was so excited to come home. I just knew that we would get so many fans out.

“I think we have seven girls from Saskatchewan at least. We had so many fans come out too. It felt like I was playing at home partially, so it was super fun.”

With the series win, the Dinos advance to play the defending Canada West champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West semifinals series in Vancouver. The dates and times for that set this coming weekend are still to be announced.

Dana Wood had a career high 12 points for the Dinos this season.

Skating in her final campaign with the Dinos, Wood is pumped her final post-season run with the team is going to the Canada West semifinal round.

“I just have a craving for that really high level of competition getting far into playoffs,” said Wood, who stands 5-foot-3. “Those are the games you want to play in.

“I got really used to playing in those games when I was younger. It feels awesome to be back in that mindset. The excitement can’t be beat.”

On Sunday, the Dinos and Huskies played through a fairly even opening frame with the host side holding a 13-11 edge in shots on goal.

Dinos captain Dana Wood is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars.

A big early turning point came at the 13-minute mark of the opening frame. Huskies centre Kate Ball destroyed Dinos centre Jolie Nafziger with a big open ice hit in the centre ice zone. Ball was given a minor penalty for interference.

The Dinos struck near the end of the ensuing power play. During a net scramble, a rebound came out to Dinos third-year right-winger Josie McLeod at the right side of the U of S net. McLeod popped home the power-play marker to give the visitors a 1-0 lead with Wood and rookie left-winger Kyla Mitenko picking up helpers.

At the 11:34 mark of the second, the Dinos got a key insurance goal to go ahead 2-0. Dinos fifth-year star right-winger Elizabeth Lang sprung Dinos veteran star left-winger Courtney Kollman on a breakaway. Kollman ripped a shot past Huskies star fifth-year netminder Camryn Drever to give the visitors a two-goal edge.

Josie McLeod, right, celebrates scoring the Dinos first goal.

Sophomore Dinos centre Sydney Mercier, who is another Saskatoon product and Stars alumna, picked up a second assist on Kollman’s tally.

Wood said getting the first period power-play marker and the breakaway tally in the second put her squad in a good spot for the rest of the contest.

“It (McLeod’s power-play goal) took a weight off our shoulders,” said Wood. “When Court (Courtney Kollman) got her goal too, that really sealed it in a little bit more.

“That one goal lead is always just you are on the edge of your seat. You don’t want to go to overtime in these games. It is like anybody’s game, if that is the case.

Courtney Kollman scored for the Dinos in the second period.

“That one goal lead is always a little sketchy. That two-goal lead was just like a weight off the back.”

The Huskies had some moments where they could have gotten some traction near the end of the frame. With just over four minutes remaining in the second, star fifth-year centre Kennedy Brown was denied with a drive from the front of the Dinos goal by U of C star netminder Gabriella Durante.

Inside the final minute of the second, Huskies third-year defender Kendra Zuchotzki tried to feed a shot through a maze of players, but the puck deflected off a player and went wide of the Dinos goal. In the final seconds of the second, Zuchotzki was stoned by Durante on a mid-range drive.

Gabriella Durante stopped 31 shots to get the Dinos shutout win.

The Huskies pressed to continue to get back in the contest in the third holding a 10-7 edge in shots on goal for the frame. Wood was pleased with how her squad was able shut things down defensively.

“It was just chaos a little bit,” said Wood. “It was just reckless abandon throw your body in front of pucks kind of thing and do what needed to be done.

“Being on defence, you always have that mindset. Our forwards really turned it around and were getting high and bearing down on pucks and playing defensive-offence, which was really, really nice from a defensive perspective. That was huge for us.”

Camryn Drever stopped 22 shots in goal for the Huskies on Sunday.

Durante stopped 31 shots to pick up a second straight shutout win in goal for the Dinos. Drever turned away 22 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies.

The Huskies finished fourth in the Canada West regular season standings with a 19-7-1-1 record, while the Dinos were fifth in Canada West with a 12-14-2 mark.

While eliminated from the Canada West Conference playoffs, the Huskies will have a second post-season life. They will host the elite-eight style U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship Tournament from March 14 to 17 at Merlis.

As for the Dinos, they turn their attention to the Thunderbirds knowing they will be huge underdogs going into that series. The Thunderbirds, who are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings, topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 24-1-1-2 record and closed the regular season with 13 straight wins.

“We are just fired up,” said Wood, who squad split their two regular season games with the Thunderbirds. “That was all the conversation was about in our room.

The Dinos celebrate their series win over the Huskies.

“We had our celebration on the ice, but as soon as we got back in the room, it was just about next weekend and getting in the right mindset for that knowing that they are a really strong opponent. We have to bring it exactly what we brought this weekend if not more. It is going to be a battle here.”

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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Expect Huskies to reset in chase for U Sports championship

Bailee Bourassa leads the Huskies to U Sports nationals.

The Canada West Championship series didn’t go their way, but the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team still has a chance to claim an even bigger prize.

On Sunday and Monday, the Huskies traveled from Saskatoon all the way to Charlottetown, P.E.I., for the U Sports elite-eight women’s hockey championship tournament. The Huskies were given the fifth seed on Sunday in the quest for the Golden Path Trophy.

They will open the tournament taking on the Ontario University Athletics champion Brock University Badgers on Friday at the MacLauchlan Arena. The game will be webcast on cbcsports.ca and CBC Gem, or fans can listen to the call from Huskies Women’s Hockey play-by-play voice Daniella Ponticelli on HuskieFAN.ca at 12 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

The U Sports championship tournament opens on Thursday with the event’s first two quarter-final contests.

The Huskies head to U Sports nationals having to reset after being swept 2-0 by the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the best-of-three Canada West Championship series. Heading into the Canada West Final, the Huskies were 4-0 in the post-season having swept a pair of best-of-three playoff series on the road.

Both the Huskies and Thunderbirds already locked up berths to the U Sports championship tournament due to advancing to the Canada West Final.

In Game 1 of the Canada West Championship series held on March 11 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, B.C., the Thunderbirds jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period with Grace Elliott, Mia Bierd and Ashley McFadden netting singles.

Sophie Lalor had 10 points in 20 regular season games.

From the point, the Huskies found themselves chasing the game. Shay-Lee McConnell scored a short-handed goal for the Thunderbirds in the second period to round out the scoring in a 4-0 victory.

Huskies star goaltender Camryn Drever made 39 saves in that Game 1 loss. Thunderbirds rookie netminder Elise Hugens made 13 saves to pick up the shutout victory.

In Game 2 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on March 12, the Huskies and Thunderbirds went to overtime locked in a 0-0 tie. Just 98 seconds into overtime, Thunderbirds forward Chanreet Bassi scored the contest’s only goal in a 1-0 victory for the host side that allowed UBC to capture the Canada West title.

Drever made 34 saves to give the Huskies a chance to steal the win in that contest. Hugens made 14 saves to pick up a second straight shutout victory.

The Huskies head into their U Sports quarter-final having posted an 11-7-2 record in the regular season and a 4-2 mark in the post-season. The Badgers posted a 7-5-3-1 record in regular season play and a 3-0 mark in the post-season.

The most exciting thing about the U Sport championship tournament is the fact it is played in a single-elimination format. Anything can happen in a single game situation.

With Drever between the pipes, the Huskies have the goalie that can win them three straight games to capture a U Sports national title.

Camryn Drever, right, is a clutch post-season performer.

Before joining the U Sports ranks, Drever was the star goaltender for the St. Albert Slash, and she backstopped them to two straight Esso Cup titles as national under-18 AAA hockey champions in 2017 and 2018. She earned a reputation as a clutch player in those runs.

While the offensive dried up for the Huskies against the Thunderbirds in the Canada West Final, they have for the most part been able to get enough scoring by committee through the regular season and the first four games of the post-season to pull out wins.

Huskies lone fifth-year player in forward Bailee Bourassa topped the team in regular season scoring with 11 points coming on seven goals and four assists playing in all the Huskies 20 contests. Bourassa returned to the Huskies after deciding to pursue her master’s degree in nursing and took on the role as the team’s captain.

She will be playing her final U Sports games this weekend, and with all that she has done for the team, it would cool if the Huskies team could help her graduate on a big high note.

Forward Abby Shirley is the Huskies lone fourth-year player and she led the way in post-season scoring with five points coming on three goals and two assists in six games. She also had nine points in the regular season coming off five goals and four assists appearing in 18 games.

Bourassa and Shirley are the only players remaining on the Huskies roster from the last time they went to nationals back in the 2017-18 campaign.

Third-year forward Kennedy Brown has emerged as one of the Huskies newest heroes during the post-season. In the Huskies six post-season games to date, Brown has four points coming on three goals and one assist. Out of Brown’s three goals, two of them have been game winners.

Sophie Lalor, who is a third-year forward, hit double digits in regular season scoring picking up 10 points on five goals and five assists appearing in all of the Huskies 20 regular season games. In the Huskies six post-season games, Lalor has one goal that was a game winner and one assist.

Rookie Larissa Bohlken is part of a strong group of young defenders.

Third-year defender Isabella Pozzi has been the veteran rock on the back end. On the blue-line, the Huskies have relied on a group of rookies to come through with big minutes in Larissa Bohlken, Kendra Zuchotzki, Brooklyn Stevely and Emily Holmes.

With being at nationals, the Huskies are going to have to work their way through a challenging field. 

If they win their quarter-final game, the Huskies will face the winner of the Friday’s other quarter-final between the top seeded Concordia University Stingers and the eighth seeded and host University of Prince Edward Island Panthers in one of Saturday’s two semifinals.

The Stingers were 11-3-1 in the regular season and 4-0 in the post-season, while the Panthers were 13-7-0-2 in the regular season and 0-1 in the post-season. The Stingers were the champions of the Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec.

The field also contains the second seeded University of New Brunswick Reds, who are the champions of the Atlantic University Sport conference. The Reds posted a 15-3-1-2 record in the regular season and a 5-0 mark in the post-season.

The Thunderbirds are the tournament’s third seed having posted a 14-6 record in regular season play and a 4-0 mark in the post-season.

The event’s bronze medal and championship games will be held on Sunday.

The Huskies are making their third appearance and U Sports nationals since 2014 and fourth appearance all-time in team history. Current Huskies head coach Steve Kook has been with the team for three out of four runs to the U Sports championship tournament.

The Huskies aim to hold a few goal celebrations at nationals.

Kook missed the first appearance in 2004 joining the team as an assistant coach before the start of the 2004-05 campaign. He was the head coach for the appearances in 2014 and 2018 along with this season. He provides steady guidance for the team.

These trips to nationals are never a guaranteed thing, even if a team has a good season. In the three previous appearances, the Huskies medaled just once capturing a bronze in 2014.

Of course, the current campaign comes on the heels after all 2020-21 U Sports nationals were scrapped and most U Sports teams didn’t take the ice for games due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

If the Huskies were able to win it all, it would provide the icing on the cake for all the ups and downs they have gone through since March of 2020.

Raiders fall to Ice 3-2 in OT, stay in thick of WHL playoff chase

Reece Vitelli scored for the Raiders on Tuesday.

The Prince Albert Raiders are down to a 10-game sprint to try and make the WHL playoffs.

On Tuesday night, the Raiders dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime to the visiting Winnipeg Ice before 2,120 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre. With 15.3 seconds remaining in overtime, Ice 19-year-old power forward Jack Finley potted his 20^th goal of the season to win the game for the Winnipeg side.

With the extra time setback, the Raiders picked up one standings point. They sit ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 24-29-4-1 record for 53 standings points with 10 games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Raiders are in the thick of the race for the final two playoff berths in the Eastern Conference.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference and hold the conference’s second last playoff berth with 56 standings points coming on 26-28-3-1 record. They have 10 games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Swift Current Broncos are positioned one point behind the Hurricanes in the standings with 55 points sitting eighth overall in the Eastern Conference and hold the conference’s final playoff berth with a 24-30-5-2 record. The Broncos have seven games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Regina Pats are 10^th overall in the Eastern Conference with 51 points coming on a 23-29-3-2 record. The Pats have 11 games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Calgary Hitmen sit 11^th overall in the Eastern Conference with 50 points coming on a 21-30-6-2 record. The Hitmen have nine games remaining on their regular season schedule.

On Tuesday, the Broncos won their fourth game in a row downing the visiting Regina Pats 5-3 at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex in Swift Current.

Between the Raiders and Ice on Tuesday, the Prince Albert side jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by captain Reece Vitelli. The Ice took a 2-1 lead scoring twice in the second with goals coming from the sticks of Cole Muir and Alessandro Segafredo.

At the 7:22 mark of the third, import rookie right-winger Vladislav Shilo netted his sixth of the season for the Raiders to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.

That set the stage for Finley to come through with his winner.

Import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 39 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders. Daniel Hauser stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice.

The Ice have picked up points in their last 12 straight games with 10 wins, one overtime loss and one shootout loss. They improve to 44-9-3-2 and tied the 45-12-2-1 Edmonton Oil Kings for first overall in the WHL with 93 standings points.

Winnipeg has two games in hand on Edmonton.

The Ice return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the 33-21-3-1 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Raiders get back into action on Friday when travel to Brandon to face the 28-24-3-2 Wheat Kings (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 900 CKBI).

Albers signs minor league deal with Mariners, other notes

Andrew Albers signed a minor league contract with the Mariners.

It looks like Andrew Albers will get to enjoy one more season throwing pitches under the sun.

On Monday, the 36-year-old left-handed pitcher and North Battleford, Sask., product signed a minor league deal with the MLB’s Seattle Mariners. After playing three seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan from 2018 to 2020, Albers return to North America last season throwing in AAA baseball with the St. Paul Saints and seeing time at the MLB level with the Minnesota Twins.

At the AAA level, Albers was a starter and saw action in 18 total games posting an 8-4 record, a 3.88 earned-run average, 88 strikeouts and 11 walks.

At the MLB level, Albers made five appearances with the Twins posting a 1-2 record, a 7.58 ERA, 12 strikeouts and nine walks.

Albers, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 200 pounds, saw time with the Mariners MLB side back in the 2017 campaign. During that season, he appeared in nine games posting a 5-1 record, a 3.51 ERA, 37 strikeouts and 10 walks.

Albers is one of the true good guys to come not only out of the baseball scene but the sports scene in Saskatchewan. During this past off-season, he spent countless hours at the Indoor Training Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds coaching young pitchers to help them get better at the game.

He decided to live in Saskatoon in order to train for this upcoming season and to give back to the local and provincial baseball scene.

Albers has a lot of people in the province pulling for him to have his best season yet.

• On Saturday in State College, Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University Buckeyes downed the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 3-2 in the NCAA Division I women’s hockey championship game. The win marked the first time the Buckeyes won the NCAA Division I women’s hockey title. Nadine Muzerall turned the Buckeyes into a powerhouse after becoming the team’s head coach before the start of the 2016-17 campaign. In the semifinal round, the top ranked Buckeyes took out the fifth seeded Yale University Bulldogs 2-1. The Yale roster contains rookie defender and Saskatoon product Emma DeCorby, who is an alumna of the Regina Rebels female under-18 AAA team. Minnesota Duluth downed the Northeastern University Huskies in the other semifinal 2-1. The Huskies roster contained veteran defender Brooke Hobson, who is an alumna of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 AAA team. Hobson has now exhausted her NCAA eligibility. In the quarter-final round, the Huskies downed the University of Wisconsin Badgers 4-2. The Badgers roster contains Saskatoon products, forwards and sisters Sophie and Grace Shirley, who are alumnae of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team. In the first round, the Syracuse University Orange fell 4-0 to the Quinnipiac University Bobcats. The Orange roster contains forward and Saskatoon product Anna Leschyshyn, who is an alumna of the Stars.
• Ilya Usau, who is an alumnus of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, signed an NHL entry-level contract with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. The 20-year-old forward from Minsk, Belarus, spent this past season with Dinamo Minsk in the KHL posting nine goals and 17 assists in 40 regular season games. Usau spent one season with the Raiders in 2019-20 recording 22 goals and 30 assists in 58 regular season games.
• On Monday, Zack Hayes, who is a former captain of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, made his NHL regular season debut for the Vegas Golden Knights as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, Minn. The 22-year-old defenceman suited up for his second NHL regular season contest on Tuesday as the Golden Knights dropped a 4-0 decision to the Jets in Winnipeg. Hayes played 272 WHL regular season games for the Raiders from 2015 to 2020 recording 15 goals, 64 assists and a plus-97 rating in the plus-minus department.
• On Tuesday, Hockey Canada announced it was moving this year’s Esso Cup female under-18 AAA championship tournament and the Telus Cup under-18 AAA championship tournament. Hockey Canada said both tournaments will be held May 16 to 22 in a centralized location in Alberta. Host centres were not named for either event and no reasons were given for the move. The Prince Albert Northern Bears were supposed to host the Esso Cup from April 17-23. The Sydney Mitsubishi Rush were supposed to host the Telus Cup in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, from April 18 to 24. The Bears and Rush are slated to play in the host team spots, when the Esso and Telus Cups are played in their new Alberta host centre or centres.
• Moose Jaw Warriors centre and Saskatoon area product Brayden Yager, who is playing his 16-year-old sophomore season in the WHL, has 54 points on 32 goals and 22 assists in 56 games this season. He broke the Warriors record for most goals by someone in their 16-year-old season of eligibility. The old record of 29 goals was held by Theo Fleury set back in the 1984-85 campaign. Fleury went on to become one of the NHL’s most famous star players most notably with the Calgary Flames.
• A total of five WHL teams were listed in the latest CHL Top 10 rankings that were released on Tuesday. The Edmonton Oil Kings were ranked first, the Winnipeg Ice were rated second, the Kamloops Blazers were listed fifth, the Everett Silvertips were ranked sixth and the Portland Winterhawks took the seventh spot.
• Left-winger Arshdeep Bains and centre Ben King of the Red Deer Rebels have become the front runners to win the WHL scoring title. Bains, who is in his overage season, leads the WHL scoring with 94 points coming off of 34 goals and 60 assists appearing in all the Rebels 60 games. King, who is in his 19-year-old season, sits second in the scoring race with 93 points coming off 47 goals and 46 assists appearing in all of the Rebels 60 games. Saskatoon Blades veteran star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who had led the WHL in scoring at times this season, sits third in the WHL scoring race with 87 points coming on 35 goals and 52 assists.

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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New heroes lift Huskies to Canada West Final

Camryn Drever has been beyond stellar in the post-season.

Legends are made in the playoffs, and the new generation from University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team is leaving their mark.

The Huskies advanced to the Canada West Conference Championship Series sweeping the Mount Royal University Cougars 2-0 in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series this past weekend in Calgary, Alta. The Cougars had topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 16-2-2 record, while the Huskies finished fifth with an 11-7-2 mark.

Mount Royal won the two regular season encounters with the Huskies, but both victories came by 1-0 scores.

On top of advancing to the Canada West Final, the Huskies earned a berth at the U Sports Championship Tournament for the fourth time in program history with the previous appearances coming in 2004, 2014 and 2018.

The biggest star in the Huskies series upset win over the Cougars was third-year goaltender Camryn Drever. In the two wins over the Cougars, Drever turned away 85-of-86 shots to allow the Huskies to post a 1-0 victory in Game 1 and a 2-1 overtime triumph in Game 2.

Drever has made her first four U Sports post-season starts this year, and she won all four of those contests. She came to the Huskies as an experienced post-season performer.

Before joining the U Sports ranks, Drever was the star goaltender for the St. Albert Slash, and she backstopped them to two straight Esso Cup titles as national under-18 AAA hockey champions in 2017 and 2018. She earned a reputation as a clutch player in those runs.

In Game 1 against the Cougars played this past Friday played before 265 spectators at the Flames Community Arena, third-year forward Kara Kondrat scored at the 3:08 mark of the first period to account for the contest’s only goal in the Huskies 1-0 win.

Kennedy Brown scored the OT series winner for the Huskies.

The tally was Kondrat’s third career U Sports goal including play in the regular season and playoffs and her first marker in U Sports post-season play. It was also a career highlight as Kondrat is from Cochrane, Alta., which is a small city located on the northwest border of Calgary.

Rookie forward Mallory Dyer and rookie defender Brooklyn Stevely picked up assists on the play.

Kondrat’s goal was all the offence the Huskies would need as Drever made 32 saves to pick up her second shutout win of the post season, which matched her shutout total from the regular season.

Zoe De Beauville made 12 stops in goal for the Cougars.

In Game 2 last Saturday played before 250 spectators at the Flames Community Arena, Huskies rookie defender Larissa Bohlken scored on the power play at the 1:50 mark in the second period to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The tally was Bohlken’s first career U Sports goal including action in both the regular season and playoffs.

Third-year forwards Sophie Lalor and Jordyn Holmes picked up assists on the play.

Before the second period ended, third-year forward Breanne Trotter scored for the Cougars to even the score at 1-1. From there, the contest went to overtime.

At the 3:42 mark of overtime, Huskies third-year forward Kennedy Brown popped home the rebound from a shot taken from linemate Bailee Bourassa to count for the game and series winner. The tally was Brown’s second winning goal of the post-season.

For Bourassa, the assist was the first point of the post-season for the Huskies captain. As the team’s lone fifth-year player, Bourassa, who is pursuing her master’s degree in nursing, has faced tighter checking from opposing teams as a known scoring threat.

Brooklyn Stevely had an assist for the Huskies this past Friday.

Bourassa topped the Huskies in regular season scoring with 11 points coming on seven goals and four assists appearing in all 20 of the Huskies games. She along with the Huskies lone fourth-year player in forward Abby Shirley have provided a steady had to guide the team’s new generation.

Shirley picked up a second assist on Brown’s series winning goal.

Drever had a spectacular night making 53 saves to backstop the Huskies to victory. De Beauville turned away 22 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Cougars in what would be her final U Sports game as she completed her fifth-year of eligibility.

The Huskies will now face the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West Championship series. The Cougars swept the other best-of-three Canada West semifinal 2-0 against the University of Alberta Pandas.

The Thunderbirds finished second in Canada West regular season standings with a 14-6 mark. UBC will host the Canada West Final at the Doug Mitchell Sports Centre on Vancouver, B.C.

Game 1 is this coming Friday (9 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca), Game 2 follows this coming Saturday (9 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca), and if necessary, Game 3 is set for this coming Sunday (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca).

This will be the fifth time since 2014 the Huskies and Thunderbirds have met in the post-season and the first time a post-season clash between the two sides will be for the Canada West title. Both sides sport two series wins each from the previous four post-season meetings.

Before the 2020-21 campaign was lost due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, the Huskies and Thunderbirds had developed a rivalry in the style fitting the WHL from the 1980s.

Both teams experienced sizable turnover since the Thunderbirds swept a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series between the two clubs 2-0 in February of 2020.

The Huskies aim to keep the victory celebrations coming.

The Huskies and Thunderbirds split their two encounters in the 2021-22 regular season with the two squads playing intense but straight up. The current Huskies and Thunderbirds are in position to add their own unique spin to what has been a storied set of post-season battles that have happened in the past.

Both teams will play in the U Sports Championship Tournament, which is set for March 24-27 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

For this new generation of the Huskies, they have really nothing to lose and everything to gain. A priceless challenge lies ahead to keep adding pages to this special and unique chapter in team history they are currently writing.

KENNEDY BROWN SAYS GOOD NIGHT IN CALGARY!#HuskiePride #PowerOfThePack https://t.co/jE8AkqrVUQ pic.twitter.com/3b1uITfSB2

— USask Huskie Women's Hockey (@HuskiesWHKY) March 6, 2022

D-man breakaway gives Raiders OT win, other notes

Nolan Allan scored a breakaway OT winner on Saturday.

A defenceman breakaway proved to be one of the top highlights of this past weekend in the WHL.

On Saturday, the host Prince Albert Raiders found themselves locked in a 2-2 in overtime with the WHL East Division leading Winnipeg Ice in the friendly confines of the Art Hauser Centre. The Ice were buzzing in the Prince Albert zone until Raiders defenceman Nolan Allan picked off a drop pass from Winnipeg rearguard Benjamin Zloty.

Allan chipped the puck past Ice centre Chase Wheatcroft to spring himself on a breakaway. Wheatcroft fell when he turned to chase Allan allowing the Raiders blue-liner a clear unchallenged path to the Winnipeg goal.

Allan broke into the Winnipeg zone and sniped home the winning goal low glove side on Ice netminder Gage Alexander to give the Raiders 3-2 victory and allow the 2,339 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre to try and blow the roof off the legendary rink with their raucous response.

The tally was Allan’s third goal of the season and his second winner on the campaign. The first round NHL Entry Draft selection who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks has 24 assists to go with his three goals for 27 points in 49 games with the Raiders this season.

Power forward Jack Finley scored to give the Ice a 1-0 lead late in the first period of Saturday’s contest.

Offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior scored on the power play for the Raiders in the second period to even things up at 1-1. Early in the third, Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders scored to put the host side up 2-1.

With 8:57 remaining in the third, Ice star left-winger Mikey Milne scored the equalizer to force a 2-2 tie and send the contest to overtime.

That set up the dramatics for Allan’s winner.

Import netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 33 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (21-28-2-1). Alexander turned away 36 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Ice (36-9-3-2).

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the 23-25-2-1 Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

A defensemen? On a breakaway?

What else can you expect in WOAH-VERTIME!@PARaidersHockey | @NHLBlackhawks pic.twitter.com/MtMRKEmRwf

— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 6, 2022

• It is official, Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid sits alone in fifth place on the WHL’s all-time career regular season head coaching wins list. Habscheid did indeed pick up his 573^rd victory to move alone into fifth spot, when the Raiders downed the Hitmen in Calgary 1-0 on February 23. The Raiders current run of two straight wins has pushed Habscheid’s career regular season win total to 575 victories. Lorne Molleken sits fourth on the WHL’s career regular season head coaching wins list with 626 victories. Molleken piled up his win total working stints behind the bench with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Saskatoon Blades, Regina Pats and Vancouver Giants from 1989 to 2016. Brett Smith, who is the Raiders manager of communications and community relations, double checked to confirm Habscheid’s win total.
• A monster season allowed Regina Rebels forward Alexis Petford to vault into 10^th place on the all-time career regular season scoring list for the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League. Petford led the league in regular season scoring with 76 points coming on 38 goals and 38 assists appearing in 29 games with the Rebels. All of those point totals were career highs for Petford, who is skating in her final campaign of under-18 AAA eligibility. In her career with the Rebels, Petford has appeared in 91 regular season games piling up 127 points coming on 63 goals and 64 assists. Petford overtook Lauren Zary for 10^th place on the career scoring list. Zary now sits 11^th on the SFU18AAAHL career regular season scoring list with 126 points. She collected her 126 points on 44 goals and 82 assists playing 103 career regular season games with the Saskatoon Stars from 2008 to 2012.
• On Saturday, the University of Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Hockey team dropped a 2-1 decisions to the Ohio State University Buckeyes in a WCHA semifinal contest. Sophie Shirley, who is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team, had the lone goal for the Badgers. Shirley’s sister, Grace, is also on the Badgers roster and is also a Stars alumna. The Badgers still qualified for the NCAA Division I Women’s Hockey Championship tournament. On Thursday, the Badgers will play the Clarkson University Golden Knights in an opening round match in Boston, Massachusetts. The winner moves on to the elite eight quarter-final round against the third seeded Northeastern University Huskies. The Huskies roster contains star defender Brooke Hobson, who is an alumna of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 AAA team.
• On Saturday, the Cracovia Krakow from Poland downed the host Aalborg Pirates in Denmark 4-0 to win the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Continental Cup. The Krakow locked up a spot in the Champions Hockey League in Europe for the upcoming season. The Krakow roster contains Collin Shirley, who is an alumnus of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and U Sports’ University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team. Shirley had a goal in the Krakow’s win over the Pirates.
• On Monday, the Swift Current Broncos removed the interim tag on Devan Praught’s job title as the team’s head coach. The 34-year-old Praught’s is now the Broncos full-time head coach. Praught originally joined the Broncos as an assistant coach on July 30, 2021. He became the club’s interim head coach on October 14, 2021 after Dean Brockman stepped down as the Broncos head coach and general manager. The Broncos posted an 18-25-5-2 record after Praught became in the interim head coach. Chad Leslie became the Broncos general manager after Brockman’s departure.
• On Monday, the WHL named Brandon Wheat Kings overage defenceman Chad Nychuk as the player of the week for the week ending this past Sunday. Nychuk had three goals and seven assists in three games for the Wheat Kings to pick up player of the week honours. Also on Monday, the WHL named Kamloops Blazers netminder Dylan Ernst as the goaltender of the week for the week ending this past Sunday. Ernst won all three of his starts for the week in question posting a 1.97 goals against average and a .930 save percentage.
• The Edmonton Oil Kings are riding an 11-game winning streak to lead the WHL’s overall standings with a 41-11-2-1 mark.
• If you are looking for stories on the U Sports playoff run of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team, you need to check out huskiefan.ca. Huskies women’s hockey play-by-play voice Daniella Ponticelli has filed great stories about the playoff run accompanying the team on the road. HuskieFAN has provided beat coverage of the Huskies Football team and the Huskies Men’s Hockey 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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Huskies find magic in unique and special season

Women’s hockey squad ventures on in playoffs

The Huskies celebrate a goal earlier this season.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team is leaving a mark on a season that is like no other.

A year ago at this time, players were focusing on university assignments and exams. They never even got to play a game in the 2020-21 campaign as it was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that still grips the world.

On top of that, they were kicked out of their home rink as Merlis Belsher Place was serving as a potential field hospital in waiting and was being used to administer COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Now fast forward to this past Saturday. The Huskies were playing in Winnipeg, Man., and they blanked the host University of Manitoba Bisons 3-0 in Game 2 of a Canada West quarter-final playoff series.

That win allowed the Huskies to sweep the best-of-three set 2-0 to advance in the U Sports playoffs. They overcame an opponent they weren’t able to beat in the four head-to-head encounters in the regular season.

The Bisons finished fourth in the Canada West regular season standings with a 13-7 mark just ahead of the Huskies who were 11-7-2.

Thanks to those playoff wins over the Bisons, the Huskies were back in Merlis Belsher Place this week conducting practices preparing for their best-of-three Canada West semifinal series against the Mount Royal University Cougars in Calgary, Alta.

The Cougars topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 16-2-2 mark.

Bailee Bourassa led the Huskies in scoring this season.

Game 1 of the series is set for Friday (8 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca), and Game 2 follows on Saturday (7 p.m., Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca). If necessary, Game 3 will be held on Sunday (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca). All of those contests will be played at the Flames Community Arena.

Going into the 2021-22 campaign, the Huskies likely didn’t know what to expect. In late August of 2021, they moved back into Merlis Belsher Place, so they had at least the security of knowing they were going to be in their home rink.

Still, they never knew if the rug was going to be pulled out from under them on the COVID-19 front and the season would grind to a halt. With that noted, there was a sense of purpose from the Huskies and the rest of the teams in the conference to push through with the campaign to keep the Canada West Conference relevant.

That was true for the teams in men’s hockey along with that teams that play in all the various other sports under the conference’s umbrella.

With that noted, you have to suspect long time Huskies head coach Steve Kook had some sleepless nights navigating the program through the unique ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic since the middle of March of 2020. Kook would collect his 200^th career win in the 2021-22 campaign.

Going into the season, the Huskies would also be searching for a new identity on the ice since last playing a game in February of 2020, when they were eliminated from the U Sports playoff picture. Following the 2019-20 campaign, the Huskies lost eight players due to graduation.

Camryn Drever earned her first two U Sports playoff wins.

After losing a whole season, the Huskies had players contemplating life decisions, which including moving on from playing the sport of hockey. Out of the four players from the 2019-20 campaign who were playing their fourth years of eligibility on the team, only forward Bailee Bourassa came back to play her fifth and final season of U Sports eligibility.

She elected to pursue her master’s degree in nursing, while taking on the role of captain for the Huskies.

Forward Abby Shirley is the only player on the Huskies roster skating in her fourth year of eligibility.

The presence of Bourassa and Shirley helped give a steady hand to a younger generation of players looking to make their mark with the program.

Bourassa led the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists appearing in all of the Huskies 20 regular season games. Shirley skated in 18 regular season games collecting five goals and four assists.

Last Friday, Shirley arguably had her greatest on ice moment with the Huskies netting her first career U Sports hat trick in a 4-2 victory over the Bisons in Game 1 of their Canada West quarter-final series in Winnipeg.

The younger generation stepped up too as third-year forward Kennedy Brown had the Huskies lone other tally that proved to be the game winner breaking a 2-2 tie with four minutes remaining in the third period.

In the Huskies 3-0 series clinching victory in Game 2 against the Bisons this past Saturday, the U of S side received singles from third-year forward Sophie Lalor, rookie defender Brooklyn Stevely and Brown.

Abby Shirley picked up her first career U Sports hat trick.

During those two playoff wins, rookie defenders Larissa Bohlken, Kendra Zuchotzki and Emily Holmes have each picked up a pair of assists.

The Huskies also have an ace card to play in third-year netminder Camryn Drever. While she didn’t have any U Sports playoff starts going into the 2021-22 season, the Edmonton, Alta., product is an experienced post-season performer.

Before joining the U Sports ranks, Drever was the star goaltender for the St. Albert Slash, and she backstopped them to two straight Esso Cup titles as national under-18 AAA hockey champions in 2017 and 2018. She earned a reputation as a clutch player in those runs.

The Huskies series sweep over the Bisons marked Drever’s first two post-season wins at the U Sports level. She made 18 saves in the Huskies Game 1 victory and 21 stops for the shutout in the Huskies Game 2 win.

During the regular season, Drever appeared in 16 games posting an 8-7-1 record, a 1.49 goals against average, a .939 save percentage and two shutouts.

The 2021-22 campaign has been kind of a mulligan type of season, because no one could truly know what to expect when a whole league comes back after a season off.

At the moment, the Huskies have a legit shot to create more post-season magic. The Cougars won both regular season encounters between the two sides, but both games were only decided by respective 1-0 final scores.

The winner of this series will advance to the Canada West Championship series and lock up a berth in the U Sports final eight championship tournament, which is set for March 24 to 27 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

The Huskies want to have more victory celebrations.

The Huskies might ultimately bring home a couple of championship trophies.

Even if the championship trophies don’t come, the program accomplishments this season already have to be viewed as a major victory.

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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