WINNIPEG —The Saskatchewan Huskies finished off a quarter-final sweep of the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday night, as the five-seed upset the four-seed in Canada West women's hockey, winning 3-0.
The Huskies will await the result of the Pandas-Cougars series in Edmonton to see where they're going for next weekend's Canada West semi-final.
The key moment in Saturday's game two came in the second period. With the Bisons already down 2-0, Manitoba's Camryn Gillis and Lauren Warkentin took back-to-back penalties giving the Huskies an extended 5-on-3 power play. The visitors did not register a power play goal but seconds after returning to even strength, Saskatchewan's Kennedy Brown beat Bisons' goaltender Kimmy Davidson to give her team a commanding 3-0 lead. The score would remain unchanged for the rest of the game.
"The team really worked hard in front of me in our defensive zone," said Huskies goalie Camryn Drever, who recorded her first career playoff shutout.
"Our team just got better as the weekend went on and I'm feeling pretty good heading into the next series."
Despite the loss, Davidson turned in a stellar performance in what was the first-year's first playoff start. The goalie steered away 35 of the 38 shots she faced.
"I am just honoured that coach decided to put me in tonight," said Davidson.
"I have learned so much this year. After not playing too much at the beginning of the season I just tried to work as hard as I can throughout the year and it has paid off."
The game began with a parade to the penalty box as Manitoba and Saskatchewan each took two penalties apiece within the first 11 minutes of the period. Despite the plethora of power plays, neither team were able to capitalize after goaltenders Davidson and Drever stood tall for their respective teams.
Drever later made clutch back-to-back saves with three minutes left in the period, just prior to Saskatchewan scoring the game's first tally. First-year Kendra Zuchotzki hit teammate Sophie Lalor with a stretch pass, setting up a breakaway where Lalor made no mistake and beat Davidson with a deke to the stick side. The Huskies rode that 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
At 4:51 of the second frame the visiting Huskies extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Brooklyn Stevely. The first-year student out of Regina fired her shot past Davidson after a lengthy scramble in front of the Bisons goal that saw the puck eventually come loose onto her stick.
Later in the second period, Saskatchewan added to their lead with the goal from Brown just after the teams returned to even strength, which gave the visitors a 3-0 lead headed to the final period.
Huskies captain Bailee Bourassa looked to add a fourth goal for her team early in the third period but rang her shot off the post on a 2-on-1 less than two minutes into the final period. The teams went scoreless in the third as the Huskies went on to secure the win and the series.
