Huskies defenseman Isabella Pozzi and goaltender Cameron Drever will wear the maple leaf at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games. (Daniella Ponticelli/HuskieFAN)

By Daniella Ponticelli

1st Game against Slovakia Jan. 11

Huskies’ Drever, Pozzi ready to represent Canada at 2023 FISU World University Games

Jan 10, 2023 | 4:02 PM

Huskies goaltender Cameron Drever is marking some major milestones this week.

For the first time, the Edmonton product is visiting New York state, playing in international competition and wearing the maple leaf.

“I think everybody knows the honour of putting that jersey on and I’m super excited to put it on for the first time,” Drever said after Saskatchewan’s home game on Jan. 7.

Drever isn’t the lone Huskie swapping green for red: fourth-year defenseman Isabella Pozzi is also representing Canada at the 2023 FISU World University Games.

Pozzi said she couldn’t imagine a better person to share the experience with than Drever.

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“We were kind of through it all from the beginning, so we leaned on each other a lot. To be able to go with her is just super special,” Pozzi said.

The pair played in Saskatchewan’s first two Canada West games of 2023, sweeping the Trinity Western Spartans at home before leaving early Sunday morning.

Calgary product Isabella Pozzi has played 107 games as Huskies defenseman, recording 1 goal, 20 assists for 21 points. (Daniella Ponticelli/HuskieFAN)

Pozzi noted it was special to play in Steve Kook’s 400th game as Huskies head coach.

“It’s always exciting to play in a milestone game like that,” she said.

Pozzi and Drever say they look forward to gaining even more experience on the ice and learning from other players at the world event.

“Just being able to play with the best players in U Sports and against other international teams,” Drever said.

“And being able to go with Izzy and represent Huskie Athletics and even Canada West is a huge honour as well and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Drever is one of three goaltenders for Team Canada alongside Kendra Woodland from the University of New Brunswick and Aurélie Dubuc from the University of Ottawa.

Fourth-year netminder Cameron Drever has a 1.55 goals against average through 49 U Sports games. She’s made 1,185 saves, allowing 77 goals, for a .939 save percentage. (Daniella Ponticelli/HuskieFAN)

Canada’s women’s hockey team will play five round robin games and kick off the tournament against Slovakia on Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. CST.

Their schedule then ramps up with Czechia on Jan. 14 at 3:30 CST, Japan on Jan. 15 at 3:30 p.m. CST, Great Britain on Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m. CST and the United States on Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. CST.

Semi-finals are slated for Jan. 18 with medal games on Jan. 21. Drever and Pozzi are scheduled to return home Jan. 22.

Drever said any day the team doesn’t compete, they have scheduled time together, either practice or an activity, with “plenty of room” for academics.

The Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, competition can be watched live at FISU.tv. In Canada, subject to final scheduling, TSN will have coverage on its broadcast and streaming platforms.

‘They Deserve It’

Huskies head coach Steve Kook said the two will certainly be missed from the lineup the next two weekends.

“I’m happy for them,” Kook told HuskieFAN. “It’s perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience and they deserve it.”

The players originally learned they were on the long list of Team Canada prospects at the start of 2022-23 U Sports season.

Huskies second-year goaltender Colby Wilson will get the next four starts, backed up by first-year Saskatoon product Emma Backman.

Wilson had her sixth start of the season last Saturday, backstopping the team to a 2-1 shootout win against the Trinity Western University Spartans.

The team, currently fourth in Canada West standings, visits the conference -leading UBC Thunderbirds Jan. 13-14 and hosts the higher-ranked University of Alberta Pandas Jan. 20-21.

Saskatchewan has a bye weekend Jan. 27-28.

The 2023 FISU University Games features more than 2,500 atheletes and coaches across 12 sports: ice hockey, short track speed skating, speed skating, ski jumping, snowboard, freestyle and freeski, figure skating, curling, Nordic combined, cross-country skiing, biathlon and alpine skiiing.

Around 600 universities from 50 countries will take part in this year’s event.

The biennial winter games were last held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia in March 2019. The 2021 event, intended for Lucerne, Switzerland, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next FISU World University Games will be held Jan. 13-25, 2015 in Torino, Italy. FISU, Federation Internationale du Sport Universitaire, was founded in 1949.