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| Marley Ervine, right, celebrates a goal with a pair of teammates. |
The last time the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s
hockey team hosted a post-season game at home they won the Canada West title in
2014.
The way this season’s playoff picture has shaped up it
wouldn’t be a surprise if the Huskies venture back to the conference final and
land a spot in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship tournament,
which runs March 17 to 20 in Calgary.
With that said, no guarantees can be made in the Canada West
women’s hockey ranks in 2015-16 judging by the regular season standings. The
Huskies finished a solid in the eight-team circuit with a 14-9-5 record, and
were six points shy of first place and nine points from missing the post-season
all together. They locked up a playoff berth in their third last contest of the
regular season.
Any of the six teams that are alive in the post-season can
envision themselves in post-season glory.
The Huskies open a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final
series on Friday against the University of Manitoba Bisons, who finished fifth
in Canada West with a 13-13-2 mark, on Friday at 7 p.m. at the ancient
Rutherford Rink. Game 2 follows on Saturday and Game 3, if necessary, will be
Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford on both nights.
The Bisons played the Huskies extremely tough in four
head-to-head contests, where each side won twice. The fact that Huskies have
home ice advantage will likely give them that extra kick to get out of the
first round.
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| Julia Flinton topped the Huskies in scoring. |
Dube was carted off the ice, and if she is unable to play or is
less than 100 per cent, the chances of beating the Thunderbirds in Vancouver get
easier.
If the Huskies get past that round with that scenario, they would actually end
up hosting the Canada West final at home, because the conference’s other first
and third place clubs would be taken down by a red hot U of Calgary Dinos
team.
The Dinos are assured of a spot at the eight-team CIS championship
tournament due to the fact they host the event. They struggled during the first
half of the campaign before closing the regular season winning nine of their
last 11 games to qualify for the Canada West playoffs with a 12-12-4 record.
Their Russian imports Iya Gavrilova and Sasha Vafina have
played some of their best hockey finishing first and second respectively in
conference scoring. Gavrilova had 20 goals and 23 assists, while Vafina had 14
goals and 21 assists.
Third-year netminder Hayley Dowling has had a breakout campaign
posting a 10-5-1 record, a 2.30 goals against average, a .915 save percentage
and two shutouts. She started every contest in U of C’s season ending hot
stretch.
The Dinos have the game breakers offensively and are solid
in goal. As a sixth seed, they have a good chance of running the table on the
road and have to be looked at as the favourites to win the Canada West title.
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| Marley Ervine has played 152 straight games for the Huskies. |
The Cougars have won seven of their last 10, so the series
with U of C will be a battle, but the Dinos might be too hot to stop at this point.
If the Dinos win their quarter-final series, they would advance to play the
first place University of Alberta Pandas (16-9-3) in the semifinal round.
The
Pandas won both meetings between these two clubs in Edmonton, but the Dinos
have looked more like a first place team down the stretch. The Dinos will have
a strong shot to knock off their provincial rivals.
In the crazy Canada West season, it is realistic to see the
Huskies host the Dinos in a best-of-three conference final, which would ensure
the Huskies a berth at nationals. With that said, both the Huskies and Dinos
could as easily be done in round one.
An intangible that might help the Huskies is the fact they
still have 12 holdovers from their Canada West winning championship squad in 2014.
Out of those dozen holdovers, five are set to exhaust their fifth and final
years of eligibility in Brooke Mutch, Hanna McGillivray, Marley Ervine, captain
Paige Anakaer and star offensive defender Julia Flinton.
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| Captain Paige Anakaer might return from a knee injury. |
All five have been heart-and-soul members of the team, and
you can likely expect one last flash from this group. Flinton had her best
season leading the Huskies in scoring with a career best 26 points coming on
four goals and career high 22 assists. She was also a career-best plus-15 in
the plus-minus department.
Ervine, the feisty forward from Kindersley, had career bests
in goals (nine), assists (15), points (24) and plus-minus (plus-8). Besides
holding the Canada West record for career regular season games at 136, Ervine
has never missed a game in her five seasons with the Huskies appearing in 152
straight contests including action in the regular season, post-season and CIS
championship tournament. She would love to continue to grow that mark.
The post-season is stage ready. The Huskies have great
chance to step up into a leading role.
Blades finally find that little extra
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| The Blades celebrate a victory over the Broncos on Wednesday. |
On Wednesday, the Blades downed the visiting Swift Current
Broncos 4-3 before 3,768 spectators at the Sasktel Centre thanks to doing a lot
of little things right. The hosts blocked numerous shots, won a number of key
puck battles, went 2-for-6 on the power play and killed off the five power-play
opportunities the Broncos had.
Starting goaltender Brock Hamm, who has been plagued by
inconsistency, made 39 saves to earn the win in goal, which included a number
of game-saving stops. Saskatoon also received goals from four different sources
as Dustin Perillat, Josh Paterson, Cameron Hebig and Braylon Shmyr all potted
singles.
Saskatoon also overcame some rough spots. The Broncos scored
in the closing seconds of the second period to cut a two-goal Blades lead to
2-1. With the Blades holding a 4-2 edge, the Broncos scored with 1:58 to play
in the third to create a frantic finish, but the hosts successfully closed out
the game.
The Blades improved to 20-33-4 and sit 11 points behind the
final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference held by the Edmonton Oil
Kings (24-26-6-1). Saskatoon only has 15 games remaining in its regular season
schedule and would need to post a huge winning streak to have a chance of
earning a post-season berth for the first time since 2013.
A more realistic expectation for the Blades might be to
focus on repeating their effort from Wednesday night each time they hit the ice
through to their last 15 contests. With 20 wins and 44 points, the Blades have
bested those totals from a season ago. They are still taking little steps
forward, even if the big post-season step likely doesn’t come just yet.
Stars close regular season with first locked
up
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| Grace Shirley swoops into the offensive zone for the Stars. |
The defending SFMAAAHL champions last hit the ice on Jan.
31, when they thumped the Melville Prairie Fire 8-0 at the Agriplace Arena.
They proceeded to play the waiting game to see if they would need to win one of
their final two regular season outings to lock up first place in the eight-team
league for a second straight year.
The Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats were the only club
that could catch the Stars in the standings, if they won their final six
regular season games in regulation. When the Wildcats fell 5-4 after a
tiebreaking shootout to the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox on Feb. 3, the Stars
(22-4) captured first overall.
Saskatoon heads to Battleford for clashes with the last
place Sharks (3-21-2) on Saturday and Sunday.
Stars forwards Mackenna Parker and Grace Shirley are likely
long shots at this point to win the league’s scoring title. Both trail Regina
Rebels forward Kennedy Bobyck who tops all scorers with 16 goals and 22 assists
for 38 points. Bobyck recently turned 15 years of age.
Parker is second in the league scoring race with 32 points
coming on 14 goals and 18 assists. Shirley is third in SFMAAAHL scoring with 30
points coming on 18 goals and 12 assists.
All eight clubs in the SFMAAAHL advance to the post-season.
Late (Heisler) McGregor forever a legend in
Regina
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| Crystal (Heisler) McGregor circa 2001. |
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, McGregor was the point
guard on the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team, when the
Cougars were the most exciting women’s hoops squad in Canadian Interuniversity
Sport. They ran teams out of the gym with their high tempo transition attack
and never seemed to fatigue in the process.
McGregor was the quarterback at the point guard position who
dished off assists at will and had deadly accuracy from three-point range
sporting her trademark #11 jersey. She was a key member of the Cougars CIS
championship team in 2001.
The graduate of Regina's Sheldon-Williams Collegiate is more remembered for her always upbeat
personality away from the court and infectious smile. She was very caring and
had a natural ability to make everyone around her feel comfortable and welcome.
During McGregor’s years with the Cougars, little girls
around the Queen City grew up with dreams of playing for the Cougars women’s
hoops team. McGregor attained legendary status in the Regina sporting scene, as
she moved on to coach basketball at the school and club levels following her
playing days.
On May 15, 2014, she passed away at age 35 after a battle
with cancer that lasted over two years. Her motto during that battle was to “Dance
In the Rain.” Her husband, Paul, became a single father with two young children
in daughter, Aija, and son, Zayden. Aija was only eight-years-old at the time
of Crystal’s death, and Zayden was age two.
On Friday night, the Cougars basketball teams are inviting
back all their alumnae and alumni and their families for their games that night
with the U of Saskatchewan Huskies at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and
Sport on the U of R campus. Free tickets will be distributed to the alumnae and
alumni and their families.
The women’s
game is set for 6 p.m. and the men’s game is slated for 8 p.m. Aija’s club team
also plays a mini game during halftime of the Cougars women’s contest.
Special tributes will be held for Crystal McGregor and funds
will be raised for the Shine On Foundation, which helps give financial support
to moms who are fighting an advanced cancer diagnosis and help them and their families create lifelong positive memories.
You can bet there will be a special vibe in the Cougars home
gym on Friday night. It will be another example of how McGregor’s memory
continues to inspire and bring people together.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
