Courtesy: Huskie Athletics

By Wray Morrison

Kelsey Hall

Huskies stay perfect with win over Griffins

Oct 6, 2023 | 11:22 PM

Missed opportunities could have been the story, but Kelsey Hall ensured they were just a subplot, scoring a highlight-reel goal to lift the Huskies women’s hockey team to a 2-1 win over the MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton on Friday.

The Huskies outplayed the Griffins for a good chunk of the game but failed to capitalize on numerous scoring chances and found themselves tied 1-1 midway through the third period. That’s when Hall stepped up, outracing a pair of defenders to a loose puck just inside the MacEwan blue line before breaking in alone and deking out Griffins goaltender Brianna Sank for a backhanded beauty.

“I have some experience against this goalie, played against her in midget and I’ve beat her with that move,” Hall said. “It was happening so fast and I thought, ‘this is the way I can beat her.’”

The Lloydminster product’s second goal of the season came just over a minute after Maria Ayre had tied the game for MacEwan, testing the Huskies’ resiliency.

“That’s the thing about having a veteran squad is that you just know those players have been around in our league long enough to know that everything’s a one-goal game and you get a break like that in a game, you just gotta finish it,” head coach Steve Kook said.

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After a sluggish start to the game, the Huskies began to generate more chances, but despite outshooting the Griffins 11-2 in the frame, they had nothing to show for it. At the other end of the ice, Camryn Drever wasn’t busy, however she made a great save in the final minute to preserve the scoreless tie.

The second period followed a similar script as the first, with missed passes and turnovers erasing potential scoring chances. That included a pair of power play opportunities, with the Huskies finishing the night 0-for-5 in that department. But with just under a minute to play, Kendra Zuchotzki snagged the puck in the slot and beat a screened Sank to give the Dogs the icebreaker they needed.

Then in the third, with Saskatchewan continuing to carry the play, a rush the other way ended with Ayre’s equalizer. Undaunted, the Huskies responded almost immediately as Hall scored the goal that would stand as the difference.

“After we got scored on, me and my line were like, ‘okay we gotta flush that out and just move on to the next shift, do what we can.’ Obviously playing with two vets, we carry a lot of weight with Steve’s expectations and our expectations of each other,” Hall said.

The third-year forward added that she’s enjoying the increased offensive freedom that she’s been given this season.

“Steve’s told me he’s kind of opening up the gates for me to play my way and do what I can do and I think that’s really helped me for sure,” Hall said.

The Huskies outshot the Griffins 30-13 on the night, but they could have made it easier on themselves by scoring on the power play, Kook said.

“That’s an aggressive kill. Nothing was really clean for us, that’s what we saw on videotape right after the game,” he said. We talked about the details. Missed passes over to the one-time side for Zuck, six inches too far ahead and she can’t take that shot, so it’s just little things like that, little execution things.”

The win gives the Huskies sole possession of first place as with a perfect 3-0 record and Saskatchewan also extended its unbeaten run against MacEwan, having won all five meetings since the Griffins joined the conference in 2021-22. They’ll look to keep both winning streaks alive in the rematch at 3 pm on Saturday. Catch all the action on huskiefan.ca or the free HuskieFAN app.

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