Huskies women look to topple throne of top-seed Mount Royal

The Huskies closed the first-half of the regular season against the Cougars at the Flames Community Arenas on Dec. 3-4. Both games were defensive battles, resulting in 1-0 shutout losses.

Mount Royal finished first in the Canada West regular-season rankings with 16 wins, two losses and two overtime losses for 34 points — six points ahead of second-seed University of British Columbia.

The hometown Cougars are well-rested, having earned a bye into the second round of playoffs.

Meanwhile, fifth-seed Saskatchewan swept fourth-seed University of Manitoba Bisons to win the Canada West quarterfinal in Winnipeg last weekend.

“The momentum from (last) weekend is exactly what we needed, just confidence-wise too. We’re just excited to enter the next round,” said fourth-year forward Abby Shirley, who scored a career-first hat trick in Game 1.

The series made history for the program, as the first time Saskatchewan has swept a playoff series against Manitoba.

LISTEN: HuskieFAN’s Wray Morrison speaks with women’s hockey head coach Steve Kook ahead of the Canada West semifinal series in Calgary.

The Huskies went 0-4 against the Bisons in the regular season.

“We had our struggles this year and couldn’t seem to get a point on them in the regular season … but we just won the right games,” said Shirley.

Nine first-years also made their U Sports playoff debuts, with Emily Holmes, Kendra Zuchotzki and Larissa Bohlken all notching their first postseason assists.

Rookie defender Brooklyn Stevely marked her first U Sports career — and first playoff — goal in Saturday’s Game 2.

“We knew Stevely’s (goal) was coming, and we’re just really happy for her. It was definitely a great time for it to happen for her,” said Shirley.

“Confidence-wise, (the rookies) have done a stellar job and I can’t wait to see them carry it into this weekend.”

Friday’s game is scheduled for 8 p.m. CST, while Saturday and Sunday are set to begin 7 p.m. CST.

The Canada West final series will be hosted next weekend by whoever is the higher-seeded semifinal winner.

If the Huskies move ahead, it means either a trip to Vancouver to face the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds or to Edmonton for the University of Alberta Pandas.

The T-Birds and Pandas semifinal contest also goes this weekend, in B.C.

Listen to all Huskies women’s hockey broadcasts live and archived on the free HuskieFAN app and at huskiefan.ca.

by Daniella Ponticelli

Huskies women look to topple throne of top-seed Mount Royal

What's Trending