SASKATOON - In what was their regular-season finale on home ice, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's hockey team recorded their fifth-consecutive victory, as they got the best of the visiting MacEwan Griffins for the second-straight night with a 4-1 victory over the Merlis Belsher Place.
With each team still looking to open the scoring, it was Bronwyn Boucher who broke the ice as the Sturgeon County, Alta. product opened the scoring with just four seconds remaining in the first period, with her first-career U SPORTS goal, as the first-year forward got the Huskies out on the right foot early.
"She deserves it," said Huskies head coach Steve Kook. "She's been snake bitten all year. She scored a couple of times in preseason and she's been so close during the regular season and worked so hard. She's hit so many goalposts, I'm glad that one finally went in for her."
"Honestly, it felt pretty good to get that monkey off my back," said Boucher. "I've been really fortunate with this group of girls. Every body pushes each other and it's a really great environment to let me grow."
From there, Saskatchewan added two more in the second period as Meg Dyer and Kennedy Brown each found the back of the net to give the home side a three-goal lead after forty.
But MacEwan had a response, as Jayme Doyle notched her third goal of the season, breaking the shutout for Colby Wilson, who was looking for her third-career shutout in her fourth-career game.
However, the Huskies quickly shut the door on any potential comeback opportunity. After a Griffins penalty, the green-and-white got to work on the man-advantage. Abby Shirley delivered a beauty dish into Kate Ball, who made no mistake to re-establish the three-goal lead for the homeside, which was all they needed to come out with the win.
Shirley had two assists on the night, while Boucher extended her point streak to three games with the goal. Ball assisted on Dyer's second period tally, while Isabella Pozzi, Kara Kondrat, Jordyn Holmes and Sophie Lalor also chipped in helpers in the win.
Colby Wilson made 12 saves between the pipes for the Huskies, improving her record to 3-0-1 in her young Canada West career, while Brianna Sank made 31 saves for the Griffins.
"We played good at the right times today. I thought Colby held us in there and I thought we got some timely scoring," said Kook. "We just did enough of the right things and at this time of the year that's more important."
With the victory Saskatchewan moved to 11-5-2 on the season, climbing into second-place in the Canada West. Meanwhile MacEwan fell to 6-10 and will now need at least a win and some help next weekend, as they enter what will be a pivotal pair of clashes against the cross-town rival Alberta Pandas.
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan will trek west to Winnipeg for a pair of battles with the Bisons, with playoff-seeding top of mind. The Huskies would lock up a home-playoff series with at least one win on the road, due to holding the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Pandas.
"Those were four points we needed. Next weekend, we're going to need four points. But we needed to take care of this weekend first," said Kook.
