13th career shutout extra special for Huskies’ Vance

Goalie’s mom honoured in team’s “Play For a Cure” night

Huskies G Jessica Vance and her teammates celebrate Friday’s win.

    It wasn’t close to the busiest night she ever had playing goal, but Jessica Vance’s 13^th career regular season U Sports shutout will always be dear to her heart.

    On Friday night playing before 654 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, Vance stopped 11 shots to back the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team to a 3-0 victory over the University of Calgary Dinos. Friday’s contest was the Huskies 11th annual “Play For a Cure” game, and the team was playing in honour of Vance’s mom, Liane.

    Liane was diagnosed with colorectal cancer last summer. She is still undergoing treatment for the disease, but since it was detected early, she has a good prognosis.

Jessica Vance covers up one of her 11 saves on Friday.

    This wasn’t the first time Jessica has seen a family member battle cancer. Her dad, Bruce, is a colorectal cancer survivor.

    He was diagnosed shortly after attending the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders 2013 Grey Cup victory in Regina and is closing in on being cancer free for five years.

    When Bruce went through his cancer battle, Jessica was starring for her hometown Prince Albert Northern Bears female midget AAA hockey team. She said the hockey rink is the happy place for her and her family.

    “You just go out there, and you just play your game,” said Jessica, who was Canada West Conference MVP and a U Sports first team all-Canadian all-star last season. “They love the sport of hockey too, so it makes them happy and myself playing too.”

    Jessica took part in a pre-game festivities, where Liane dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff.

Jessica Vance was the Canada West Conference MVP last season.

    Follow the game, Jessica took part in on ice photos with her family. She was perky and upbeat at night’s end.

    The 21-year-old, who has four shutouts this season, said she has focused on being as positive as possible this season as her mom battles cancer. Just recently, the Vance clan found out one of their family dogs, Bella, is battling cancer.

    “You try not to let it affect you too much,” said Jessica, whose Huskies improved to 10-6-1 with the win. “I’ve been through it before.

    “My family has been through it before. We kind of just know how to take it and know how to deal with it. I think playing hockey really helps too.

    “It was a big night for my mom and us, so it was fun.”

Liane Vance, centre, watches Friday’s Huskies game. 

    The opening 20 minutes of Friday’s game was the busiest stanza for Jessica, who made six saves in the frame. The Dinos held a 6-4 edge in shots on goal after the first period.

U of S took over the contest from that point on.

    The Huskies held 21-4 edge in shots on goal in the second period. They finally broke through scoring on the power play at the 17:02 mark of the second frame.

    Working down low in the right corner of the Dinos zone, Huskies fourth-year defender Leah Bohlken fed a pass across the face of the Dinos goal to third-year forward Emily Upgang, who made an easy backdoor tap to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

Bruce Vance is a cancer survivor.

    With 1:58 remaining in the third, Bohlken scored on the power play herself, when her shot from the right corner boards deflected off a Dinos player into the U of C goal to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.

    Huskies rookie forward Kennedy Brown rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 16.6 seconds remaining in the third period. Brown’s goal was the first of her U Sports regular season career.

    Kelsey Roberts turned away 30-of-32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Dinos (2-13-2).

    “It is pretty special,” said Jessica about the night. “It was nice that I could get a shutout too.

    “It just kind of all makes it even more special, so it was good.”

    When the game itself got going, Jessica said it felt natural to focus on the task at hand

    “After puck drop, you just have to treat it like a normal game,” said Jessica, who is in her third year of U Sports eligibility. “You just try to not think about anything else.

Emily Upgang scored a power-play goal for the Huskies.

    “Maybe, you’ll have that extra kick, because there is something special to play for tonight.”

    Liane and Bruce try to make as many of Jessica’s games as possible like they did on Friday. It is rare for them to miss a home game, and last season, they made it to a number of Jessica’s road games.

    Jessica said her parents have been the biggest influences in helping her along in hockey. Bruce, who held a number of roles with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders from 2001 to 2015, was the team manager for the Bears, when Jessica played for them.

    With the Bears, Jessica played five seasons from 2010 to 2015 appearing in 91 regular season games posting a 48-36 record, a 2.27 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and 16 shutouts. Her career games played and win totals are still Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League records.

    Jessica moved on to play for the Bisons before joining the Huskies. In her two seasons with the Huskies, Jessica has appeared in 30 regular season games posting a 21-7-2 record, a 0.95 goals against average and a .957 save percentage to go with her 13 shutouts.

Jessica Vance (#30) poses for a post-game team picture.

    She is thankful for everything her parents have done for her.

    “I wouldn’t be where I am today without them,” said Jessica. “From footing the bill in AAA to me wanting to be a goalie, it is not cheap.

    “I literally wouldn’t be here today without them. They support me in whatever I want to do.”

    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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Thunderbirds withstand Huskies' fight

UBC's Haneet Parhar (#12) battles U of S's Elizabeth Salyn (#3) for the puck.

    In what may have been one of their most intense performances of the season, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team deserved a way better fate.

    On Friday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Huskies showed the grit and character that is currently being displayed by the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. Facing the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds who top the U Sports women’s hockey top 10 rankings, the Huskies didn’t back down anywhere and took the fight to their foes, which at times meant literally. The squads engaged in a few post-whistle scrums.

    When the dust settled, the Thunderbirds, like any top ranked club, found a way to pull a victory out of what was an extremely hot fire. Playing in a three-on-three double overtime period, the Thunderbirds broke in on a two-on-one break, when the Huskies were still trying to change a couple of players.

Huskies forward Kaitlin Willoughby wins a battle for a loose puck.

    Mathea Fischer, who is from Oslo, Norway, fed a nice pass past a Huskies defender to lineman Nicole Saxvik, and the fifth year forward buried her ninth goal of the season to deliver the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 victory. The Thunderbirds improved to 18-3, while the Huskies fell to 11-7-3.

In defeat, the Huskies showed the potential they have.

    The Thunderbirds started the contest with a mini momentum spurt, before things turned in favour of the home side. At the 7:19 mark of the opening frame, speedy forward Kaitlin Willoughby set up Elizabeth Salyn for her third goal of the season on just the Huskies second shot of the contest.

    From that point, the Huskies came at the Thunderbirds in waves. UBC rookie goalie Amelia Boughn stood on her head to ensure the Huskies didn’t get ahead by more, as U of S had a 10-7 edge in shots after 20 minutes.

Huskies forward Danielle Nogier fights for the puck along the boards.

    In the second, the Huskies created more scoring chances, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Willoughby set up fifth-year forward Rachel Johnson in the slot with a nice pass through traffic. Johnson didn’t get all of the puck on her shot, and Boughn came up with the stop.

    With their effort, there were times the Huskies were a little too aggressive, which resulted in the Thunderbirds getting four straight power-plays in the second frame. On the third of those opportunities, Fischer beat Huskies netminder Cassidy Hendricks with a high looping shot to tie things up at 1-1.

    In the third, the Huskies really kept bringing the pressure. Right off the opening faceoff, Willoughby blew in on a breakaway and wired a shot that just missed the top corner of the UBC goal.

    A short time later, fourth-year forward Kori Herner found herself on a breakaway, but she was denied by Boughn. The UBC goalie gave up a rebound on Herner’s shot, which allowed Johnson a scoring chance, but she was also stopped.

The Thunderbirds, left, celebrate their overtime winning goal.

    Following those opportunities, Willoughby, who was playing with as aggressiveness similar to former Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Chris Schlenker, found herself on another breakaway, but Boughn came up big again for the Thunderbirds.

    Near the end of the third, rookie forward Bailee Bourassa, who used to pile up the goals for the Weyburn Gold Wings midget AAA team, had two chances in close but was unable to find the go-ahead tally.

    After the two teams played through a scoreless four-on-four overtime period, that set the stage for the Thunderbirds to get the winner in the second extra frame.

    Boughn made 27 mostly extremely hard stops for the Thunderbirds. Hendricks turned away 23 shots in net for the Huskies.

    The Huskies biggest hurt came from the fact they went 0-for-5 on the power play. So far this season, they have converted on just 10.8 per cent of their chances with the one person advantage.

    The two teams go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.

Woytowich honoured in Play for a Cure

Hailey Woytowich, centre, drops the puck for a ceremonial faceoff.

    Tonight’s Huskies game was a big one for my family as my young cousin Hailey Woytowich dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff as part of the Huskie Play for a Cure game.

    Woytowich graduated from Bethlehem Catholic High School last June, while fighting cancer. At one point in time, she had a big lump on her neck, while fighting the disease. She had surgery over the summer and was declared cancer free.

    With that bit of news, she became the first person in my family that I know of to survive a battle with cancer. Cancer has taken the lives of many members of my family.

    Woytowich was brought to centre ice by another one of my young cousins in Danielle Nogier, who is a rookie forward with the Huskies, and fifth-year defender Alyssa Dobler, who is Woytowich’s neighbour and a long time best friend.

    Woytowich, who was nervous about the puck drop, made quick work of the formalities quickly dropping the puck between Huskies captain Lauren Zary and Thunderbirds captain Stephanie Schaupmeyer. Following the game, Woytowich also got Nogier’s game jersey as a keepsake.

    Since I moved back to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I still have a hard time keeping track of all my family members. I believe I speak for everyone in thanking the Huskies for the special night.

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