Road to Esso Cup runs through Saskatoon

Stars clinch first in SFMAAAHL for a third straight year

Abby Shirley (#18) is having a career year with the Stars.

    The Saskatoon Stars run of excellence just keeps getting greater.

    On Monday, the Stars locked up first place in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League for a third straight year with an impressive 6-2 victory over Prairie Fire in Melville, who sit second overall in the SFMAAAHL. The win also allowed the Stars to lock up home ice advantage throughout the post-season up until the Esso Cup national championship tournament due to the fact the SFMAAAHL hosts this year’s Western regional playdown series.
    The Esso Cup runs April 23-29 in Morden, Man.

    Against the Prairie Fire on Monday, Stars 15-year-old forward Grace Shirley scored her team’s first three goals and assisted on another to power Saskatoon to victory. Jordyn Holmes, Abby Shirley and Kianna Dietz all added singles for the visitors, while Joelle Fiala had three assists.

Jordan Ivanco made 27 saves to earn the win in goal for Stars, who improved to 21-2-1.

    Megan Leblanc and Heather Fiske replied with singles for the Prairie Fire. Ashlyn Taillon turned away 24 shots to take the loss in goal for the Prairie Fire. The Prairie Fire rebounded from that setback on Wednesday at home downing the Notre Dame Hounds 4-2 to move their record to 19-6-1.

    As the post-season nears, the Stars might have a deeper team offensively than their squads that won the SFMAAAHL title in each of the past two years and advanced to the Esso Cup. So far this season, six members of the Stars are all averaging over a point per game.

    Mackenna Parker leads the way in team scoring with 19 goals and 20 assists. Grace Shirley is second with 17 goals and 15 assists.

    Both Anna Leschyshyn and Fiala each have 30 points. Leschyshyn’s totals come from 14 goals and 16 assists, while Fiala has eight goals and 22 assists.

    In her final season of midget AAA eligibility, Abby Shirley is having her best campaign with 13 goals and 16 assists, which are both career highs. Julia Rongve is also having her best campaign in the midget AAA ranks in her final season of eligibility with nine goals and 17 assists.

    The Stars have four games remaining before beginning post-season play. They travel to Battleford this Saturday and Sunday to face the Sharks.

    The Stars return home on Feb. 18, when they host the Regina Rebels at 7:45 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena. The Stars and Rebels concluded the SFMAAAHL regular season on Feb. 19 at 2:15 p.m. with another showdown at the Agriplace Arena.

First place Huskies tune up for playoffs

Josh Roach breaks into the offensive zone.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team is looking to head into the Canada West playoffs on a high note.

    For the second straight season, the Huskies have locked up first place in the Canada West standings and have home ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs. While the Dogs have been on a roll winning 10 of their last 12 games, they dropped their last outing 4-0 last Saturday to the U of Manitoba Bisons at the ancient Rutherford Rink on the U of S campus.

    U of S locked up first place that night when the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns downed the U of Alberta Golden Bears 4-3 in double overtime in Edmonton.

    The Huskies (19-5-2), who are rated second in the U Sports top 10 rankings, close the regular season on the road traveling to Lethbridge to face the Pronghorns (11-12-3) on Friday and Saturday. The Pronghorns need to earn two more points in the Canada West standings to lock up sixth place and the final playoff berth in the conference.

    U of L should give the Huskies, who will likely try to use all their healthy players this weekend, a stiff test. The two clubs split their games earlier this season at Rutherford.
    On Oct. 21, 2016, the Huskies downed the Pronghorns 3-2 in overtime. One night later, the Pronghorns earned a 5-3 victory over the Huskies.

    The Huskies have a bye into a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series, which they will host Feb. 24 to 26.

Huskies women’s team aims for home post-season series

The Huskies celebrate a goal from Rachel Johnson (#19).

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team is looking to lock up hosting a first round Canada West playoff series for a second straight year, if they can take care of business in their final two regular season games.

    The Huskies (13-10-3) will try to put the skids on a three-game losing streak, when they host the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns (4-19-3), who have lost eight straight, in a two game series. The two clubs face each other on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.

    The Huskies hold fourth place in the Canada West standings with 38 points collected from nine regulation wins, four extra time wins and three extra time losses. They sit a point ahead of the U of Regina Cougars (13-12-1), who have 10 regulation wins, three extra time wins and one extra time loss. In Canada West women’s hockey play, you earn three points in the standings for a regulation win.

    The Cougars close their regular season by traveling to Calgary to face the U of Calgary Dinos (4-19-3) on Friday and Saturday night.

    The sixth place Mount Royal University Cougars (10-12-4) have an outside shot of leaping both the Huskies and Regina Cougars for fourth place, but Mount Royal must win its final two games in regulation for that scenario a possibility. Mount Royal travels to Vancouver to face the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Friday and Saturday. The Thunderbirds have locked up first overall in Canada West with a 22-3-1 record.

    The Huskies will lock up fourth place and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, if they sweep their series with the Pronghorns with two regulation victories.

Will Willo’s Hockey Canada foray have staying power?

Kaitlin Willoughby breaks up ice for the Huskies.

    When the Huskies women’s hockey team hits the ice this weekend, they will have star forward Kaitlin Willoughby back in the fold.

    Willoughby returned to Saskatoon on Thursday after playing for Canada’s women’s hockey team at the FISU Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.  On Monday, Canada fell in the gold medal final 4-1 to Russia.

    In five tournament games, Willoughby collected a goal and five assists. During the Winter Universiade, her exploits were followed in a significant way locally on social media.

    A post on this blog from Jan. 21 documenting her heroics scoring the overtime winner in a Huskies 5-4 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds and advancing her departure to the Winter Universiade was extremely well viewed. That post is the fourth all-time most viewed post on this blog.

    Other stories and briefs on Willoughby also popped up in various Saskatoon media outlets and in outlets in her hometown of Prince Albert.

    Now the question is will her Hockey Canada foray have any staying power?

    I personally hope it does. After the Huskies play their final two regular season games and complete their playoff run, Willoughby will have one season of U Sports eligibility remaining. I hope this can further turn into something where she becomes more of a local inspiration for young girls taking up the sport.

    Willoughby’s appearance at this year’s Winter Universiade drew a lot more attention than when recently graduated Huskies offensive defender Julia Flinton helped Canada win silver back in 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain. Flinton’s appearance seemed to be quickly forgotten outside of anyone that was involved with the Huskies women’s hockey team.

    In December of 2013, Cara (Wooster) Muench was a member of Canada’s gold medal winning team at the Winter Universiade in Trentino, Italy, as a recent graduate of the Huskies program. She got to make a few media appearances, but her profile is pretty much forgotten. Her twin sister Cami Wooster is more remembered at least in Saskatoon’s girls minor hockey ranks due to the fact she captained the Huskies to a Canada West title win in her final campaign with the team in 2013-14.

    Breanne George, who is the all-time leading scorer for the Huskies women’s program, was a member of Canada’s gold medal winning team at the 2011 Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey, but you would be really hard pressed to find anyone in the general public that remembers her time at the U of S. Actually, it is a safe bet that a number of the current members of the Huskies women’s hockey team likely don’t know who George is.

    As a rookie, Willoughby scored the double overtime winner in the series deciding Game 3 of the 2014 Canada West championship series against the U of Regina Cougars, and she was the U Sports rookie of the year. Those accomplishments help to further keep her in the public consciousness.

    Here is hoping the momentum she created at this year’s Winter Universiade can keep rolling.

Dach should give Blades an added draw

The Blades recalled Kirby Dach from midget AAA.

    Fans of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades had to be happy to hear on Wednesday that Kirby Dach would be joining the club for the rest of the season.

    Dach, who turned 16 in January, was selected by the Blades in the first round and second overall in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft. The Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., product has appeared in four games on a call up basis with the Blades and has collected an assist and an even rating in the plus-minus department.

    Due to a huge amount of injuries, the Blades recalled Dach from the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers midget AAA team on an emergency basis for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. In 22 games with the Rangers, Dach had six goals and 20 assists.

    The skilled forward, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 170 pounds, recorded 14 goals and 21 assists in 34 games last season playing as an underage player with the Rangers midget AAA squad. Hockey Alberta, Fort Saskatchewan Minor Hockey and the WHL all worked together to accommodate the Blades request to call up Dach.

    In his four appearances with the Blades, Dach dressed for two home games, and spectators generally came away with good impressions. He will be a player that fans will be watching.

    During the 2014-15 campaign in the bantam AAA ranks, Dach turned heads netting 29 goals and 71 assists in 33 regular season games with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers squad at that level.

    Besides the addition of Dach, right-winger Mason McCarty returns to the Blades lineup after having been out with a lower body injury since late last November. He last dressed for the Blades on Nov. 25, 2016 in their 3-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Blades (21-26-5-1) return to action Friday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors (32-15-7-1) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Back in the Express with the Leschyshyns

    I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week with a big feature story on the Leschyshyn family.

    The story features former NHLer Curtis Leschyshyn watching 17-year-old son, Jake, and 15-year-old daughter, Anna, follow in his footsteps. Jake is a standout centre with the WHL’s Regina Pats, while Anna has been turning heads as a forward with the Saskatoon Stars of the SFMAAAHL.

    The story on the Leschyshyn family can be found right here.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Willo sparks Huskies, makes Universiade team

Kaitlin Willoughby zips up ice for the Huskies.

    Kaitlin Willoughby showed it was a wise decision to name her to the Canadian women’s hockey team for the FISU Winter Universiade.

    On Saturday in Vancouver, the 21-year-old forward sparked her University of Saskatchewan Huskies to 5-3 upset win over the host and defending Canada West champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. Dating back to October of 2014, the Huskies had lost their previous eight straight head-to-head encounters with the Thunderbirds.

    In the first period of Saturday’s game, Willoughby scored two power-play goals to give her side a 2-0 edge. The tallies also sparked the Huskies offensively as they never trailed and never allowed UBC to get back on even terms the rest of the way.

    Brooke Patron, Rachel Johnson and Elizabeth Salyn all netted singles. Johnson’s tally came on a penalty shot. Cassidy Hendricks made 24 stops to earn the win in goal.

    Cassandra Vilgrain scored twice for the Thunderbirds, while Kenzie Robinson added a single. Amelia Boughn turned away 18 shots to take the loss in the UBC goal.

    Willoughby was named to the FISU Winter Universiade team on Friday. She attended Hockey Canada’s Women’s Development Camp in August to compete for a spot on the FISU team. The Winter Universiade will run Jan. 29 to Feb. 8, 2017 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Kaitlin Willoughby is one of the Huskies biggest offensive threats.

    Since entering the Canadian Interuniversity Sport ranks at the start of the 2013-14 campaign, Willoughby has been a high impact offensive player netting 32 goals and 41 assists in 84 career regular season games. She is also one of those few players that can change a game individually, which means her line has always received extra attention from opposition teams for pretty much her whole career with the Huskies.

    During her first season, the Prince Albert, Sask., product was named the CIS rookie of the year, and she helped the Huskies win their first Canada West title and a bronze medal at the CIS championship tournament.

    She permanently carved her place in the history of the Huskies women’s hockey team in the 2014 best-of-three Canada West championship series with the University of Regina Cougars. In a series deciding Game 3, Willoughby potted the double overtime winner to give the Huskies a 2-1 victory at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

    If the Canadian FISU team needs a big play in the clutch, it would always be a prudent decision to have Willoughby and her blazing speed on the ice.

    For now, Willoughby, who is in her fourth year of CIS eligibility, will keep trying to help the Huskies find success on the ice. U of S’s next test is a big one as they host the always powerful University of Alberta Pandas (2-0) this coming Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. on both nights at Rutherford.

Swift Current’s Smith could be valuable addition to Huskies

Swift Current product Chloe Smith could be a big addition to the Huskies.

    Earlier this month, the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey announced the signing of Chloe Smith, who could prove to be a big addition to the team.

    The 17-year-old Smith is completing her final season of midget AAA eligibility as the captain of her hometown Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats. She joined the Wildcats as an underage 14-year-old way back at the start of the 2013-14 campaign.

    Smith, who stands 5-foot-7, is one of those rare power forward types that can mix it up physically in all the areas of the ice, which is something you do need in the women’s game. Her toughness is combined with a set of soft hands around the net and a sound offensive skill set that makes her an extremely attractive player at the university level.

    My first impression of Smith came during her 15-year-old season, when her Wildcats were taking on the host Saskatoon Stars in Game 1 of a Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League best-of-five semifinal series at the Agriplace Arena on March 10, 2015.

    Just 39 seconds into the third period, Smith nailed Stars superstar forward Nara Elia, who is a Hockey Canada national women’s team program prospect, with huge head hit that knocked Elia out of the game. Smith was given a major penalty for a head hit, a game misconduct and also had to sit out a one-game suspension for the incident. It was the type of hit in the men’s game that would have been deemed clear about seven years ago.

    I remember her emerging later on that day from the Wildcats dressing room wearing her track suit as her Wildcats fell 4-2. Looking at Smith’s face, you could see a wide range of emotions as she was trying to process what had happened.

Chloe Smith gets set to take a draw for the Wildcats.

    You could see there was disappointment, because she wasn’t on the ice to help her team and her competitiveness was also present too. Before being ejected, she had played with a lot of fire.

    As a 15-year-old sophomore, she piled up 10 goals and nine assists on 28 regular season games. Knowing all that and seeing her at the moment she came out of the Wildcats dressing room, my thought was some university team should sign her to a scholarship right there if they could. My gut feeling was this was a player you want on your team, because her teammates will see someone that will go to war with them and bring her best at all times.

    Last season, Smith had an impressive 16-year-old campaign collecting 13 goals and 19 assists in 26 games to lead the Wildcats in scoring. She added another four goals and nine assists in 12 playoff games as the Wildcats advanced to the best-of-five SFMAAAHL championship series, where they fell in four games to the Stars.

    Anytime you went to a Wildcats game, you knew you were going to see a pretty good performance from Smith.

    Despite what happened on the play where she drilled Elia, Smith has played tough and avoided sitting lengthy stretches in the penalty box. In 84 career regular season games with the Wildcats, she only has 38 minutes in penalties.

    Smith will play for Saskatchewan’s provincial team at the National Women’s Under-18 Championship that runs Nov. 9 to 13 in Regina. It wouldn’t be surprising to see her make an impact in that best-versus-best event.

    When she joins the Huskies in the fall of 2017, Smith will see a few familiar faces. The U of S roster contains a trio of her former Wildcats teammates in Brooklyn Haubrich, Kayla Kirwan and Jasey Book. That group will help Smith make the transition to the next level.

    If she continues to play to her present power forward form, she has the potential to be a popular player in the green and white.

Huskies men’s team closes sweep with blowout win

Parker Thomas was one of seven goal scorers for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team showed the all out power they could potentially have this season in an impressive win over the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

    The Huskies thrashed the Thunderbirds 7-0, and the goals came off the sticks of seven different players. Parker Thomas, Jesse Forsberg, Kendall McFaull, Jordan Fransoo, Josh Roach, John Lawrence and Levi Cable all netted singles.

    Jordon Cooke made 28 saves to earn the shutout in the U of S goal.

    Matt Hewitt turned away 23-of-29 shots before being pulled at the 10:28 mark of the third period. Derek Dun stopped four-of-five shots in relief.

    The Huskies were an impressive 5-for-8 on the power play, and they killed off all six power-plays the Thunderbirds were given.

    U of S swept a two-game series with UBC having already earned a 4-1 victory on Friday night at Rutherford.

    The Huskies were ranked first in the Canada West pre-season coaches’ poll. Thanks to a strong recruiting class and a solid group of returning players, the Huskies have a good chance to repeat as conference champions.

    With that in mind, they are only two games into their regular season, and there is still a long way to go.

    The Huskies return to action this Friday and Saturday when they travel to Edmonton to face their forever rivals the University of Alberta Golden Bears, who are opening their regular season slate. U of S swept away U of A in last season’s best-of-three Canada West championship series.

These upcoming encounters will provide a big test.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.