Monday, 7 March 2022

New heroes lift Huskies to Canada West Final

Camryn Drever has been beyond stellar in the post-season.
Legends are made in the playoffs, and the new generation from University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team is leaving their mark.

The Huskies advanced to the Canada West Conference Championship Series sweeping the Mount Royal University Cougars 2-0 in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series this past weekend in Calgary, Alta. The Cougars had topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 16-2-2 record, while the Huskies finished fifth with an 11-7-2 mark.

Mount Royal won the two regular season encounters with the Huskies, but both victories came by 1-0 scores.

On top of advancing to the Canada West Final, the Huskies earned a berth at the U Sports Championship Tournament for the fourth time in program history with the previous appearances coming in 2004, 2014 and 2018.

The biggest star in the Huskies series upset win over the Cougars was third-year goaltender Camryn Drever. In the two wins over the Cougars, Drever turned away 85-of-86 shots to allow the Huskies to post a 1-0 victory in Game 1 and a 2-1 overtime triumph in Game 2.

Drever has made her first four U Sports post-season starts this year, and she won all four of those contests. She came to the Huskies as an experienced post-season performer.

Before joining the U Sports ranks, Drever was the star goaltender for the St. Albert Slash, and she backstopped them to two straight Esso Cup titles as national under-18 AAA hockey champions in 2017 and 2018. She earned a reputation as a clutch player in those runs.

In Game 1 against the Cougars played this past Friday played before 265 spectators at the Flames Community Arena, third-year forward Kara Kondrat scored at the 3:08 mark of the first period to account for the contest’s only goal in the Huskies 1-0 win.

Kennedy Brown scored the OT series winner for the Huskies.
The tally was Kondrat’s third career U Sports goal including play in the regular season and playoffs and her first marker in U Sports post-season play. It was also a career highlight as Kondrat is from Cochrane, Alta., which is a small city located on the northwest border of Calgary.

Rookie forward Mallory Dyer and rookie defender Brooklyn Stevely picked up assists on the play.

Kondrat’s goal was all the offence the Huskies would need as Drever made 32 saves to pick up her second shutout win of the post season, which matched her shutout total from the regular season.

Zoe De Beauville made 12 stops in goal for the Cougars.

In Game 2 last Saturday played before 250 spectators at the Flames Community Arena, Huskies rookie defender Larissa Bohlken scored on the power play at the 1:50 mark in the second period to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The tally was Bohlken’s first career U Sports goal including action in both the regular season and playoffs.

Third-year forwards Sophie Lalor and Jordyn Holmes picked up assists on the play.

Before the second period ended, third-year forward Breanne Trotter scored for the Cougars to even the score at 1-1. From there, the contest went to overtime.

At the 3:42 mark of overtime, Huskies third-year forward Kennedy Brown popped home the rebound from a shot taken from linemate Bailee Bourassa to count for the game and series winner. The tally was Brown’s second winning goal of the post-season.

For Bourassa, the assist was the first point of the post-season for the Huskies captain. As the team’s lone fifth-year player, Bourassa, who is pursuing her master’s degree in nursing, has faced tighter checking from opposing teams as a known scoring threat.

Brooklyn Stevely had an assist for the Huskies this past Friday.
Bourassa topped the Huskies in regular season scoring with 11 points coming on seven goals and four assists appearing in all 20 of the Huskies games. She along with the Huskies lone fourth-year player in forward Abby Shirley have provided a steady had to guide the team’s new generation.

Shirley picked up a second assist on Brown’s series winning goal.

Drever had a spectacular night making 53 saves to backstop the Huskies to victory. De Beauville turned away 22 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Cougars in what would be her final U Sports game as she completed her fifth-year of eligibility.

The Huskies will now face the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West Championship series. The Cougars swept the other best-of-three Canada West semifinal 2-0 against the University of Alberta Pandas.

The Thunderbirds finished second in Canada West regular season standings with a 14-6 mark. UBC will host the Canada West Final at the Doug Mitchell Sports Centre on Vancouver, B.C.

Game 1 is this coming Friday (9 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca), Game 2 follows this coming Saturday (9 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca), and if necessary, Game 3 is set for this coming Sunday (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca).

This will be the fifth time since 2014 the Huskies and Thunderbirds have met in the post-season and the first time a post-season clash between the two sides will be for the Canada West title. Both sides sport two series wins each from the previous four post-season meetings.

Before the 2020-21 campaign was lost due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, the Huskies and Thunderbirds had developed a rivalry in the style fitting the WHL from the 1980s.

Both teams experienced sizable turnover since the Thunderbirds swept a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series between the two clubs 2-0 in February of 2020.

The Huskies aim to keep the victory celebrations coming.
The Huskies and Thunderbirds split their two encounters in the 2021-22 regular season with the two squads playing intense but straight up. The current Huskies and Thunderbirds are in position to add their own unique spin to what has been a storied set of post-season battles that have happened in the past.

Both teams will play in the U Sports Championship Tournament, which is set for March 24-27 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

For this new generation of the Huskies, they have really nothing to lose and everything to gain. A priceless challenge lies ahead to keep adding pages to this special and unique chapter in team history they are currently writing.

D-man breakaway gives Raiders OT win, other notes

Nolan Allan scored a breakaway OT winner on Saturday.
A defenceman breakaway proved to be one of the top highlights of this past weekend in the WHL.

On Saturday, the host Prince Albert Raiders found themselves locked in a 2-2 in overtime with the WHL East Division leading Winnipeg Ice in the friendly confines of the Art Hauser Centre. The Ice were buzzing in the Prince Albert zone until Raiders defenceman Nolan Allan picked off a drop pass from Winnipeg rearguard Benjamin Zloty.

Allan chipped the puck past Ice centre Chase Wheatcroft to spring himself on a breakaway. Wheatcroft fell when he turned to chase Allan allowing the Raiders blue-liner a clear unchallenged path to the Winnipeg goal.

Allan broke into the Winnipeg zone and sniped home the winning goal low glove side on Ice netminder Gage Alexander to give the Raiders 3-2 victory and allow the 2,339 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre to try and blow the roof off the legendary rink with their raucous response.

The tally was Allan’s third goal of the season and his second winner on the campaign. The first round NHL Entry Draft selection who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks has 24 assists to go with his three goals for 27 points in 49 games with the Raiders this season.

Power forward Jack Finley scored to give the Ice a 1-0 lead late in the first period of Saturday’s contest.

Offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior scored on the power play for the Raiders in the second period to even things up at 1-1. Early in the third, Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders scored to put the host side up 2-1.

With 8:57 remaining in the third, Ice star left-winger Mikey Milne scored the equalizer to force a 2-2 tie and send the contest to overtime.

That set up the dramatics for Allan’s winner.

Import netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 33 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (21-28-2-1). Alexander turned away 36 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Ice (36-9-3-2).

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the 23-25-2-1 Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

  • It is official, Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid sits alone in fifth place on the WHL’s all-time career regular season head coaching wins list. Habscheid did indeed pick up his 573rd victory to move alone into fifth spot, when the Raiders downed the Hitmen in Calgary 1-0 on February 23. The Raiders current run of two straight wins has pushed Habscheid’s career regular season win total to 575 victories. Lorne Molleken sits fourth on the WHL’s career regular season head coaching wins list with 626 victories. Molleken piled up his win total working stints behind the bench with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Saskatoon Blades, Regina Pats and Vancouver Giants from 1989 to 2016. Brett Smith, who is the Raiders manager of communications and community relations, double checked to confirm Habscheid’s win total.
  • A monster season allowed Regina Rebels forward Alexis Petford to vault into 10th place on the all-time career regular season scoring list for the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League. Petford led the league in regular season scoring with 76 points coming on 38 goals and 38 assists appearing in 29 games with the Rebels. All of those point totals were career highs for Petford, who is skating in her final campaign of under-18 AAA eligibility. In her career with the Rebels, Petford has appeared in 91 regular season games piling up 127 points coming on 63 goals and 64 assists. Petford overtook Lauren Zary for 10th place on the career scoring list. Zary now sits 11th on the SFU18AAAHL career regular season scoring list with 126 points. She collected her 126 points on 44 goals and 82 assists playing 103 career regular season games with the Saskatoon Stars from 2008 to 2012.
  • On Saturday, the University of Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Hockey team dropped a 2-1 decisions to the Ohio State University Buckeyes in a WCHA semifinal contest. Sophie Shirley, who is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team, had the lone goal for the Badgers. Shirley’s sister, Grace, is also on the Badgers roster and is also a Stars alumna. The Badgers still qualified for the NCAA Division I Women’s Hockey Championship tournament. On Thursday, the Badgers will play the Clarkson University Golden Knights in an opening round match in Boston, Massachusetts. The winner moves on to the elite eight quarter-final round against the third seeded Northeastern University Huskies. The Huskies roster contains star defender Brooke Hobson, who is an alumna of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 AAA team.
  • On Saturday, the Cracovia Krakow from Poland downed the host Aalborg Pirates in Denmark 4-0 to win the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Continental Cup. The Krakow locked up a spot in the Champions Hockey League in Europe for the upcoming season. The Krakow roster contains Collin Shirley, who is an alumnus of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and U Sports’ University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team. Shirley had a goal in the Krakow’s win over the Pirates.
  • On Monday, the Swift Current Broncos removed the interim tag on Devan Praught’s job title as the team’s head coach. The 34-year-old Praught’s is now the Broncos full-time head coach. Praught originally joined the Broncos as an assistant coach on July 30, 2021. He became the club’s interim head coach on October 14, 2021 after Dean Brockman stepped down as the Broncos head coach and general manager. The Broncos posted an 18-25-5-2 record after Praught became in the interim head coach. Chad Leslie became the Broncos general manager after Brockman’s departure.
  • On Monday, the WHL named Brandon Wheat Kings overage defenceman Chad Nychuk as the player of the week for the week ending this past Sunday. Nychuk had three goals and seven assists in three games for the Wheat Kings to pick up player of the week honours. Also on Monday, the WHL named Kamloops Blazers netminder Dylan Ernst as the goaltender of the week for the week ending this past Sunday. Ernst won all three of his starts for the week in question posting a 1.97 goals against average and a .930 save percentage.
  • The Edmonton Oil Kings are riding an 11-game winning streak to lead the WHL’s overall standings with a 41-11-2-1 mark.
  • If you are looking for stories on the U Sports playoff run of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team, you need to check out huskiefan.ca. Huskies women’s hockey play-by-play voice Daniella Ponticelli has filed great stories about the playoff run accompanying the team on the road. HuskieFAN has provided beat coverage of the Huskies Football team and the Huskies Men’s Hockey team.

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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