Photo courtesy: Electric Umbrella Images Inc./Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

road warriors

Captain Kendall leads Huskies to victory over Bisons

Oct 31, 2025 | 10:41 PM

When your captain is your best player, good things tend to happen. That was the case on Friday as Sara Kendall scored twice and put her body on the line defensively to steer the Huskies women’s hockey team to a 3-1 win over the Manitoba Bisons in Winnipeg.

The fifth-year forward opened the scoring and netted the insurance marker before making a key shot block in the late stages to help preserve the victory. Kendall Zuchotzki added a power play goal and Jayde Cadieux assisted on all three Huskies tallies while Colby Wilson earned her first win of the season with a 37-save effort in goal.

“We really focused on starts this week and today we were also focusing on the start of the game and also each period so it was nice that after a long bus trip we had a strong start,” Kendall said.

The captain walked the talk with a highlight-reel beauty at the 14:03 mark of the opening period, taking a pass on the right flank, dangling around a defender then cutting through the slot and outwaiting Bisons netminder Emily Shippam before calmly depositing a backhander for her first goal of the season.

“In Regina (last week), I had three opportunities to go to my backhand and (instead) I shot it right in the goalie’s chest, so this time I said ‘I’m not shooting it right into a block,’ so I went to my backhand and learned from my mistakes,” Kendall explained.

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Zuchotzki then doubled the Dogs’ lead in the final minute of the frame, unloading a one-timer from the top of the right circle that found some room on the short side for her first of the campaign. Meanwhile Wilson stopped all 15 shots that she faced as Saskatchewan took a 2-0 advantage into the first intermission.

The Bisons cut the lead in half midway through the second after the Huskies turned the puck over just inside their own blueline. Aimee Patrick fed Norah Collins behind the Dogs defence and Collins put it home for her second of the year.

But in the third period, a similar play allowed the Huskies to restore the two-goal lead as Peppi Virtanen forced the Bisons to cough up the puck at their own line then fired a pass down the left wing to Cadieux, who found Kendall alone in front of the net and the captain buried her second goal of the game.

The Bisons pulled Shippam for an extra attacker with just under three minutes remaining but despite spending most of that time in the Huskies zone they could not solve Wilson, who was aided by a handful of shot blocks, including one that hobbled Kendall after hitting her in the ankle.

Huskies head coach Steve Kook was pleased to see the team’s veterans leading the charge.

“That’s what you need to do. You don’t have to look much further than our captain. Two goals, she ate about three shots there and I couldn’t play her with about three minutes left because she couldn’t put any weight on her foot. And Colby just managed the game and ate pucks when she needed to,” Steve Kook said.

The victory pushes the Huskies to 3-2-2, with all three wins coming on the road, while the Bisons fall to 1-4-2. Saskatchewan was 1-for-2 on the power play and Manitoba was scoreless on two skater advantages.

The Dogs will look to sweep the weekend set on Saturday with puck drop scheduled for 5 p.m. CT/4 p.m. Saskatchewan time from Wayne Fleming Arena. The game will be broadcast on the free HuskieFAN app.

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