University of Manitoba goaltender Kimberly Davidson keeps her eye on a bouncing puck in front of her crease as University of Saskatchewan Huskies forward Nicole Fry looks for the rebound. (Katie Brickman-Young/HuskieFAN)

By Katie Brickman-Young

First road trip ahead for team

Bisons take sweep over Huskies

Oct 30, 2021 | 8:26 PM

It was an inconsistent and difficult weekend for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team.

The Huskies dropped their second straight game to the University of Manitoba Bisons, a 2-1 loss on Saturday afternoon at Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon.

“It’s been a pattern of inconsistency for us, but I think it will be an easy fix if we dial it in,” said Bailee Bourassa.

The offence struggled this weekend against the Bisons, only scoring one goal over 120 minutes.

Manitoba got on the board in the first period on a goal by Ashley Keller, on a soft pass to the faceoff dot to the left of Huskies goaltender Camryn Drever, who got beat glove side.

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There wasn’t a lot of high-calibre opportunities by the Huskies in the opening frame and were outshot 8-6 by the Bisons.

The Bisons would add to their lead in the second period on a shot by Samantha Sichkaruk. Drever was focused on the possible wrap-around opportunity and the puck slid through the blue ice to Sichkaruk and she put it over Drever’s pad.

The Bisons dominated much of the second frame, controlling possession and getting 12 shots on Drever.

Down 2-0 heading into the third period, the leadership group for the Huskies must have said something inspiring in the locker room because the team came out and played with intensity and eagerness they didn’t show in the first 40 minutes of action.

“We all just realized those two periods weren’t cutting it for us. The one thing I said is that we just need a period where we outwork them,” said Bourassa. “I think we rose to that challenge, and it was a different game in the third period. If we had played that way the whole game, it would have been a totally different outcome.”

The Huskies were a different team in the third period, putting 15 shots on Bisons’ goaltender Kimmy Davidson.

Sophie Lalor got the Huskies on the board in the third period on a hard wrist shot from the face-off dot and eked through the blocker arm of Davidson.

“That third (period) is what we what we picture of how we can play if we use our speed,” said Steve Kook, head coach of the Huskies. “We had to figure it out for two periods, and we are inconsistent – not just game to game but shift to shift.”

That inconsistency burned the Huskies in both games this weekend, but Bourassa believes in this team, despite the losses.

“One thing that the coaches and leadership group have discussed is that we have to realize that we will go through a lot of learning this year, but with that being said, our team has a lot of potential, even though we are young,” said Bourassa. “I’ve seen a lot of good things from this team. We have to keep thinking that we even though we will have some lapses, it is a learning curve, and we just have to push through it.”

It’s also about learning how to trust each other when out on the ice, which Kook thought was the biggest difference for his team.

“It is about trusting each other and knowing where each other are. We were way more vocal and engaged with each other in the third than we were in the first and second periods,” he said. “If you don’t work like a unit on the ice, a team like Manitoba will take it to you.”

The Huskies will head out on their first road trip of the season next weekend when they face the Trinity Western Spartans in Langley, B.C.; a new team looking for their first victory of the season.

“We have some big games coming up. There is always a lot of distractions when you are on the road,” said Kook. “We just need to focus on ourselves. Until we can sort ourselves out, we can’t worry about who we are playing.”