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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Stars’ Shirley hits 80 career SFMAAAHL goals in style

Grace Shirley scored the OT winner for the Stars on Sunday.

    Grace Shirley always seems to rise to the occasion in big moments.

    With that said, it should come as no surprise the Saskatoon Stars captain hit another major milestone on an overtime winning goal.

    On Sunday afternoon with the Stars locked in a 2-2 tie with the Prince Albert Northern Bears at Merlis Belsher Place, Shirley drove home the winning goal on the power play from the front of the Bears net with 72 seconds remaining in the extra session. Shirley’s goal gave the Stars a 3-2 victory, and she became just the third player to score 80 career regular season goals in the history of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League.

Grace Shirley, left, celebrates her OT winning goal with Joelle Fiala (#27)

    In 92 career regular season games, Shirley has collected 80 goals and 57 assists for 137 points to sit as the fourth all-time leading scorer in the history of the SFMAAAHL. She was caught off guard when told she reached 80 career regular season goals.

    “I guess it is pretty cool,” said Shirley. “I like didn’t realize it or anything.

    “It is kind of nice to hear that. I’m just happy that we got the win, because I definitely think we deserved it.”

    The other players that scored 80 or more regular season goals in the history of the SFMAAAHL were Olivia Howe, who piled up 107 goals in 106 regular season games playing for the Notre Dame Hounds from 2008 to 2012, and Shirley’s former Stars teammate Mackenna Parker, who collected 82 goals in 104 regular season games. Parker graduated from the Stars as their captain at the end of last season.

Paris Oleksyn scored the Bears first goal on Sunday.

    Shirley has built a history of scoring big overtime goals for the Stars. In her rookie season in 2015-16, she scored the overtime winner in the deciding game of the SFMAAAHL championship series to give the Stars their second league title.

    Stars head coach Greg Slobodzian said he never stops being amazed by his talented captain.

    “She (Shirley) is definitely a player that likes to rise to the occasion,” said Slobodzian. “She has done it for us a few times in overtime.

    “She did it again. As soon as it went in, my assistant coaches looked at me and said, ‘Wow, great move.’ Her in front of the net like that, there are pretty good odds it is going in.”   

Abby Soyko drives home the Bears second goal on Sunday.

    Shirley admitted the moment of scoring her 80^th career regular season goal was made more memorable because it came in overtime against the Bears, who are the Stars biggest rivals.

    “They are a really good team,” said Shirley. “They battled hard.

    “It was definitely a close game. It was nice to get the win over them for sure.”

Sunday’s game had a few changes in momentum.

    The Stars went ahead 1-0 in the first period on a goal from forward Kaitlin Jockims.

    The Bears jumped in front 2-1 scoring twice in a span of 83 seconds near the midway point of the second period. Prince Albert’s tallies came off the sticks of Paris Oleksyn and captain Abby Soyko, who scored off a hard drive to the Saskatoon net.

Ashley Messier had the equalizer for the Stars on Sunday.

    The Stars evened things up at 2-2 with 1:42 remaining in the second period on a hard mid-range blast from offensive-defender Ashley Messier.

    The two sides played through a scoreless third to set things up for Shirley’s heroics in overtime.

Kaitlyn Cadrain made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Stars. Scout Anderson turned away 30 shots to take the overtime setback in the Bears net.

    The Stars improved to 10-0 with the win, while the Bear record moved to 5-4-1.

    Saskatoon and Prince Albert went at it on Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place with the Stars posting a 6-0 victory.

    Slobodzian expected a push back by the Bears in Sunday’s clash.

Goalie Kaitlyn Cadrain makes one of her 28 saves in goal for the Stars.

    “Teams answer the bell,” said Slobodzian. “They don’t like to chase the puck all night.

    “Today was the exact same. P.A. came and gave us what I expected. Their goaltender played well.

    “Those are the types of games that you want to play. I wish we were playing those games every day. That is how you get better as a group.”

    In Saturday’s 6-0 win by the Stars, Shirley and Chace Sperling each had a goal and an assist for Saskatoon. Anna Leschyshyn, Kaylee Baun, Calli Arnold and Jayda Sachs all had singles for the Stars.

    Jockims and Abby DeCorby had two assists each to help power the Saskatoon side.

    Arden Kliewer made 17 stops to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Stars. Lexi Beuker turned away 30 shots to take the setback in goal for the Bears.

Grace Shirley has scored 80 career regular season goals.

    Shirley said her squad has to be a little sharper, when they play teams a second time in a two-game weekend series.

    “We just have to come into our second game more focused and not thinking it is going to be easy,” said Shirley. “Every game, you need to put your best foot forward and just go hard all the time.

    “I think we just need to come into every game more focused and just with the mindset to work hard and kind of even finish off stronger than our first game. I think that will be something we work on for sure. We’ll take the two wins for sure here.”

    The Stars return to action this coming Saturday when they host the Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wings at 2:15 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

    The Bears next game is Nov. 24, when they host the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

    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.