Game Information
 
Date: Friday, Jan. 10 & Saturday, Jan. 11
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Saskatoon, Sask.
Venue: Merlis Belsher Place
Watch: Canadawest.tv
Get in the Action: Tickets
 
SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's hockey team will return home to the friendly confines of Merlis Belsher Place this weekend, as they look to get back in the win column against the Lethbridge Pronghorns in the Bridge City.
 
Saskatchewan will try to continue their winning ways against a program that they have dominated in recent memory, with the team holding a 12-1-1-0 record against Lethbridge over the last five years.
 
The Huskies (8-6-2-2) enter the weekend with 29 points and sit in a tie with the Mount Royal Cougars for third in the conference. Saskatchewan's pair of losses to the Alberta Pandas allowed the Pandas to gain six points of separation from the Huskies, a team they will likely need to catch in order to receive a quarter-final bye and a semifinal series at Merlis Belsher Place.
 
After falling on consecutive nights to the visiting Regina Cougars last weekend in Lethbridge, the Pronghorns will also be looking for their first win of 2020. The team has lost their previous four games and currently holds a 6-8-1-3 record, narrowly holding onto the sixth and final postseason spot with ten regular-season games remaining. However, it will tough sledding for Lethbridge down the stretch, with all ten of their remaining contests coming against teams currently above them in the standings.
 
In the Huskies and Pronghorns matchups back on Oct. 18 and 19 at Nicholas Sheran Arena in Lethbridge, the two teams split the weekend series. The Huskies pulled out a 2-1 victory in a shootout, after Sophie Lalor tied the game with ten seconds remaining in regulation, before being the lone skater to score in the shootout, to help the Huskies pick up the win on the road. The Pronghorns managed to squeak out a 2-1 victory of their own the following night, insuring both clubs came away with one win apiece as Emma Nutter's powerplay goal at the 4:19 mark of the first period served as the lone Huskies goal of the evening.
 
5 Things
 
1: Friday night's contest will serve as the team's 12th annual Play for a Cure night. The Huskies will be wearing special jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game with all proceeds being donated to the Canadian Cancer Care Society. There will also be a silent auction taking place along the concourse of Merlis Belsher Place during the game.
 
2: The Huskies are undefeated against the Pronghorns at Merlis Belsher Place, with the club taking down the visitors on both occasions last season. Lethbridge's last victory over Saskatchewan in Saskatoon took place on Jan. 17, 2014, as the Huskies have defeated the visiting Pronghorns in their last eleven regular-season meetings in Saskatoon.
 
3: Bailee Bourassa has been the leader offensively as of late for the Huskies. The fourth-year forward has six goals over her last six games, as her eight goals on the season is a new career-high for the Weyburn, Sask. native.
 
4: Thanks to a pair of victories on the final weekend of the 2019 calendar year, Huskies goaltender Jessica Vance now sits second in career wins with 33 in two-and-a-half seasons in the green and white. The Prince Albert, Sask. native trails only Cassidy Hendricks in Huskies history, who finished her career with 57 wins over her five seasons with the program.
 
5: Saskatchewan will be looking to get their powerplay clicking against a Lethbridge squad who limited them on the man-advantage to just one goal on ten opportunities with the extra attacker. The Huskies are 11/65 on the powerplay this season in games against opponents other than the Pronghorns. 
 
Scouting the Pronghorns
 
Pronghorns head coach Doug Paisley is in his first season behind the bench of the program. Paisley, who was brought in during the offseason as the team's ninth head coach in team history, is attempting to lead Lethbridge to their first playoff appearance since the 2011-12 season.,
 
Third-year forwards Kyra Greig and Alli Borrow have carried the way offensively for Lethbridge. Greig and Borrow are the lone skaters with double-digit points this season. Fellow forward Tricia Van Vaerenbergh leads her team in goals with six, as the fifth-year forward chases after her career-high of seven set back in the 2017-18 campaign.
 
Former Saskatoon Stars forward and Hanley, Sask. native Kianna Dietz has tallied four goals and three assists in her sophomore season. Dietz, who didn't appear in either of the Pronghorns games against the Huskies in Saskatoon last season, will likely suit up for the first time in her U SPORTS career in the city where she spent four seasons playing midget hockey,
 
Fifth-year netminder Alicia Anderson has been the go-to choice between the pipes for Lethbridge this season. However, after recording wins in five of her first six starts in to begin the year, Anderson has struggled to backstop her club to a victory, as she has been on the losing end of seven of her last eight starts. Fellow goaltender and former Huskie Chloe Marshall has started two games this season for the Pronghorns, including one back on Oct. 18, against the club she suited up for back in the 2017-18 season, where she allowed just one goal on 52 shots but fell in a shootout.