Courtesy: Huskie Athletics

By Wray Morrison

Listen: Coach's Show with Steve Kook

Huskies go coastal for semi-final series with T-Birds

Feb 21, 2023 | 2:03 PM

The Huskie women’s hockey team flies over the mountains and into Vancouver this weekend, to face the UBC Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West semi-final series. Saskatchewan swept the Calgary Dinos in a best-of-three quarter-final with 5-2 and 3-2 victories on February 17^th and 18^th.

“When ever they had a little bit of momentum and a little bit of push, we had a response right away”, said head coach Steve Kook. Second year defender, Emily Holmes, scored twice in the three goal victory on Friday night. The second year Huskie from Saskatoon has also played on the wing for some games this season due to injuries. “She’s multi-purpose”, Kook stressed. “She’s such a good skater. She’s explosive, athletic and her compete is off the charts.

Fourth year goaltender Camryn Drever, who had an impressive 1.56 goals against average in eight regular season victories, made 26 saves in each of the quarter-final wins at David Bauer Arena. “She faced a lot of close in traffic”, said Kook. “She did a good job in handling it.”

Saskatchewan defeated the top ranked Thunderbirds on October 14^th by a count of 3-2, but lost the other three regular season contests. Kook’s description of UBC is “Deep, deep, deep.” The Canada West regular season leaders registered 24 victories and had points but in all but two games in the regular season.

British Columbia had 11 players that had double-digit point totals in the regular season. Forward Chanreet Bassi had 28 points in 26 games, while Saskatoon’s Hannah Koroll had 20 points from her defensive position. “They have four lines that can all play and all score”, said Kook.

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The Thunderbirds were a perfect 14 and 0 at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in the 2022-23 regular season. “I think we have to get after them”, Kook continued. “If we can creep in to their psyche a little bit and get a little bit of momentum early on, I think that’s how we have to approach game one.”

Games one and two of the series are on February 24^th and 25^th at 9pm. If a third game is necessary, it will be played on Sunday February 26^th at 5pm. (Saskatchewan time)

All games can be heard by downloading the free HuskieFAN app.

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wray.morrison@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @wraymorrison