The 2021-22 University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's hockey team pose with their bronze medals at the U Sports Championship in Charlottetown, PEI on March 27, 2022. (Huskie Athletics)

By Daniella Ponticelli

Drever posts 4th postseason shutout

Huskies women’s hockey win bronze at U Sports Championship

Mar 27, 2022 | 10:12 PM

It was the perfect season ending for a young Huskies women’s hockey team helmed by a captain closing out her U Sports career.

Throughout their 2021-22 run, the University of Saskatchewan was often the underdog. Throughout the postseason, they were always the lower seed.

But in the bronze medal game of the U Sports national championship Sunday in Charlottetown, PEI, the Huskies proved their strength as a pack with a 2-0 shutout win over the No. 2 seed University of New Brunswick Reds.

“I am proud of our team. We really battle, and we grind and we deserve that third place in the country so that’s pretty awesome,” said Huskies goaltender Camryn Drever.

The third-year netminder made 17 saves for her second shutout win of the U Sports championship, her fourth in nine postseason starts.

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Reds netminder Kendra Woodland turned away 25 shots on the night.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to our penalty kill tonight. They were unbelievable blocking shots on the perimeter for me,” said Drever.

“I’m proud of our team. We really battle, and we grind and we deserve that third place in the country so that’s pretty awesome.”

Huskies women’s hockey captain Bailee Bourassa hugs fourth-year forward Abbey Shirley after winning bronze at the 2022 U Sports Championship. The two were part of 2017-18 Saskatchewan team that finished fourth at nationals in London, Ont. (Daniella Ponticelli/HuskieFAN)

Entering the second period with a scoreless tie, Huskies first-year Kendra Zuchotzki fired in a one-timer past Woodland to open scoring at the 7:51 mark. The eventual game winner assisted by Kennedy Brown and Kara Kondrat.

“I came off the bench and yelled for it as loud as I could because I was wide open and shout out to Kennedy Brown for making that perfect pass to me, and I just released it and it went in,” Zuchotzki said of her first U Sports postseason goal.

“I know a lot of people didn’t think we would make it this far, but we proved to them tonight that just because we’re a rookie team doesn’t mean we can’t make it to nationals and win a bronze.”

Zuchotzki’s goal kept the Huskies 1-0 into the third period, until first-year forward Jasper Desmarais scored a snipe off a three-on-one. Rookie Bronwyn Boucher recorded the assist on the insurance marker.

“My two-on-one yesterday, I tried to pass it and it didn’t work so I told myself, ‘I need to shoot this one’ and then I did,” Desmarais said.

The goal was a U Sports postseason first for Desmarais, who stepped into the lineup Saturday after Huskies third-year forward Jordyn Holmes broke her left leg in the quarter-final Friday.

“A bronze, honestly tonight, is just as good as a gold” – Huskies captain Bailee Bourassa

The hardware being personally placed on each player by fifth-year captain Bailee Bourassa.

“It’s a little bittersweet, but we couldn’t have ended on a better note,” said Bourassa.

“I’m just so proud of all the girls and what we accomplished this year. We played until the very end and what more could you ask for in your fifth year?”

The bronze medal win is the second in Huskies women’s hockey history, and the program’s first medal since 2013-14.

Bourassa, who just played her final U Sports career game, said she’s at a loss for words when it comes to the significance of the moment.

“We played our hearts out. We weren’t even supposed to be here, we were the underdogs the whole time. A bronze, honestly tonight, is just as good as a gold,” she said.

Huskies head coach Steve Kook said his two-hour rule for celebrating is officially out the window for the bronze medal win.

“We can remember this for a long time … I’m just so proud of this crew,” he said.

Huskies head coach Steve Kook poses with the coaching and support staff bronze medals alongside head physiotherapist Jessica Pawlik. (Daniella Ponticelli/HuskieFAN)

Kook told HuskieFAN that coaching staff have talked with the team about remembering the great feeling of this moment, and how hard it was to accomplish.

“Not just the play, but everything: school, going through the pandemic, all the COVID testing, sitting out for seven days if you tested positive, all that sort of stuff,” Kook said.

“You can’t take this stuff for granted. You don’t get here every single year … until you get here, you don’t realize how hard it is. You don’t know.”

Huskies third-year defender Isabella Pozzi was named to the Championship All-Star team.

Parents of the 2021-22 University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team pose after the bronze medal win at the 2022 U Sports Championship in Charlottetown, PEI on March 27, 2022. (Daniella Ponticelli/HuskieFAN)

Saskatchewan finished fifth in the Canada West conference with a 11-7-0 record in the regular season before winning four straight to secure a berth to the Canada West final and the U Sports championship.

Up next for Kook and the Huskies women’s hockey program is a chance to get together as a team before finals.

The Huskies will host a recruiting camp for women’s hockey next weekend, with around 40 preopective players.

The team headed to Halifax by bus Sunday night, where they will stay overnight to fly to Calgary Monday morning. From there, the Huskies will bus home to Saskatoon.