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| Kennedy Harris (#22) battles for a loose puck. |
Kennedy Harris admits her University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey
team never seems to win the easy way.
On Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the chips all seemed
to be in place for her squad to get a weekend sweep of the visiting U of
Calgary Dinos. After the Huskies took a 3-0 victory over the Dinos on Friday
night at Rutherford, a large number of the U of C players came down with a case
of food poisoning on Saturday.
The Dinos took the ice with 14 skaters and rookie Kira Wasylak, who was
technically U of C’s third goalie, made her first career U Sports regular
season start.
Wasylak sported a #1 Dinos jersey that had the name bar covered
up with tape and wore the #30 mask of sophomore netminder Kelsey Roberts, who
didn’t dress on Saturday.
Just 64 seconds into the contest, Harris fired home her first goal of
the season top corner over Wasylak’s glove hand to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Wasylak proceeded to make 40 saves, and the 1-0 scored ultimately held up as
the final outcome in favour of U of S.
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| Kennedy Harris (#22) drives hard to the net for the Huskies. |
“We battled through the
whole game, so that was good. I think this was our best 60 minutes yet on the
season. It was good for us.”
The Kindersley, Sask., product liked her team’s effort overall. At the
other end of the rink, sophomore netminder Chloe Marshall made 12 stops to earn
her second shutout of the season.
Harris also tackled the obvious observation adding it would have been
nice had her Huskies scored a few more goals on a short-staffed Dinos side.
“We struggle to put
the puck in the net,” said Harris. “It is something we have to work on, and we have
been working on.
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| Kennedy Harris, right, is all smiles after scoring her first of the season. |
“I am a little
disappointed we didn’t come away with it (more convincingly), but we won and
that is all that matters in the end.”
The 22-year-old was happy to finally get her first goal of the campaign
in the Huskies eighth regular season outing. She always likes to chip in
offensively but knows that is not her role on the team.
Since joining the Huskies as a rookie in the squad’s 2013-14 Canada West
championship winning season, Harris has been a defensive forward who is tough
in the faceoff circle. In 117 career regular season games, she has potted eight
goals and 19 assists.
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| Bailee Bourassa is one of the many young players Kennedy Harris likes. |
In her rookie season with the Stars in the 2011-12 campaign, Harris fired
home 26 goals to tie Emily Clark for the team lead. Clark is currently on the
centralized roster for Canada’s national women’s team and is battling for spot
to play for that squad in the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be held
Feb. 9-25, in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Harris knew that when she stepped up to the university level that she
might not have the same role she once held with the Stars, because all the
players are that much better. She did find it tough at first when the points
didn’t come in bunches.
“It is always pretty
frustrating, but you have to take on a role that you are given and kind of try
and work with it and take it in stride,” said Harris. “If the goals start
coming, that is great.
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| Rookie Kira Wasylak was thrown into the fire for the Dinos. |
“The transition is
always pretty hard,” said Harris. “I know I spent a lot of time on my butt my
first year.
“It is a pretty
tough transition, but they seem to take it in stride. They are doing pretty
well so far, so it is good to see.”
With the Huskies, Harris is well known for her grit and her hard work.
She said she gained those characteristics from her father, Cory, and mother,
Janet.
Due to those traits, she became one of the team’s assistant captains at
the start of her fourth year. While she is part of the Huskies leadership
group, Harris sees those types of qualities in the younger players on the
Huskies roster.
“For me, it is just
a matter of being like positive on the bench and leading like by working hard
and making things happen.”
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| Kennedy Harris (#22) and her teammates salute the Rutherford crowd. |
The Huskies are off until Nov. 10, when they travel to Vancouver to
face the Canada West leading University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (6-2).
Harris said her fifth year is flying by. At the annual wrap up dinner
the team usually has, Harris always heard from previous Huskies grads that the
fifth-year zips past quickly, and now she is really believing those words.
She plans to keep enjoying the time she has left with the Huskies.
Harris said she truly values the lifelong friendships she has made with the team
and added there is one more wish she would like to see come true.
“I’d love to win another championship,” said Harris. “That would be a
good memory for sure.”
Franson’s big night does in Dogs
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| Jesse Forsberg had a goal for the Huskies on Saturday. |
On Saturday at the Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary, Franson had a
pair of goals and an assist to help his U of Calgary Dinos, who are rated
eighth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, earn a 4-2 win over the Huskies, who are
rated fourth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.
With the two teams locked in a 2-2 draw, Franson teamed up with
linemate Luke Harrison to set up defenceman Dylan Busenius for a power-play
goal to put the Dinos up 3-2 at the 14:54 mark of the second period.
Franson scored the Dinos first goal of the contest and added his second
marker in the third period to give his side a 4-2 edge that held up as the
final score. Rookie Tim Vanstone picked up a single for the Dinos, while
netminder Matthew Greenfield made 24 stops to pick up the win in goal for U of
C.
Levi Cable and Jesse Forsberg replied with singles for the Huskies.
Jordon Cooke turned away 24 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies.
U of S falls to 6-1-1 with the loss to sit second in the Canada West
standings just two points ahead of the third place Dinos, who improved to 4-1-3.
The Huskies are off until Nov. 10, when they host the UBC Thunderbirds
(5-3) at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink.
Kubic backs Blades to second straight win
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| Ryan Kubic made 32 stops in goal for the Blades on Saturday. |
On Saturday night before 3,058 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, Kubic
made 32 saves to back the Blades to a 4-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings
in a WHL clash. The Wheat Kings fell to 9-5-1 with that loss, while the Blades
improved to 5-7-1.
One night earlier in Swift Current, the 19-year-old Kubic, who was
acquired right before the start of the regular season in a trade with the
Vancouver Giants, turned away 33 shots to help the Blades best the host Broncos
4-3. The Broncos currently have a 10-2-1 record and are rated second in the
Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 rankings.
Kubic had some tough outings before those two wins replacing former
Blades starting goalie Logan Flodell. Flodell, who is an overager this season,
was traded to the Broncos on the same day Kubic was acquired by Saskatoon.
Against the Wheat Kings on Saturday, the Blades jumped out to a 4-0
with a pair of goals from star centre Cameron Hebig and singles from Tyler Lees
and Chase Wouters.
Tanner Kaspick scored inside of the final minute of the third period
for the Wheat Kings. Logan Thompson turned away 19 shots to take the setback in
goal for Brandon.
The consecutive wins over the Broncos and Wheat Kings mark the first
time the Blades have won two straight in the current campaign.
The Blades will try for their third win in a row on Wednesday, when
they start a three-game road trip traveling to Lethbridge to take on the
Hurricanes, who are currently 7-5.
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comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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