Photo courtesy Rachel Albertson/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

struggling to score

Pandas defence stymies Huskies in weekend opener

Jan 25, 2025 | 12:16 AM

The Alberta Pandas scored once in each period and held the Saskatchewan Huskies to just 16 shots on goal as they extended their point streak to 15 games with a 3-0 win over the Dogs on Friday night in Edmonton.

The third-ranked Pandas got goals from Ryann Perrett, Izzy Lajoie and Abby Soyko, and Grace Glover earned her Canada West-leading fifth shutout of the season, as Alberta dealt a big blow to Saskatchewan’s playoff hopes. The Huskies remain nine points out of a playoff spot with just seven games left to play.

It was a frustrating night for the visiting Huskies, who only mustered seven shots on goal over the final two periods against the conference’s stingiest defence. Alberta has allowed just 24 goals against in 23 games this season.

“We have some key people out of the lineup and when you have those people out of the lineup, it’s a really slim margin (for error),” head coach Steve Kook said.

Saskatchewan’s best chances came in the opening frame but they couldn’t put one past Glover. Kaysah Nurani had perhaps the best opportunity when she took a pass from Jayde Cadieux and found herself with no one between her and the net, but the Pandas netminder shut her down.

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A few minutes later, Perrett gained the Huskies line, cut to the middle and beat Colby Wilson with a low shot to give the Pandas a 1-0 lead.

Alberta seemed to find another gear in the second period aided by an early power play goal. With Jasper Desmarais serving a boarding penalty, Lajoie redirected a goalmouth pass from Brooklyn Tews to double the advantage. The Pandas finished the night one-for-six with the skater advantage, while the Huskies were awarded just two power plays in the game, something that didn’t sit well with Kook.

“I don’t want to sound like a sore loser but we couldn’t figure out what a penalty was and what wasn’t,” he said. “I thought the first period was pretty even, chances both ways. But what were the penalties, five to one, six to two? It’s hard to get any momentum.”

The Pandas would go on to outshoot the Huskies 17-4 in the middle frame, but thanks to another excellent outing by Wilson in the Saskatchewan net, it remained just a two-goal game after 40 minutes of play. However, the Huskies’ comeback hopes would take a hit 3:26 into the third when Soyko rifled a wrister home, capitalizing on a failed clearing attempt.

Alberta’s suffocating defence took over from there, holding the Huskies to just three shots in the final frame.

The only good news for Saskatchewan was that they didn’t lose any ground in the East Division playoff race as the Regina Cougars, who they’re chasing for the final berth, got demolished 7-0 by UBC.The Huskies, now 4-12-5 on the season, will look to regroup and earn a split of the weekend series on Saturday.

“We don’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve just gotta gear up, do it again tomorrow,” Kook said.

The rematch is scheduled for 2 p.m. MST (3 p.m. ST) at Clare Drake Arena. Fans can listen on the free HuskieFAN app and Beach Radio 750 AM.

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