A 33-save effort by Colby Wilson was not enough as the Huskies lost their season opener 3-1 to the Mount Royal Cougars. Photo courtesy Electric Umbrella

By Ryan Flaherty

slow start

Huskies women fall to Mount Royal in season opener

Oct 3, 2025 | 11:24 PM

A strong goaltending performance by Colby Wilson was not enough as the Huskies women’s hockey team came up short in its first game of the 2025-26 season, falling 3-1 to the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday in Calgary.

Wilson stopped the first 25 shots she faced and made 33 saves overall to keep her team within striking distance all night but the Dogs could not generate enough offence to support their netminder. The Cougars dominated play for long stretches of the first two periods and by the time the Huskies began to generate some chances of their own, they ran out of time to mount a late comeback.

After a season in which they fell one overtime goal short of playing in the Canada West final, a veteran Cougars team came out strong and spent much of the first ten minutes buzzing around the Huskies zone, but Wilson turned aside every shot she saw. The fifth-year goaltender made 16 saves while the Dogs generated just six shots on goal in a scoreless opening period.

But that was a lot more than they mustered in the second, when the Cougars seemed to find another gear, outshooting the Huskies 13-1 and eventually breaking through with five and a half minutes left when Julia Duke lifted a wrister over Wilson’s left shoulder.

Three minutes later, after another long shift in the Saskatchewan zone, Jerzey Watteyne converted on a bang-bang play in front of the net to make it 2-0 Mount Royal after two periods.

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The Cougars struck again exactly three minutes into the third, taking advantage of a failed clearing play as Jordyn Hutt found the loose puck and snuck it under Wilson’s right pad.

It was then that the Huskies seemed to find their game. After the Cougars were whistled for their first penalty of the night, the Dogs made the most of the ensuing power play with Avery Gottselig firing a shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Saskatoon product Scout Anderson to pull the visitors back within two.

But despite playing their best hockey of the night in the closing minutes, the Huskies would not score again. The final shot tally was 36-12 in favour of the Cougars.

Saskatchewan did have the edge in the special teams department, killing both of their penalties and scoring once on two power plays.

Saturday’s rematch with the Cougars begins at 5 p.m. and can be heard on the free HuskieFAN app and huskiefan.ca.

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