Optimism prevails following opening weekend
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Despite a second straight one goal loss, morale is high with the Huskie women’s hockey team, two games into the Canada West hockey season. The Regina Cougars defeated the Huskies, 1-0, with a late third period goal on Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place. Cougar veteran Kaitlyn Gilroy scored the game winner with 5:46 remaining in the third period.
Second-year goaltender Emma Backman made 17 stops in the Huskie net. When asked if he felt bad that Backman didn’t get the win in her first career start, coach Steve Kook said, “I felt bad for the 20 of them, because I thought we deserved a better fate.” Saskatchewan had a power play chance with 2:29 remaining but with Backman pulled and the extra skater on the ice the home team could not get the equalizer. “We had a ton of chances”, Kook said.
Saskatchewan dressed a number of first-year players in the opening weekend of the season, including forwards Jaiyana and Kaysah Nurani, Aeryn Flanagan, and Kalee Hill. While the learning curve is steep, Kook likes the make up of his team. “The group is good. They realize it’s early on. They realize it’s not a finished product by any means. I think they know they played better tonight, than last night which is what we are trying to build on.”
Learning from game experience will be the key to growth for many of the young players according to Kook. “We’re going to learn off of video”, he said. “A lot of these players have never had a lot of video teaching. We’ll get a lot of time in the classroom with this crew.”
