Goalie’s mom honoured in team’s “Play For a
Cure” night
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| Huskies G Jessica Vance and her teammates celebrate Friday’s win. |
On Friday night playing before 654 spectators at Merlis
Belsher Place, Vance stopped 11 shots to back the University of Saskatchewan
Huskies Women’s Hockey team to a 3-0 victory over the University of Calgary
Dinos. Friday’s contest was the Huskies 11th annual “Play For a Cure” game, and
the team was playing in honour of Vance’s mom, Liane.
Liane was diagnosed with colorectal cancer last summer. She
is still undergoing treatment for the disease, but since it was detected early,
she has a good prognosis.
 |
| Jessica Vance covers up one of her 11 saves on Friday. |
He was diagnosed shortly after attending the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders 2013 Grey
Cup victory in Regina and is closing in on being cancer free for five years.
When Bruce went
through his cancer battle, Jessica was starring for her hometown Prince Albert
Northern Bears female midget AAA hockey team. She said the hockey rink is the
happy place for her and her family.
“You just go out
there, and you just play your game,” said Jessica, who was Canada West Conference
MVP and a U Sports first team all-Canadian all-star last season. “They love the sport of hockey too, so it makes them happy and
myself playing too.”
Jessica took part in
a pre-game festivities, where Liane dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff.
 |
| Jessica Vance was the Canada West Conference MVP last season. |
The 21-year-old, who
has four shutouts this season, said she has focused on being as positive as
possible this season as her mom battles cancer. Just recently, the Vance clan
found out one of their family dogs, Bella, is battling cancer.
“You try not to let
it affect you too much,” said Jessica, whose Huskies improved to 10-6-1 with
the win. “I’ve been through it before.
“My family has been
through it before. We kind of just know how to take it and know how to deal
with it. I think playing hockey really helps too.
“It was a big night
for my mom and us, so it was fun.”
 |
Liane Vance, centre, watches Friday’s Huskies game. |
U of S took over the
contest from that point on.
The Huskies held
21-4 edge in shots on goal in the second period. They finally broke through
scoring on the power play at the 17:02 mark of the second frame.
Working down low in
the right corner of the Dinos zone, Huskies fourth-year defender Leah Bohlken
fed a pass across the face of the Dinos goal to third-year forward Emily
Upgang, who made an easy backdoor tap to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
 |
| Bruce Vance is a cancer survivor. |
Huskies rookie
forward Kennedy Brown rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 16.6
seconds remaining in the third period. Brown’s goal was the first of her U
Sports regular season career.
Kelsey Roberts
turned away 30-of-32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Dinos (2-13-2).
“It is pretty
special,” said Jessica about the night. “It was nice that I could get a shutout
too.
“It just kind of all
makes it even more special, so it was good.”
When the game itself
got going, Jessica said it felt natural to focus on the task at hand
“After puck drop,
you just have to treat it like a normal game,” said Jessica, who is in her
third year of U Sports eligibility. “You just try to not think about anything
else.
 |
| Emily Upgang scored a power-play goal for the Huskies. |
Liane and Bruce try
to make as many of Jessica’s games as possible like they did on Friday. It is
rare for them to miss a home game, and last season, they made it to a number of
Jessica’s road games.
Jessica said her
parents have been the biggest influences in helping her along in hockey. Bruce,
who held a number of roles with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders from 2001 to
2015, was the team manager for the Bears, when Jessica played for them.
With the Bears,
Jessica played five seasons from 2010 to 2015 appearing in 91 regular season games
posting a 48-36 record, a 2.27 goals against average, a .926 save percentage
and 16 shutouts. Her career games played and win totals are still Saskatchewan
Female Midget AAA Hockey League records.
Jessica moved on to
play for the Bisons before joining the Huskies. In her two seasons with the
Huskies, Jessica has appeared in 30 regular season games posting a 21-7-2 record,
a 0.95 goals against average and a .957 save percentage to go with her 13
shutouts.
 |
| Jessica Vance (#30) poses for a post-game team picture. |
“I wouldn’t be where
I am today without them,” said Jessica. “From footing the bill in AAA to me
wanting to be a goalie, it is not cheap.
“I literally
wouldn’t be here today without them. They support me in whatever I want to do.”
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