Stingers down resilient Warriors 3-1 in U Sports semifinal

Concordia advances to third straight U Sports title game

Zoe Thibault (#7) scored the Stingers first goal on Saturday.

For a third straight year, the Concordia University Stingers will play for a U Sports women’s hockey title.

On Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place, the Stingers, who are the Reseau du Sport Etudiant du Quebec champions, outlasted a resilient University of Waterloo Warriors squad 3-1 in the first of two semifinals at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament. The Warriors, who are the OUA champions, road a 37 save performance from netminder Mikayla Schnarr to stay in the game.

The Warriors were down 2-1 and went on the power play with 2:39 remaining in the third when Stingers defender Camille Richard was penalized for body checking. With 1:20 remaining in the third, Stingers third-year right-winger Jessymaude Drapeau took the puck from a pair of Warriors players in the centre ice zone and jetted down the right wing into the Waterloo zone.

Drapeau cut across the front of the Warriors net, put on a deke and tucked home a short-handed goal that sealed the 3-1 victory for the Stingers in a contest played before 647 spectators.

With the win, the Stingers advance to the gold medal final to face the sixth seeded University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Merlis. The Stingers are making their third straight appearance in the U Sports championship game. The Stingers captured the U Sports title in 2022 downing the Nipissing University Lakers 4-0 in the event’s final, when the tournament was held in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

The Stingers faithful cheers on their team on Saturday.

Last year, the Stingers fell 4-3 in overtime in the U Sports title game to the Mount Royal University Cougars, when the tournament was held in Montreal.

With Saturday’s setback to the Stingers, the Warriors will play in tournament’s bronze medal game against the seventh seeded University de Montreal Carabins set for 2 p.m. at Merlis.

The Stingers came storming out of the gate in Saturday’s semifinal jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period while holding a 12-6 edge in shots on goal. Third-year centre Zoe Thibault and second-year left-winger Courtney Rice netted singles for the Stingers in the opening frame.

Concordia pressed to get further ahead on the scoreboard in the second holding a 14-6 edge in shots on goal, but they were held at bay by the heroics of Schnarr.

Working on a power play to start the third, the Warriors came up with a big traction moment. Holding the puck at the right side boards, Warriors fourth-year centre Leah Herrfort passed the puck across the front of the Stingers net backdoor to skilled third-year left-winger Tatum James. James tucked home her fourth goal of the tournament to cut the Stingers lead to 2-1.

The Stingers celebrate their win on Saturday.

James’ goal energized the Warriors, but the Stingers were able to stay composed and protect their lead. That set the stage for Drapeau to ice the victory for Concordia with her short-handed tally.

Jordyn Verbeek stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Stingers.

Going into Sunday’s championship final, the Stingers will be trying to win their fourth U Sports title in team history having won the U Sports women’s hockey crown the first two times it was contested in 1998 and 1999.

The Warriors were trying to make the U Sports title game for the first time in team history.

Varsity Blues claim Cinderella battle with Carabins, other notes

Erica Fryer (#30) makes a save in goal for the Varsity Blues.

The glass slippers proved to be a better fit for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.

In the second semifinal of the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament played on Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place played before 817 spectators, it was a battle of Cinderella teams between the sixth seeded Blues and the seventh seeded University de Montreal Carabins. Neither team wanted to see the clock strike midnight in their respective quests to win a national title.

The two squads went to overtime locked in a 1-1 tie, and the 1-1 tie remained after the two squads played through a 10-minute overtime period of four skaters versus four skaters hockey. In the sixth round of the tiebreaking shootout, Varsity Blues first-year right-winger Ashley Delahey tucked home a shot past Carabins fifth-year netminder Aube Racine.

Third-year right-winger Amelie Poire-Lehoux came up net to shoot for the Carabins, and she was turned away by Varsity Blues netminder Erica Fryer. That stop by Fryer allowed the Varsity Blues to take the tiebreaking session 1-0 and the game 2-1.

With the win, the Varsity Blues advance to play in Sunday’s U Sports championship game against the top seeded Concordia University Stingers set for 6 p.m. on Sunday at Merlis.

The Carabins will take part in Sunday’s bronze medal game against the fourth seeded University of Waterloo Warriors at 2 p.m. at Merlis.

Ashley Delahey scored the tiebreaking shootout winner.

For the Varsity Blues, they will be playing in the U Sports title game on Sunday for the first time since 2003. In the 2003 U Sports championship tournament played in Regina, the Varsity Blues fell 5-4 in overtime to the University of Alberta Pandas.

The Varsity Blues lone U Sports title win came in the 2001 U Sports championship tournament held in Calgary, when they downed the University of Regina Cougars 4-3. The Varsity Blues went up 3-0 in that contest, but the Cougars rallied to tie the score at 3-3 in the third. Later in the third, the Varsity Blues netted the winning goal.

In Saturday’s clash between the Varsity Blues and Carabins, third-year defender Kalie Chan gave the U of T side a 1-0 lead firing home a shot from just above the top of the left faceoff circle at the 9:55 mark of the opening period. Delahey picked up the lone assist on Chan’s tally.

It appeared for the longest time Chan’s lone tally would stand up as the only goal of the contest.

At the 5:01 mark of the third, the Carabins found the equalizer that forced a 1-1 tie score. Carabins fifth-year centre and captain Jessika Boulanger had the puck on the right faceoff dot in the Varsity Blues zone.

She passed the puck across the face of the goal for a backdoor setup to first-year left-winger Juliette Rolland at the left side of the net. Rolland made no mistake knocking home the equalizer. Defender Jade Picard picked up a second assist on Rolland’s goal.

The Varsity Blues start to celebrate a berth in the U Sports title game.

That set the stage for the game to go to overtime and a tiebreaking shootout, where Delahey scored the only goal in the tiebreaking session in the sixth round.

Fryer stopped 25 shots over 70 minutes and all six shooters she faced in the shootout to pick up the win in goal for the Varsity Blues. Racine turned away 23 shots over 70 minutes and five out of six shooters in the shootout.

The Varsity Blues are appearing in the U Sports title game for the fourth time in team history.

The Carabins last appeared in the U Sport championship contest in 2016 blanking the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 8-0, when the national championship tournament was held in Calgary. The Carabins have appeared in four U Sports championship games winning twice.

• The host University of Saskatchewan Huskies downed the Saint Xavier X-Women in the first consolation semifinal on Saturday 3-1 at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament at Merlis. Defender Brooklyn Stevely had a goal and an assist for the Huskies. Netminder Camryn Drever made 37 saves to pick up the win in goal for U of S.
• The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds blanked the University of New Brunswick Red 4-0 in the second consolation semifinal on Saturday 4-0 at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament at Merlis. Chanreet Bassi scored twice for the Thunderbirds, while Joelle Fiala and Sierra LaPlante netted singles.
• The consolation final between the Huskies and Thunderbirds at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament is set for 10 a.m. Sunday at Merlis.
• Stingers captain Emmy Fecteau might be the best two-way player at the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament going on at Merlis. Fecteau has one goal in the Stingers two wins, and she is able to play in all situations for her squad.
• Stevely returned to the Huskies for the U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship tournament after she missed the entire 2023-24 campaign to that point battling and beating ovarian cancer. A trio of Saskatoon media outlets did great work on Stevely’s story. Darren Zary’s piece in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on Stevely can be found by clicking right here. A story by Brooke Kruger and Scott Roblin of Global News Saskatoon on Stevely can be found by clicking right here. Shane Clausing’s story for 650 CKOM on Stevely can be found by clicking right here.
• Sunday’s U Sports title game features two teams in the Concordia University Stingers and the University of Toronto Blues that appeared in the U Sports championship contest held back in 1998. In that game, the Stingers, who were the host squad, claimed a 4-1 victory.

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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Huskies find magic in unique and special season

Women’s hockey squad ventures on in playoffs

The Huskies celebrate a goal earlier this season.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team is leaving a mark on a season that is like no other.

A year ago at this time, players were focusing on university assignments and exams. They never even got to play a game in the 2020-21 campaign as it was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that still grips the world.

On top of that, they were kicked out of their home rink as Merlis Belsher Place was serving as a potential field hospital in waiting and was being used to administer COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Now fast forward to this past Saturday. The Huskies were playing in Winnipeg, Man., and they blanked the host University of Manitoba Bisons 3-0 in Game 2 of a Canada West quarter-final playoff series.

That win allowed the Huskies to sweep the best-of-three set 2-0 to advance in the U Sports playoffs. They overcame an opponent they weren’t able to beat in the four head-to-head encounters in the regular season.

The Bisons finished fourth in the Canada West regular season standings with a 13-7 mark just ahead of the Huskies who were 11-7-2.

Thanks to those playoff wins over the Bisons, the Huskies were back in Merlis Belsher Place this week conducting practices preparing for their best-of-three Canada West semifinal series against the Mount Royal University Cougars in Calgary, Alta.

The Cougars topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 16-2-2 mark.

Bailee Bourassa led the Huskies in scoring this season.

Game 1 of the series is set for Friday (8 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca), and Game 2 follows on Saturday (7 p.m., Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca). If necessary, Game 3 will be held on Sunday (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, HuskieFAN.ca). All of those contests will be played at the Flames Community Arena.

Going into the 2021-22 campaign, the Huskies likely didn’t know what to expect. In late August of 2021, they moved back into Merlis Belsher Place, so they had at least the security of knowing they were going to be in their home rink.

Still, they never knew if the rug was going to be pulled out from under them on the COVID-19 front and the season would grind to a halt. With that noted, there was a sense of purpose from the Huskies and the rest of the teams in the conference to push through with the campaign to keep the Canada West Conference relevant.

That was true for the teams in men’s hockey along with that teams that play in all the various other sports under the conference’s umbrella.

With that noted, you have to suspect long time Huskies head coach Steve Kook had some sleepless nights navigating the program through the unique ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic since the middle of March of 2020. Kook would collect his 200^th career win in the 2021-22 campaign.

Going into the season, the Huskies would also be searching for a new identity on the ice since last playing a game in February of 2020, when they were eliminated from the U Sports playoff picture. Following the 2019-20 campaign, the Huskies lost eight players due to graduation.

Camryn Drever earned her first two U Sports playoff wins.

After losing a whole season, the Huskies had players contemplating life decisions, which including moving on from playing the sport of hockey. Out of the four players from the 2019-20 campaign who were playing their fourth years of eligibility on the team, only forward Bailee Bourassa came back to play her fifth and final season of U Sports eligibility.

She elected to pursue her master’s degree in nursing, while taking on the role of captain for the Huskies.

Forward Abby Shirley is the only player on the Huskies roster skating in her fourth year of eligibility.

The presence of Bourassa and Shirley helped give a steady hand to a younger generation of players looking to make their mark with the program.

Bourassa led the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists appearing in all of the Huskies 20 regular season games. Shirley skated in 18 regular season games collecting five goals and four assists.

Last Friday, Shirley arguably had her greatest on ice moment with the Huskies netting her first career U Sports hat trick in a 4-2 victory over the Bisons in Game 1 of their Canada West quarter-final series in Winnipeg.

The younger generation stepped up too as third-year forward Kennedy Brown had the Huskies lone other tally that proved to be the game winner breaking a 2-2 tie with four minutes remaining in the third period.

In the Huskies 3-0 series clinching victory in Game 2 against the Bisons this past Saturday, the U of S side received singles from third-year forward Sophie Lalor, rookie defender Brooklyn Stevely and Brown.

Abby Shirley picked up her first career U Sports hat trick.

During those two playoff wins, rookie defenders Larissa Bohlken, Kendra Zuchotzki and Emily Holmes have each picked up a pair of assists.

The Huskies also have an ace card to play in third-year netminder Camryn Drever. While she didn’t have any U Sports playoff starts going into the 2021-22 season, the Edmonton, Alta., product is 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.

The Huskies series sweep over the Bisons marked Drever’s first two post-season wins at the U Sports level. She made 18 saves in the Huskies Game 1 victory and 21 stops for the shutout in the Huskies Game 2 win.

During the regular season, Drever appeared in 16 games posting an 8-7-1 record, a 1.49 goals against average, a .939 save percentage and two shutouts.

The 2021-22 campaign has been kind of a mulligan type of season, because no one could truly know what to expect when a whole league comes back after a season off.

At the moment, the Huskies have a legit shot to create more post-season magic. The Cougars won both regular season encounters between the two sides, but both games were only decided by respective 1-0 final scores.

The winner of this series will advance to the Canada West Championship series and lock up a berth in the U Sports final eight championship tournament, which is set for March 24 to 27 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

The Huskies want to have more victory celebrations.

The Huskies might ultimately bring home a couple of championship trophies.

Even if the championship trophies don’t come, the program accomplishments this season already have to be viewed as a major victory.

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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Stars lock up first in SFMAAAHL for fifth straight year

Leschyshyn nets winner in 2-1 OT victory over Rebels

Anna Leschyshyn drives home the OT winner for the Stars on Sunday.

    It seemed fitting that the longest serving members of the Saskatoon Stars played key roles in delivering another first place finish for the team.

    On Sunday at Merlis Belsher Place, captain Grace Shirley scored in overtime and assistant captain Anna Leschyshyn drove home the winning goal on a power play with 53.2 seconds remaining in overtime to power the Stars past the Regina Rebels 2-1 in a stellar Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League regular season game.

    With the win, the Stars improved to 22-1 and clinched first place in the SFMAAAHL regular season standings for a fifth straight year.

Grace Shirley, left, scored her 90th career regular season goal on Sunday.

    Saskatoon earns a bye into a best-of-five semifinal series in the SFMAAAHL playoff due to topping the regular season standings.

    The Rebels continued to sit second in the SFMAAAHL standings as their record moved to 16-5-3.

    “It is awesome,” said Shirley. “Each year we put in the work, and we just try to improve and develop.

    “I think it is definitely working. It is nice to see for sure.”

    “It is important to win against the second place team, because we might have to play against them in playoffs,” said Leschyshyn. “I think just being able to clinch first and have that bye weekend is just an advantage on our half.”

Anna Leschyshyn drives into the offensive zone for the Stars.

    Shirley and Leschyshyn are the only two players to have skated with the Stars in all five of the seasons in their current streak of consecutive first place finishes. Both are in their 17-year-old and final seasons of midget AAA hockey.

    Both saw time with the Stars as 13-year-old underage players in the 2014-15 campaign, which marked the first time the Stars ever topped the SFMAAAHL standings.

    Shirley appeared in three regular season games, five SFMAAAHL playoff games and all seven contests that Stars took part in at the Esso Cup female midget AAA national championship tournament. Leschyshyn saw action in three regular season games and five SFMAAAHL playoff games.

Grace Shirley cuts across the front of the offensive zone for the Stars.

    Both elevated themselves to full time status the next season and took up spots as two of the best players the circuit has ever seen.

    Shirley, who helped Canada recently win gold at the women’s world under-18 hockey championships in Obihiro, Japan, said she still goes through times when it doesn’t seem like that 2014-15 campaign was that long ago.

    “Thinking back on it, it seems like yesterday, but it was a while ago,” said Shirley. “I think it is kind of cool to see how much we’ve kind of grown and developed.

    “It is definitely neat.”

    Leschyshyn can still remember a lot of details from the time she played with the Stars as an associate player call up often splitting time with Shirley.

    “It was crazy,” said Leschyshyn. “Jenna Nash tore her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), so then we rotated back and forth.

Larissa Bohlken controls the puck at the point for the Rebels.

    “I got to play in that finish game where they won. I think it is just something that I will remember forever and just had a really good experience. I think I can bring that into this year’s playoffs.”

    In Sunday’s game against the Rebels, Shirley opened the scoring at the 3:05 mark of the first period. The goal was the 90^th career goal of her SFMAAAHL career, and currently, she is only the second player in the history of the league to pull off that feat.

    “I honestly didn’t really know that was the 90^th,” said Shirley, who is the fourth all-time leading scorer in the history of the SFMAAAHL posting 90 goals and 64 assists for 154 points in 102 career regular season games. “It is cool, but at the same time, I think I am just trying to play my best hockey right now and work hard.”

Rebels G Payton Schlamp stops Stars D Ashley Messier.

    Still, Sunday’s clash with the Rebels had the feel of a playoff game. The same intensity existed when the two sides met Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place and the Stars pulled out a 4-2 win in that contest.

    In Sunday’s game, Stars netminder Arden Kliewer and Rebels goalie Payton Schlamp were making big save after big save. Kliewer stopped 31 shots, while Schlamp turned away 32 shots.

    Regina broke through on the scoreboard with 3:07 on the scoreboard, while working on the power play. Rebels winger Lauren Focht buried the rebound of a shot taken by Regina defender Brooklyn Stevely to tie things up at 1-1.

Ashley Messier had an assist on the Stars OT winner.

    After playing through a scoreless third period, the Stars caught a break in overtime, when Focht was penalized for hooking.

    On the ensuing power play, Leschyshyn got the puck from offensive defender Ashley Messier, circled across the front the Regina goal and blasted the winner past Schlamp to give the Stars their 2-1 victory. With her overtime winner, Leschyshyn became just the sixth player in the history of the SFMAAAHL to score 70 or more regular season goals.

    “It is really nice,” said Leschyshyn, who is the fifth all-time leading scorer in the history of the SFMAAAHL posting 70 goals and 74 assists for 144 points in 110 career regular season games. “We lost to them in Regina (on Jan. 13), so it is good to get a little bit of revenge and sweep this weekend.

    “I think it is really important that we finish hard and outplayed them at the end there.”

    Stars head coach Greg Slobodzian, who has guided the club to all of their first place finishes, said it has been impressive to see how much of an impact Shirley and Leschyshyn have made to Saskatoon’s success over the run of first place finishes.

Rebels W Lauren Focht, left, battles Stars W Jayda Sachs for the puck.

    “It is something,” said Slobodzian. “It just goes to show you their dedication and commitment, because that is a long time to be around one team.

    “For the fact that they’ve contributed to put us into first place again like that, it is special. Those are two kids that I’m sure really appreciate and enjoy that.”

    The veteran bench boss said the run of five straight first place finishes speaks highly of all the players who have played for the Stars during that period of time.

    “The rewards are nice,” said Slobodzian. “Whenever we are coaching and talking in practice, it is just about getting better and the process.

    “The fact that you get those accolades obviously means the girls are putting in the work. It is definitely rewarding. I’m sure once you sort of sit back and look at it, you will be like, “Holy cow that was a good run.””

The Stars celebrate their OT win over the Rebels on Sunday.

    The Stars return to action on Feb. 7, when they travel to Battleford to take on the Battlefords Sharks at 7:30 p.m. at the Battleford Arena. The Rebels also resume play on Feb. 7, when they host the Notre Dame Hounds at 8 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.