Huskies face monster test in Stingers to start nationals

Drever’s presence give Dogs shot at major upset

The Huskies aim to enjoy some good moments hosting nationals.

Camryn Drever and her University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team will never back down from a challenge.

They face a big one in the quarter-final round at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament, which runs Thursday through to Sunday at Merlis Belsher Place. The eighth seeded Huskies will take on the top seeded Concordia University Stingers as the feature game at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Merlis.

“I think we just have to come out strong and play our game,” said Drever, who is playing out her fifth and final year of U Sports eligibility. “When we shy away from doing the things that we’re really good at is when teams kind of take advantage of that.

“I think we just have to come out with a good forecheck and hopefully pop one first would be ideal for us. We just have to come out and do our things and run line by line, and I think we will be OK.”

The Huskies finished fourth in 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. The Stingers posted a perfect 25-0 regular season record and captured the Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec title with a 4-2 post-season mark.

Concordia University has also appeared in the title game of the last two U Sports Championship tournaments. In 2022 in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the Stingers blanked the Nipissing University Lakers 4-0 to capture the Golden Path Trophy in the championship final.

Camryn Drever is a second team all-Canadian all-star.

Before downing the Lakers, Concordia blanked the Huskies 2-0 in a semifinal match, where Drever came up with 37 saves in the setback. The Huskies rebounded to blank the University of New Brunswick Reds 2-0 in the bronze medal game.

At last year’s tournament held in Montreal, the Stingers dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker in overtime to the eighth seeded Mount Royal University Cougars.

During the 2023-24 regular season with the Huskies, Drever posted a 15-4-2 record, a 1.33 goals against average, a .954 save percentage and five shutouts. She was named the player of the year and goaltender of the year for the Canada West. On Wednesday night, Drever was named a second team all-Canadian all-star.

Huskies head coach Steve Kook has a tonne of faith that Drever can give the host side a chance to get past the Stingers.

“You see the firepower these teams bring, I think it is a comfort having Cam (Drever) back there,” said Kook. “We’ve asked Cam to be a stalwart for our program over the last three years.

“We’ll ask her to do it one more time for three days.”

Forward Emilie Lussier had a head turning rookie year for the Stingers topping the team in regular season scoring with 34 points coming off 18 goals and 16 assists. She was named a second team all-Canadian all-star and was named to the U Sports all-rookie team.

Sophie Lalor breaks into the offensive zone for the Huskies.

A pair of third year forwards in Emilie Lavoie and Jessymaude Drapeau each recorded 27 points for the Stingers in the regular season. Lavoie collected her 27 points on 15 goals and 12 assists, while Drapeau piled up her 27 points on 11 goals and 16 assists.

Stingers head coach Julie Chu said the experience her side gained in their previous two trips to the U Sports Championship tournament helps, but she added each season writes its own story.

“I think like everything we build off what we accomplished in the past,” said Chu, who was named the U Sports coach of the year. “For those players that lived that, they are going to build off of it.

“For those players that lived the loss last year, they are going to build off of that. Those that weren’t a part of our program are going to build of their experiences. I think for us the great thing is when you have a veteran crew that has experienced nationals at least know what is the rhythm of going to a hotel (and) being surrounded by other incredible teams and athletes.

“Like anything, this is our new team. That was really important to us in training camp is to make sure we weren’t stuck in last year and make sure we weren’t stuck in the previous years. (It is) what are we going to do this year with this group that is different.”

Fifth-year forward Sophie Lalor led the Huskies in regular season scoring with 22 points coming off 12 goals and 10 assists. Fifth-year forward Kara Kondrat was second in team scoring with 18 points coming six goals and 12 assists.

Third-year forward Mallory Dyer recorded 10 goals during the regular season for the Huskies. Defender Isabella Pozzi, who is in her fifth year, topped the Huskies in defence scoring in the regular season with 13 points coming off four goals and nine assists.

Kara Kondrat finished second in team scoring for the Huskies.

When the Huskies moved into Merlis Belsher Place for the start of the 2018-19 campaign, they wanted to host a U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament. Kook said his players are as ready as they will ever be.

“This was our vision when we first opened the place,” said Kook, who team was off for 24 days heading into Thursday’s quarter-final. “This would be a perfect hosting spot for a national championship.

“It doesn’t always work. You try to get timely bids for when your team is right and you have a veteran squad. It is fortunate for us that it worked out this way.

“For us, we just excited to host the country and be able to show off the building. Like I said, I think this building is perfect for hosting events just like this.”

Drever, who helped the St. Albert Slash win two Esso Cup titles as national under-18 AAA female hockey champions in 2017 and 2018, wants to finish her time with the Huskies on a high note. The Edmonton product did add that no matter what happens at nationals she will always reflect fondly on her time with the Huskies.

“I get emotional thinking about it,” said Drever. “It has been like a heck of a six years.

“There have been lots of ups and downs and just trusting the process I think has been the biggest thing for me. Just to kind of see it all come together and to end off hosting nationals is a pretty incredible feeling.

Isabella Pozzi controls the back end for the Huskies.

“There are really no words to kind of capture the last six years and all the memories in the dressing room and road trips and everything. It has just been like a phenomenal six years. I couldn’t thank the coaching staff and the team and Huskie Athletics enough for the last six years.”

NOTE – I put together an advancer piece on the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament for The Canadian Press. That story can be found by clicking right 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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Huskies good enough when they need to be in 3-0 win

Drever makes 30 saves in victory over Cougars

Goalie Camryn Drever dives on a loose puck during a net scramble.

Some good moments and a stellar outing by star netminder Camryn Drever allowed the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey Team to overcome some holiday season rust.

On Friday playing before 511 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the Huskies blanked their provincial rivals the University of Regina Cougars 3-0 in the first U Sports regular season contest for both sides since returning from their respective Christmas breaks. Drever made 30 saves to pick up her 12^th career U Sports regular season shutout.

The fifth-year’s performance allowed the Huskies to overcome a determined Cougars side that carried play for a good two thirds of the contest.

Camryn Drever made 30 saves to pick up a shutout win on Friday.

“It wasn’t a very good game for us,” said Huskies head coach Steve Kook, whose team improved to 11-4-1-1. “It was a good thing that Cam was on her game tonight.

“We fought the puck the whole night. The plays were there. We just didn’t pull the trigger.

“We were lucky that we got a couple early, and I thought that we played the right way for about eight or nine minutes there. We took some stupid penalties – undisciplined stuff that we didn’t need to. We almost killed ourselves there tonight.”

The two sides started out Friday’s game playing fairly even. The Huskies, who are rated 10^th in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, appeared to break things open scoring two goals 73 seconds apart inside the final four minutes of the opening frame.

Mallory Dyer scored the Huskies first goal on Friday.

With 3:58 remaining in the first, Huskies third-year centre Mallory Dyer potted her sixth goal of the season to give the host side a 1-0 lead. Positioned at the right side of the Cougars net, Dyer got her stick on a rebound from a shot taken by linemate Kara Kondrat and quickly popped the puck into an empty cage.

Just 73 seconds later, the Cougars turned the puck over in their own zone. The puck came to Huskies rookie defender Jacquelyne Chief, who wired home her second goal of the campaign to put the Huskies up 2-0.

When it seemed the Huskies had all the momentum after Chief’s goal, the Cougars found another gear. The visitors closed out the first period with a flurry of five shots to hold a 12-8 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes.

Jacquelyne Chief had the Huskies second goal on Friday.

With 10.1 seconds remaining in the first, Drever made a key glove save off Cougars winger Lauren Focht to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.

“I think it is tough maybe coming back from the break,” said Huskies third-year centre Desmarais. “It was our first game we got under our belt.

“It was a little rough off the start, but I think we got our legs under us just jumping back into it.”

The Cougars controlled play throughout the second period holding a 16-10 edge in shots on goal for the frame, which was a total that seemed to flatter the host side.

The Huskies had a huge chance to expand their lead, when star fifth-year centre Kennedy Brown, who is the squad’s captain, had a short-handed breakaway. Brown was denied by Cougars standout netminder Arden Kliewer.

Lauren Focht had a big first period chance to score for the Cougars.

A short time later, the Cougars had a huge chance to crack on to the scoreboard. Winger Makena Kushniruk centred the puck from behind the Huskies goal to linemate Paige Hubbard, who was positioned right in front of the home side’s net. Hubbard quickly fired a shot on goal, but the puck was swallowed up by Drever.

“Most of the first and just about all of the second, it was the Cam (Drever) show,” said Kook. “The thing about Cam’s game that is so good is that they get one (shot), but they don’t often get a second or a third.

“When we’re fighting the puck, it is important that Cam doesn’t give them that second or third, and that is what she does so well.”

Makena Kushniruk controls the puck in the offensive zone.

The Huskies proceeded to play a fairly strong shutdown style third period, where they outshot the Cougars 6-2. One of the two Cougars chances came on a Hubbard breakaway late in the frame, but Drever stoned the fourth-year winger keeping the visitors off the scoreboard.

Kondrat finished out the game’s scoring firing the puck into an empty net with 1:45 remaining in the third to round out the 3-0 win for the host side.

“I think we kind of noticed, yeah, that we did a little bit better in the third,” said Huskies fourth-year centre Kate Ball. “(It was) a rough start, but at least we got the win.”

Kara Kondrat had a goal and an assist for the Huskies.

Desmarais said her squad started to focus on playing more of a shutdown game in the third due to holding a two-goal advantage for most of the frame before Kondrat added her empty-net tally.

“I know when we are up in the third we like to focus on getting the pucks deep and getting fresh legs out there,” said Desmarais. “I think rather than getting a bunch of pucks on net like we want to in the first and second I think focused on getting the puck deep.”

Kliewer turned away 21-of-23 shots to take the setback in net for the Cougars, who fell to 5-12-1-1.

The Huskies and Cougars will go at it again on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

The Huskies begin to celebrate their win on Friday.

“I think moving forward it will be a little bit better now,” said Desmarais. “We had to get that one out of the way.”

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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