Photo courtesy Rachel Albertson/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

time running short

Huskies blanked for second straight game in Edmonton

Jan 25, 2025 | 8:24 PM

The Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team caught a bad case of déja vu on Saturday, falling 3-0 to the Alberta Pandas for the second game in a row at Clare Drake Arena. The Pandas’ ninth consecutive win gives them a sweep the six-game season series between the two teams.

Not only did the score match that of the previous night, the Pandas also scored once in each period to mirror Friday’s effort. Saskatchewan’s playoff hopes are now on life support after the back-to-back shutout losses. The Huskies continue to sit nine points out of a playoff spot with six games to play.

“A tough one again. You come in and you’re hoping to scoop some points on the road and you’re kind of in desperation, and you’re not able to do that,” assistant coach Robin Ulrich said.

The Pandas wasted little time taking control of the game, with Kallie Clouston netting her second goal of the season less than four minutes into the opening period. Against most teams, a one-goal deficit may not be all that daunting but against the top defensive team in the conference, it presented a stiff challenge for the Huskies, who generated just four shots on goal in the frame en route to being outshot 37-12 overall.

“Alberta’s a good team. You give them one and they kind of roll into a one-four and they make it really hard for you to get out of your zone, hard to get through the neutral zone, hard to generate anything,” Ulrich explained. “Giving up an early one is tough because it puts you behind the eight ball and it just makes the road that much tougher.”

Mission Accomplished

Huskies sweep Bears

Jan 26, 2025

time running short

Huskies blanked for second straight game in Edmonton

Jan 26, 2025

struggling to score

Pandas defence stymies Huskies in weekend opener

Jan 25, 2025

Alberta doubled its lead thanks to a power play goal by Payton Laumbach at the 5:20 mark of a second period that featured six minor penalties — three to each team. While the Huskies did a decent job of working the puck around the offensive zone on their opportunities, a stout Pandas kill kept them largely to the outside and allowed goaltender Misty Rey to see the few pucks that did get through.

At the other end, if not for yet another strong game from Huskies netminder Colby Wilson, the game could have been out of reach after 40 minutes.

Natalie Kieser rounded out the scoring in the third, roofing a shot into the top of the net at the 6:35 mark when the puck came right to her on the doorstep after sliding off the stick of Pandas captain Izzy Lajoie. The goal summed up the Huskies’ fortunes in the weekend series, as most of the bounces seemed to go Alberta’s way as well.

While the Dogs are still mathematically alive in the playoff chase, it’s going to take a Herculean effort — and a fair bit of help — to make up the gap on Regina. The Cougars, who fell 2-1 at UBC on Saturday, visit the Manitoba Bisons next weekend while the Huskies host the last-place MacEwan Griffins, who they swept in their final series prior to the Christmas break.

“We’re definitely in must-win (territory) now and our only option is to go to work this week, have a really good week of practice and get two wins at home, then we’ll see where we’re at after that,” Ulrich said.

The Huskies and Griffins open their series at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the free HuskieFAN app.

—

Twitter/X: @RFlahertypxp