Ryan Flaherty, HuskieFAN
CALGARY, AB - A late rally came up short as the Huskies women's hockey team dropped a 3-2 decision to the Calgary Dinos in Alberta on Friday. The Dogs scored the game's first and last goals but in between, missed assignments, turnovers and special team struggles proved too much to overcome as the Dinos emerged with their first home win of the season.
Earlier in the week, Huskies head coach Steve Kook expressed concern about his team, which entered the weekend sporting a 7-2-1 record, facing a potential trap game against the two-win Dinos, and his words proved to be prophetic.
"They're playing way better than what their record shows and we look at some of our players who look at our record and go 'hey, we're better than what we are all the time, so I think that's what happened," Kook said. "You don't play well in the first, you spend the whole second finding your game and it's just too hard to chase a game into the third."
Saskatchewan got off to a decent start as Kate Ball slammed home her fourth goal of the season at the tail end of a power play less than five minutes into the contest, but the Huskies struggled to build off the early lead. Another 5-on-4 advantage midway through the first period provided a chance to do just that, but instead the Dinos won the draw in their own zone and Brooklin Fry sprung Josie McLeod on a shorthanded breakaway, which she converted to level the score just eight seconds into the Huskie power play.
The second period saw Calgary continuing to win a healthy share of puck battles while the Huskies had trouble getting out of their own way, and just past the seven-minute mark, Rebecca Clarke beat
Camryn Drever with a sharp angle shot to give the Dinos a 2-1 lead. That was the only goal of the frame as the home side outshot Saskatchewan 28-18 through 40 minutes of play.
"We were just sloppy. We didn't do anything that was on the game plan. Sometimes you get that way when you think it's point night," Kook said.
In the third, the Huskies picked up their desperation level but once again it was the Dinos special teams, which have been a weakness for much of the season, that came through as Elizabeth Lang scored a power play goal with 6:20 remaining to give Calgary some insurance. That turned out to be necessary as Kara Kondrat would reply on a goalmouth scramble with 3:40 to go, getting the Huskies back within one.
The Dogs pulled Drever for an extra skater in the final minute and even got another power play chance with 32 seconds left to make it a 6-on-4 advantage but the tying goal proved elusive as the comeback effort was stymied. Dinos goaltender Gabby Durante stopped 31 of 33 shots on the night, while Drever suffered her first regulation loss of the season in a 34-save effort.
NEXT UP
The Huskies will look to salvage a split in their final regular season matchup with the Dinos on Saturday, with the opening face off scheduled for 7:00 PM. Listen live to Ryan Flaherty with the play-by-play at HuskieFAN.ca.
