Offence roars to life as Huskies down MRU

The defending national champion Cougars came out flying and peppered the Huskies net with pucks but it wasn’t until the 18:06 mark of the opening period that Lyndsey Janes finally managed to put one past Camryn Drever, who made several tough stops in the frame to keep her team from falling further behind.

That proved to be huge, as a completely different Huskies squad came out of the locker room to start the second. After a Cougars penalty in the opening minute, Dyer netted her fifth goal of the season on the ensuing power play to level the score. Then, just over a minute later, some solid forecheck work in the MRU zone allowed Kendra Zuchotzki to send a pass from the corner to Hall, who blasted a one-timer over the shoulder of Cougars goaltender Kaitlyn Ross for her sixth of the year to give Saskatchewan its first lead of the night.

“We all could clearly see what we needed to do better after the first and I think we all just got into the dressing room and we said, ‘there’s 40 minutes left, this is our chance to turn it around,” Brown said.

Mount Royal would tie it back up shortly thereafter on a goal by Jori Hansen-Young, but that was about the only positive for the Cougars in the middle frame. The Huskies continued to dictate much of the play and with less than a minute left in the period, Isabella Pozzi fed a streaking Lalor who beat Ross to put the visitors back in front. Saskatchewan outshot Mount Royal 14-5 in the period.

“Even good teams, when they face pressure they turn pucks over, they make mistakes. We were pretty fortunate having our top shooters be able to shoot tonight,” Kook said.

The Huskies offence kept on churning in the third and just over a minute in, Kenzie Lausberg sped down the right wing and sent a beautiful backhand saucer pass in front to Brown, who shoveled the puck past Ross for her first goal in more than a year. The Huskies captain was playing just her second game since returning from an ACL tear that had kept her out of the lineup since December 3, 2022. Scoring in front of friends and family made the milestone moment that much more special for the native of nearby Okotoks, Alberta.

“It felt amazing. I do think that getting that first game under my belt against UBC and then having that (bye week) rest to just do a little bit more strengthening, rest up, that sort of thing, made a huge difference,” Brown said.

“To be able to look into the stands and see my parents, my aunt and uncle were here and I had some family friends here, my cousins and all those people, it was definitely really special to have everybody there cheering me on.”

The Dogs weren’t done there. Just over a minute later while on the power play, Lalor sniped her second goal of the game and team-leading seventh of the season to give the Huskies some extra breathing room. Drever did the rest, stopping every shot she faced in the third to preserve the 5-2 final. The fifth-year goaltender made 31 saves in all to record her ninth win of the season

The victory gives Saskatchewan a 10-3-2 record, four points back of the 13-4 Cougars, who have played two more games. The Huskies will look to close out the first semester by completing a sweep of the series in Saturday’s rematch, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST (6 p.m. in Saskatchewan). Catch all the action on huskiefan.ca and the free HuskieFAN app.

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Twitter/X: @RFlahertypxp

by Ryan Flaherty

Offence roars to life as Huskies down MRU

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