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| Bailee Bourassa leads the Huskies to U Sports nationals. |
On Sunday
and Monday, the Huskies traveled from Saskatoon all the way to Charlottetown,
P.E.I., for the U Sports elite-eight women’s hockey championship tournament.
The Huskies were given the fifth seed on Sunday in the quest for the Golden
Path Trophy.
They will
open the tournament taking on the Ontario University Athletics champion Brock
University Badgers on Friday at the MacLauchlan Arena. The game will be webcast
on cbcsports.ca and CBC Gem, or fans can listen to the call from Huskies
Women’s Hockey play-by-play voice Daniella Ponticelli on HuskieFAN.ca at 12
p.m. Saskatchewan time.
The U
Sports championship tournament opens on Thursday with the event’s first two
quarter-final contests.
The Huskies
head to U Sports nationals having to reset after being swept 2-0 by the
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the best-of-three Canada West
Championship series. Heading into the Canada West Final, the Huskies were 4-0
in the post-season having swept a pair of best-of-three playoff series on the
road.
Both the
Huskies and Thunderbirds already locked up berths to the U Sports championship
tournament due to advancing to the Canada West Final.
In Game 1
of the Canada West Championship series held on March 11 at the Doug Mitchell
Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, B.C., the Thunderbirds jumped out to a
3-0 lead in the first period with Grace Elliott, Mia Bierd and Ashley McFadden
netting singles.
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| Sophie Lalor had 10 points in 20 regular season games. |
Huskies
star goaltender Camryn Drever made 39 saves in that Game 1 loss. Thunderbirds
rookie netminder Elise Hugens made 13 saves to pick up the shutout victory.
In Game 2
at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on March 12, the Huskies and
Thunderbirds went to overtime locked in a 0-0 tie. Just 98 seconds into
overtime, Thunderbirds forward Chanreet Bassi scored the contest’s only goal in
a 1-0 victory for the host side that allowed UBC to capture the Canada West
title.
Drever made
34 saves to give the Huskies a chance to steal the win in that contest. Hugens
made 14 saves to pick up a second straight shutout victory.
The Huskies
head into their U Sports quarter-final having posted an 11-7-2 record in the
regular season and a 4-2 mark in the post-season. The Badgers posted a 7-5-3-1
record in regular season play and a 3-0 mark in the post-season.
The most
exciting thing about the U Sport championship tournament is the fact it is
played in a single-elimination format. Anything can happen in a single game
situation.
With Drever
between the pipes, the Huskies have the goalie that can win them three straight
games to capture a U Sports national title.
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| Camryn Drever, right, is a clutch post-season performer. |
While the
offensive dried up for the Huskies against the Thunderbirds in the Canada West Final, they have for the most part been able to get enough scoring by committee
through the regular season and the first four games of the post-season to pull
out wins.
Huskies lone fifth-year player in forward Bailee Bourassa topped the team in regular season scoring with 11 points coming on seven goals and four assists playing in all the Huskies 20 contests. Bourassa returned to the Huskies after deciding to pursue her master’s degree in nursing and took on the role as the team’s captain.
She will be playing her final U Sports games this weekend, and with all that she has done for the team, it would cool if the Huskies team could help her graduate on a big high note.
Forward
Abby Shirley is the Huskies lone fourth-year player and she led the way in
post-season scoring with five points coming on three goals and two assists in
six games. She also had nine points in the regular season coming off five goals
and four assists appearing in 18 games.
Bourassa
and Shirley are the only players remaining on the Huskies roster from the last
time they went to nationals back in the 2017-18 campaign.
Third-year forward Kennedy Brown has emerged as one of the Huskies newest heroes during the post-season. In the Huskies six post-season games to date, Brown has four points coming on three goals and one assist. Out of Brown’s three goals, two of them have been game winners.
Sophie
Lalor, who is a third-year forward, hit double digits in regular season scoring
picking up 10 points on five goals and five assists appearing in all of the
Huskies 20 regular season games. In the Huskies six post-season games, Lalor
has one goal that was a game winner and one assist.
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| Rookie Larissa Bohlken is part of a strong group of young defenders. |
With being at nationals, the Huskies are going to have to work their way through a challenging field.
If they win their quarter-final game, the Huskies will face
the winner of the Friday’s other quarter-final between the top seeded Concordia
University Stingers and the eighth seeded and host University of Prince Edward
Island Panthers in one of Saturday’s two semifinals.
The Stingers
were 11-3-1 in the regular season and 4-0 in the post-season, while the
Panthers were 13-7-0-2 in the regular season and 0-1 in the post-season. The
Stingers were the champions of the Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec.
The field
also contains the second seeded University of New Brunswick Reds, who are the
champions of the Atlantic University Sport conference. The Reds posted a
15-3-1-2 record in the regular season and a 5-0 mark in the post-season.
The
Thunderbirds are the tournament’s third seed having posted a 14-6 record in
regular season play and a 4-0 mark in the post-season.
The event’s
bronze medal and championship games will be held on Sunday.
The Huskies
are making their third appearance and U Sports nationals since 2014 and fourth
appearance all-time in team history. Current Huskies head coach Steve Kook has been
with the team for three out of four runs to the U Sports championship tournament.
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| The Huskies aim to hold a few goal celebrations at nationals. |
These trips
to nationals are never a guaranteed thing, even if a team has a good season. In
the three previous appearances, the Huskies medaled just once capturing a
bronze in 2014.
Of course, the current campaign comes on the heels after all 2020-21 U Sports nationals were scrapped and most U Sports teams didn’t take the ice for games due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.
If the Huskies were able to win it all, it would provide the icing on the cake for all the ups and downs they have gone through since March of 2020.
Raiders fall to Ice 3-2 in OT, stay in thick
of WHL playoff chase
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| Reece Vitelli scored for the Raiders on Tuesday. |
On Tuesday night, the Raiders dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime to the visiting Winnipeg Ice before 2,120 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre. With 15.3 seconds remaining in overtime, Ice 19-year-old power forward Jack Finley potted his 20th goal of the season to win the game for the Winnipeg side.
With the extra time setback, the Raiders picked up one standings point. They sit ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 24-29-4-1 record for 53 standings points with 10 games remaining on their regular season schedule.
The Raiders are in the thick of the race for the final two playoff berths in the Eastern Conference.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference and hold the conference’s second last playoff berth with 56 standings points coming on 26-28-3-1 record. They have 10 games remaining on their regular season schedule.
The Swift Current Broncos are positioned one point behind the Hurricanes in the standings with 55 points sitting eighth overall in the Eastern Conference and hold the conference’s final playoff berth with a 24-30-5-2 record. The Broncos have seven games remaining on their regular season schedule.
The Regina Pats are 10th overall in the Eastern Conference with 51 points coming on a 23-29-3-2 record. The Pats have 11 games remaining on their regular season schedule.
The Calgary Hitmen sit 11th overall in the Eastern Conference with 50 points coming on a 21-30-6-2 record. The Hitmen have nine games remaining on their regular season schedule.
On Tuesday, the Broncos won their fourth game in a row downing the visiting Regina Pats 5-3 at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex in Swift Current.
Between the Raiders and Ice on Tuesday, the Prince Albert side jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by captain Reece Vitelli. The Ice took a 2-1 lead scoring twice in the second with goals coming from the sticks of Cole Muir and Alessandro Segafredo.
At the 7:22 mark of the third, import rookie right-winger Vladislav Shilo netted his sixth of the season for the Raiders to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.
That set the stage for Finley to come through with his winner.
Import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 39 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders. Daniel Hauser stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice.
The Ice have picked up points in their last 12 straight games with 10 wins, one overtime loss and one shootout loss. They improve to 44-9-3-2 and tied the 45-12-2-1 Edmonton Oil Kings for first overall in the WHL with 93 standings points.
Winnipeg has two games in hand on Edmonton.
The Ice return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the 33-21-3-1 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).
The Raiders get back into action on Friday when travel to Brandon to face the 28-24-3-2 Wheat Kings (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 900 CKBI).
Albers signs minor league deal with
Mariners, other notes
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| Andrew Albers signed a minor league contract with the Mariners. |
On Monday, the 36-year-old left-handed pitcher and North Battleford, Sask., product signed a minor league deal with the MLB’s Seattle Mariners. After playing three seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan from 2018 to 2020, Albers return to North America last season throwing in AAA baseball with the St. Paul Saints and seeing time at the MLB level with the Minnesota Twins.
At the AAA level, Albers was a starter and saw action in 18 total games posting an 8-4 record, a 3.88 earned-run average, 88 strikeouts and 11 walks.
At the MLB level, Albers made five appearances with the Twins posting a 1-2 record, a 7.58 ERA, 12 strikeouts and nine walks.
Albers, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 200 pounds, saw time with the Mariners MLB side back in the 2017 campaign. During that season, he appeared in nine games posting a 5-1 record, a 3.51 ERA, 37 strikeouts and 10 walks.
Albers is
one of the true good guys to come not only out of the baseball scene but the
sports scene in Saskatchewan. During this past off-season, he spent countless
hours at the Indoor Training Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds
coaching young pitchers to help them get better at the game.
He decided
to live in Saskatoon in order to train for this upcoming season and to give
back to the local and provincial baseball scene.
Albers has
a lot of people in the province pulling for him to have his best season yet.
- On Saturday in State College,
Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University Buckeyes downed the University of
Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 3-2 in the NCAA Division I women’s hockey
championship game. The win marked the first time the Buckeyes won the NCAA
Division I women’s hockey title. Nadine Muzerall turned the Buckeyes into
a powerhouse after becoming the team’s head coach before the start of the
2016-17 campaign. In the semifinal round, the top ranked Buckeyes took out
the fifth seeded Yale University Bulldogs 2-1. The Yale roster contains
rookie defender and Saskatoon product Emma DeCorby, who is an alumna of
the Regina Rebels female under-18 AAA team. Minnesota Duluth downed the
Northeastern University Huskies in the other semifinal 2-1. The Huskies
roster contained veteran defender Brooke Hobson, who is an alumna of the
Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 AAA team. Hobson has now
exhausted her NCAA eligibility. In the quarter-final round, the Huskies
downed the University of Wisconsin Badgers 4-2. The Badgers roster
contains Saskatoon products, forwards and sisters Sophie and Grace
Shirley, who are alumnae of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team.
In the first round, the Syracuse University Orange fell 4-0 to the Quinnipiac
University Bobcats. The Orange roster contains forward and Saskatoon
product Anna Leschyshyn, who is an alumna of the Stars.
- Ilya Usau, who is an alumnus of the WHL’s
Prince Albert Raiders, signed an NHL entry-level contract with the
two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. The
20-year-old forward from Minsk, Belarus, spent this past season with
Dinamo Minsk in the KHL posting nine goals and 17 assists in 40 regular
season games. Usau spent one season with the Raiders in 2019-20 recording
22 goals and 30 assists in 58 regular season games.
- On Monday, Zack Hayes, who is a former
captain of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, made his NHL regular season debut
for the Vegas Golden Knights as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the
Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, Minn. The 22-year-old defenceman suited up for
his second NHL regular season contest on Tuesday as the Golden Knights
dropped a 4-0 decision to the Jets in Winnipeg. Hayes played 272 WHL
regular season games for the Raiders from 2015 to 2020 recording 15 goals,
64 assists and a plus-97 rating in the plus-minus department.
- On Tuesday, Hockey Canada announced it was
moving this year’s Esso Cup female under-18 AAA championship tournament
and the Telus Cup under-18 AAA championship tournament. Hockey Canada said
both tournaments will be held May 16 to 22 in a centralized location in
Alberta. Host centres were not named for either event and no reasons were
given for the move. The Prince Albert Northern Bears were supposed to host
the Esso Cup from April 17-23. The Sydney Mitsubishi Rush were supposed to
host the Telus Cup in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, from April 18 to 24. The
Bears and Rush are slated to play in the host team spots, when the Esso
and Telus Cups are played in their new Alberta host centre or centres.
- Moose Jaw Warriors centre and Saskatoon
area product Brayden Yager, who is playing his 16-year-old sophomore
season in the WHL, has 54 points on 32 goals and 22 assists in 56 games
this season. He broke the Warriors record for most goals by someone in
their 16-year-old season of eligibility. The old record of 29 goals was
held by Theo Fleury set back in the 1984-85 campaign. Fleury went on to
become one of the NHL’s most famous star players most notably with the
Calgary Flames.
- A total of five WHL teams were listed in
the latest CHL Top 10 rankings that were released on Tuesday. The Edmonton
Oil Kings were ranked first, the Winnipeg Ice were rated second, the
Kamloops Blazers were listed fifth, the Everett Silvertips were ranked
sixth and the Portland Winterhawks took the seventh spot.
- Left-winger Arshdeep Bains and centre Ben
King of the Red Deer Rebels have become the front runners to win the WHL
scoring title. Bains, who is in his overage season, leads the WHL scoring
with 94 points coming off of 34 goals and 60 assists appearing in all the
Rebels 60 games. King, who is in his 19-year-old season, sits second in
the scoring race with 93 points coming off 47 goals and 46 assists
appearing in all of the Rebels 60 games. Saskatoon Blades veteran star
left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who had led the WHL in scoring at times this
season, sits third in the WHL scoring race with 87 points coming on 35
goals and 52 assists.
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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