Bronwyn Boucher's first goal of the season was the difference in a 1-0 Huskies win over the MRU Cougars on Oct 4. Photo: Electric Umbrella/Huskie Athletics

By Ryan Flaherty

opening weekend split

Juca, Boucher milestones lead Huskies to victory over Cougars

Oct 4, 2025 | 10:43 PM

A pair of individual career highlights paved the way for the Huskies women’s hockey team on Saturday in Calgary as they rebounded from an opening night loss to defeat the Mount Royal Cougars 1-0 for their first win of the season.

Second-year goaltender Clara Juca made 23 saves to record her first U SPORTS win and shutout, and Bronwyn Boucher scored the deciding goal in her 100th conference game to help the Dogs secure a split of the opening weekend series.

“I think the emotions of game one and having a team come downhill at you, we had trouble with composure. But it was good to see them take the step today and a lot of our second-years played outstanding today. That’s part of the growth, we’re two months ahead (of last year). It feels good to get rewarded for some of that effort, which we didn’t last year,” head coach Steve Kook said, alluding to the fact that the Dogs went winless through the first half of the 2024-25 season.

A night after being outplayed by the Cougars for the first two periods, the Huskies looked much sharper, correcting many of the mistakes they’d made in Friday’s 3-1 loss. Saskatchewan outshot Mount Royal 12-6 in the opening frame, matching their shot total from the entirety of the previous contest. But Cougars goaltender Kate Holan held firm, making several tough saves to keep the game scoreless after one.

The Dogs continued to press the issue in the second and finally broke through at the 12:43 mark on a well-executed rush. McKenna Bolger started it with a lead pass to the MRU blue line for Jayde Cadieux, who then fed Boucher skating unmarked down the middle of the ice. The fifth-year forward had time to pick her spot and rip a shot past Holan for what turned out to be the game’s only goal.

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“Honestly, I’m just so proud of the girls and proud that we’re months ahead of last year. We worked on the things we needed to work on and yeah, a goal for a 100th game is pretty cool and even making it (to 100 games) is awesome. I’m grateful for the opportunity and I’m happy for the team,” Boucher said.

The third period saw the Cougars turn up the heat in the offensive zone, but they were largely kept to the perimeter by a stout Huskies defense. Holan was pulled for an extra attacker with two minutes remaining, but the Dogs withstood the late push, helping Juca record two milestones in one.

“My team played great today. They were taking sticks, moving bodies so I could see pretty much every shot. I felt nice and composed out there. My team was just playing out of their minds so it was awesome,” Juca said.

Kook is impressed with the progress Juca has made from her rookie season.

“Last year she took such a heavy load in school and she’s still got a heavy load this year because she’s in engineering. You can’t get away from that but she’s got a better grasp of what everything is,” he said. “I told her early in training camp, even just a couple weeks in, ‘You just look like you know who you are and what your game is better.'”

Both teams finished the night with 23 shots. The Huskies went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Cougars were 0-for-3.

The Dogs now head into an early bye week and will be back in action on October 17 when they host the Trinity Western Spartans in their home opener at Merlis Belsher Place.

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