Courtesy: Huskie Athletics

By Wray Morrison

Still Winless

Pandas pull out one-goal win for series sweep

Nov 23, 2024 | 9:59 PM

It was a better effort, but the same result. The Huskie women’s hockey team is still searching for its first victory of the season following a 2-1 loss to the Alberta Pandas on Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place. Fourth-year defender McKenna Bolger scored her first goal of the season to give the home side a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the opening period.

Alberta responded with back-to-back goals in the middle frame. First-year Panda forward, Chase Melnyk cashed in on a wrap around after getting her own rebound at 1:56. Seven and a half minutes later, on a Panda power-play, Jayden Morden tipped in a point shot for what proved to be the winning marker. Alberta outshot the Huskies 13-6 in the second period and 33-12 in the hockey game.

Head coach Steve Kook wasn’t discouraged by the lopsided statistic and said his team’s effort was much better than it was on Friday in a 3-0 loss to Alberta. “I thought tonight was a way better game for us. Tonight, we competed for pucks…yesterday we were soft.”

Veteran goaltender Colby Wilson turned aside 31 of 33 Panda shots. “I thought that was one of Colby’s better games, fighting through traffic”, said Kook. Panda keeper, Mistey Rey, picked up her third win of the season with an 11 save performance. Alberta was 1-for-4 on the power play, Saskatchewan was 1-for-3.

The Huskies, who are already missing one of their leading scorers, Sara Kendall, will be without 3^rd-year forward Taylor Wilkinson until the new year after the Saskatoon product suffered an upper body injury on Saturday. Kook admits that his older players will have to fill the void if the team hopes to turn their fortunes around. “We have to start to create (offense) in different ways. We have some older players that need to contribute and step up. There is no other way. They have to dig deeper. It has to happen!”

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The 0-10-3-1 Huskies visit the MacEwan Griffins on November 29^th and 30^th at 8:00 PM and 6:00 PM. (Saskatchewan time) Both games can be heard on the free HuskieFAN app.

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