Photo courtesy: Zachary Peters/Bisons Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

battling to the end

Scrappy Huskies fall to Bisons in season finale

Feb 15, 2025 | 9:29 PM

The Huskies women’s hockey team came up just short in their final game of the 2024-25 season but they didn’t go down without a fight, falling 2-1 to the Manitoba Bisons in a testy affair in Winnipeg.

Norah Collins and Aimee Patrick scored just six seconds apart midway through the second period to flip the scoreboard after Sara Kendall’s first period marker had put the Huskies in front. Despite Saskatchewan’s best efforts to generate an equalizer over the final 30 minutes, the Bisons were able to maintain their lead right to the final buzzer.

While the game had no bearing on the final standings, it had all the trappings of a do-or-die playoff contest as the heated rivals pushed each others’ buttons all night long. Adding to the spicy recipe was an officiating crew that seemed content to let all but the most egregious infractions go, resulting in plenty of chippy play.

After allowing four goals in the opening period one night earlier, the Dogs came out for the rematch with more resolve and with just over three minutes remaining in the frame, Kendall buried a centering pass from Jasper Desmarais for her fourth goal of the season. Desmarais and fellow graduating Huskie Taylor Wilkinson each recorded an assist on the goal to get their names on the scoresheet in the final game of their U SPORTS careers.

The contest turned in the Bisons’ favour seven and a half minutes into the second, in lightning-quick fashion. Collins deflected a shot through the legs of Huskies netminder Colby Wilson to level the score, then off the ensuing draw, Patrick stole the puck and charged in on goal, slipping the puck home while fans were still celebrating Collins’ marker.

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Shortly after Patrick’s go-ahead tally, tempers started to flare. First, Camille Enns drilled Jessica Patterson into the corner boards from behind, receiving only a two-minute minor for body checking on an infraction that could easily have been assessed a five-minute major.

Less than two minutes later, Huskies graduating blueliner Brooklyn Stevely was whistled for a head contact minor, but the powder keg nearly blew up less than a minute after that as Patrick nailed Bronwyn Boucher with a high cross-check and Boucher responded with a takedown that would not have been out of place at the Canada West wrestling championships going on at the same time back in Saskatoon. Patrick was assessed an extra two minutes for roughing on the play.

However, the teams would avoid running afoul of the law for the rest of the frame, opting instead for verbal jousting, and after cooling down in the second intermission the extracurriculars were kept to a minimum in the third.

The Huskies made a valiant effort to tie the game in the final frame but even with Wilson on the bench for an extra attacker in the final two minutes, they could not muster another goal. The Bisons outshot the Dogs 34-23 on the night and neither team scored on the power play, going a combined 0-for-7.

Saskatchewan wraps up the campaign with a 5-17-6 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season, while the Bisons finish with a mark of 15-11-2. Manitoba will host Trinity Western in a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series next weekend.

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