Huskies romp over Cougars

The Huskies celebrate a goal from Abby Shirley, second from left.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team landed the knockout blows early in this one.

    Playing before 563 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday, the Huskies stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period over their provincial rivals the University of Regina Cougars. The hosts expanded their lead to 4-0 in the second and cruised to a 4-1 victory in the U Sports regular season encounter.

    A total of 11 players recorded at least one point for the Huskies in the dominant performance. The Huskies have faced their challenges when it comes to scoring goals this season, so Friday’s outburst was a welcome one.

Abby Shirley had a goal and an assist for the Huskies on Friday.

    “It felt really good to come out like that strong, and have a good start to it and then continue it all throughout the game,” said Huskies winger Abby Shirley, who had a goal and an assist in the win. “These are some huge games playing against Regina, obviously, and tensions are pretty high every time we meet.

    “It felt really good to come out on top.”

    The Huskies jumped in front 1-0 at the 6:56 mark of the opening frame, when captain Brooklyn Haubrich knocked home a rebound in front of the Cougars net. The tally was Haubrich’s first goal of the season, and it was a welcome development for the feisty forward.

    “That was a sigh of relief,” said Haubrich. “That was a long time coming for me.

Brooklyn Haubrich scored her first goal of the season on Friday.

    “It felt good just to get the monkey off my back.”

    Just 44 seconds later, Shirley collected the puck at the point and hit winger Bailee Bourassa with a long backdoor pass alone at the left side of the Cougars goal, and Bourassa tucked in her fifth goal of the season to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.

    While those goals sent the Cougars reeling, the visitors were knocked down to the mat with 66 seconds remaining in the first.

    At that point in the contest, fourth-year Huskies standout defender Leah Bohlken sprung energetic rookie forward Kennedy Brown in on a breakaway, and Brown slipped home a backhander to give the hosts a 3-0 advantage.

    “We haven’t had a game like this all season,” said Haubrich. “I would say it was fun to just get ahead and get some good feeling.

    “A lot of good things were happening on the ice. It was fun to put together a full 60 on our part.”

The Cougars and Huskies engaged in a handful of scrums.

    The Cougars pulled starting goaltender Jane Kish after the first period. She turned away 11-of-14 shots sent her way to take the setback in goal. Morgan Baker stopped 21-of-22 shots playing the final two periods in relief.

    The Huskies lead grew to 4-0 at the 16:22 mark of the second, when Shirley potted her fifth goal of the season in close on the Cougars net.

    As the Huskies took command of the game, Haubrich believed her side played with fairly even emotions, which helped lead to the final outcome.

    “I think the reason we were successful tonight is we didn’t get too high on the score,” said Haubrich. “We just said it was a 0-0 period, and we wanted to win the period.

Jessica Vance makes one of her 26 stops in goal for the Huskies.

    “I think we were able to keep our intensity just by not getting too ahead of ourselves.”

    With 66 seconds remaining in the second period, Cougars star forward Jaycee Magwood roofed a shot to the top corner of the Huskies goal to cut the U of S lead to 4-1. Magwood’s goal wasn’t enough to provide a spark to trigger a comeback.

    Huskies star netminder Jessica Vance made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal. She turned away Magwood on an early second period breakaway, when the Cougars were trying to find any type of momentum at that point in the game.

The Huskies celebrate their win over the Cougars on Friday.

    The Huskies improved to 12-6-1 with their third straight win.

    The Cougars fell to 8-8-3 with the setback.

    The two sides will go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

Shirley said her team is expecting the Cougars to make a big push back in Saturday’s encounter.

    “The coaches were just saying in the room we can’t get too excited now,” said Shirley. “The job isn’t done.

    “Tomorrow, we really have to play like we did today and not let them get in our heads. Just coming out strong like we did today I think is a really huge key thing for tomorrow.”

Back in the Express with Lieffers

Cianna Lieffers has developed into an elite level referee.

    I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week with a cover story on elite hockey referee Cianna Lieffers.

    The 24-year-old worked the 4 Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament last November in Saskatoon. That event featured the senior national teams from Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden.

    Lieffers, who graduated with two degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, resides in Saskatoon, and she took up officiating at age 11 in her hometown of Cudworth.

    She is a regular on the U Sports women’s hockey and Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League circuits.

    My story on Lieffers can be found by clicking here.

    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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Zary ends goal drought, becomes Huskies latest OT hero

Huskies captain Lauren Zary, right, celebrates her OT winning goal.

    REGINA - Lauren Zary was relieved to see a lengthy personal goal-scoring drought come to an end, and as a bonus, it came to an end in dramatic fashion.

    On Friday night at the Co-operators Centre in Regina, Zary’s University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey was locked in a 1-1 draw in overtime with the host University of Regina Cougars, and the visitors were carrying play in the four-on-four extra session. With 34 seconds to play in the frame, talented rookie forward Bailee Bourassa slipped a smart pass to Zary down low.

    The Huskies captain proceeded to get around Cougars goalie Morgan Baker and tuck home the winning goal to give the green and white a 2-1 victory. The win marked the fourth time this season the Huskies earned an extra time victory.

    Zary’s tally also ended a personal goalless drought that spanned 11 games. Her previous goal came way back in the first semester on Nov. 18 in a 5-3 home victory over the U of Calgary Dinos.

    “I definitely got the monkey off my back,” said Zary, who has five goals and 13 assists in 23 games so far this season. “I feel like maybe I haven’t put in as many pucks as I have wanted to these past couple of games.

    “It was a nice pass by Bailee (Bourassa), and I was fortunate enough to be able to go around the goalie and get that in.”

Huskies captain Lauren Zary controls the puck in the offensive zone.

    Zary’s goal ended what was at times a choppy game between the Huskies and Cougars, who were both missing key players. U of S was without star forward Kaitlin Willoughby, who has joined Canada’s women’s hockey team for the FISU Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Offensive defender Leah Bohlken and two-way forward Elizabeth Salyn were both out due to injury.

    The Cougars were without Jaycee Magwood, Kylie Gavelin and Alexis Larson, who also joined Canada’s team for the Winter Universiade. U of R dressed just 16 skaters due to injuries.

    With the absences, the Huskies managed to jump out to a 1-0 lead just 24 seasons into Friday clash, when rookie forward Emily Upgang netted her third goal of the season. U of S almost went ahead by two goals in the opening 20 minutes when Cougars rookie goalie Morgan Baker gave the puck away to Huskies fifth-year forward Rachel Johnson. Baker bailed herself out by turning away Johnson’s drive from the front of the goal.

Rachel Johnson wins a race for a loose puck for the Huskies.

    In the second period, Huskies standout netminder Cassidy Hendricks went to work, as the Cougars came with a big push back. Hendricks turned away Cougars fourth-year forward Bailey Braden on a breakaway and made a couple bailout saves off giveaways by her teammates.

    “It was a little stressful to be honest,” said Hendricks. “I just like spoke to my team and let them know we have this.

    “We have to be confident. You just have to like not think about it. It is going to happen either way.

    “Hockey is a game of mistakes. You just have to stay cool and confident.”

    After those big stops, the Cougars forced a 1-1 tie with 4:30 to play in the second, when fifth-year forward Meghan Sherven netted her first of the campaign.

    Hendricks made a couple of big saves at the start of the third, before the Huskies hit high gear and the Cougars started to show some fatigue. Zary and Bourassa both had sound scoring chances for the U of S, and inside of the final minute of the third, fourth-year forward Kori Herner was stopped on a chance when she was in alone on Baker.

Emily Upgang was all smiles after scoring the Huskies first goal.

    “When they tied the game up there, I feel like it kind of kicked the fire under us in that third period and overtime,” said Zary. “We have to win this game. I definitely feel like we’re the better team. We are a better team, when we are playing how we can play.

    “I think the girls really beared down there in that overtime. We knew we had to win this game, and we just wanted to.”

    The Huskies had the only five shots in overtime, and Zary potted the winner on the fifth chance.

Hendricks made 18 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies (13-7-3). Baker turned away 25 shots taking the loss in goal for the Cougars (12-10-1).

    “I am just so glad we got the win,” said Hendricks. “I always just hate playing against Regina for some reason.

    “Knowing they swept us earlier in the season, it was just so much more satisfying to get it.”

    The two teams go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the ancient Rutherford Rink on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon.

Hendricks moves into third all-time in Canada West wins

Huskies goalie Cassidy Hendricks holds off Cougars forward Bailey Braden.

    Hendricks picked up a cool milestone in Friday’s win.

    The North Vancouver, B.C., product picked up her 55^th career regular season victory to move her alone into third place for career victories in the Canada West Conference. Hendricks passed former U of Alberta Pandas netminder Dana Vinge, who recorded 54 victories from 2006 to 2010.

    Lindsey Post, who is completing her fifth season with the Pandas, sits second in Canada West career victories with 59 wins. Stacey Corfield tops the Canada West career wins list with 64 victories playing goal for the U of Manitoba Bisons from 2005 to 2010.

    “I honestly didn’t know until (Huskies assistant coach) Dave (Westbury) just told me now,” said Hendricks about the milestone. “That is pretty impressive that I’ve been given so many opportunities to play that much and get those wins.

    “I don’t really put it on myself. It was a team effort type of thing. I am just grateful.”

    In her career, Hendricks has posted a 55-41-13 record, a 2.05 goals against average, a .923 save percentage and 12 shutouts in 112 games.

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