WINNIPEG — The five-seed Saskatchewan Huskies beat the four-seed Manitoba Bisons for the first time in 2021-22 season on Friday, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
The Huskies were 0-4 in the regular season against Manitoba but won the first game of their Canada West quarter-final series 4-2 at Wayne Fleming Arena. Abby Shirley scored a hat trick for the victorious Huskies.
Saskatchewan will have a chance to close out the best-of-three series tomorrow when the two sides return for game two at 7 p.m.
With the game knotted at two with less than four minutes remaining in the third, Saskatchewan's Kennedy Brown beat Manitoba goaltender Erin Fargey with a perfect shot short side, high over the blocker. The game-winning goal materialized immediately after Bisons' forward Kate Gregoire was stopped on a breakaway by Huskies goalie Camryn Drever.
"My linemate Paris (Oleksyn) was calling for me to shoot," Brown said, breaking down the 2-on-1. "I was coming down with a head of steam, saw a corner on the blocker side and thought no better time than now to pick a corner."
The Bisons were heavily out shot in the first two periods, only recording eight compared to the Huskies' 18 — but the Bisons managed to stay in the fight thanks to their goaltender.
"[Erin] saved us in a lot of situations tonight," said Bisons captain Lauren Warkentin. "The score could have easily been more than it was but she played amazing tonight."
The visiting Huskies got on the board first at the 12:25 mark of the opening period. Fourth-year Abby Shirley tipped the point shot from Emily Holmes past Fargey to take the 1-0 lead. However, just over four minutes later, Manitoba answered with an almost identical goal on the power play to tie the game at one. Vanessa Klimpke tipped the point shot from Camryn Gillis for the first playoff goal of her U SPORTS career. The two teams exchanged a few more quality scoring chances but the 1-1 tie stood as the first period came to an end.
Shirley restored Saskatchewan's lead with her second of the game at 5:25 of the middle frame.
After a Manitoba turnover in the neutral zone, Shirley picked up a loose puck and found herself with plenty of time to walk in on Fargey — beating her stick side. Later in the period, the Huskies failed to capitalize on their lone power play chance of the second despite having multiple scoring chances. The visitors held a 2-1 lead on the scoreboard while outshooting the Bisons 18-8 at the end of the second period.
First-year Bisons forward Julia Bird pulled the Bisons back even at 2-2, scoring at 9:52 of the third period. Manitoba kept the pressure on with two more quality scoring chances from Molly Kunnas followed by the Gregoire breakaway that ultimately led to the game-winning goal from Brown. Shirley iced the game with her third of the night on an empty net to seal the 4-2 win for the visitors.
Fargey finished the game having made 26 saves for the Bisons while her Saskatchewan counterpart Drever recorded a total of 18 in the game.
