Usask Huskies Look To Put Canada West Women’s Hockey Playoff Miss In The Rearview - Beritaja

Tempo and optimism are precocious astatine University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s lucky practice, coming disconnected their first play of play for the 2025-26 Canada West season.

Not a astonishment fixed the blank slate successful beforehand of the Huskies arsenic they’ve embarked connected a caller play together.

“Honestly we’re looking beautiful coagulated truthful far,” said Huskies skipper Sara Kendall. “The activity ethic is there, the connection is there, the connections are being built. It’s been really good.”

The Huskies are putting past twelvemonth firmly down them, a play which tested the team’s resiliency and marked a uncommon freefall successful the Canada West standings for the usually accordant programme retired of Saskatoon.

Coming disconnected hosting the U Sports National Women’s Hockey Championship, the Huskies saw a ample portion of their 2023-24 roster postgraduate aliases depart the statement leaving a rookie-heavy lineup to statesman the 2024-25 campaign.

What followed were 14 consecutive losses to unfastened the play earlier the Huskies yet won their first crippled connected Nov. 29 against the MacEwan Griffins.

“It was difficult for america to find the nosy successful it aft coming truthful acold successful the play and not having a azygous win, aliases really thing going our measurement that year,” said Kendall. “This twelvemonth we’re trying to bring the vibes… We’re trying to get the unit connected. We want everyone to person nosy and effort their best.”

The Huskies would upwind up only winning 5 of their 28 games successful regular season, missing Canada West playoffs for the first clip successful about 20 years pinch a disappointing 5-17-6 grounds to decorativeness second-last successful the conference.

It was a play which tested the full programme according to caput coach Steve Kook, who spent the off-season searching for answers connected really to forestall the book from repeating itself this fall.

“It was a large aftermath up call, let’s beryllium honest,” said Kook. “For [players] and the coaching staff, we had a chance to benignant of measure everything we do. We had a look astatine things and we said, ‘Are we doing these things because that’s conscionable what we do? Or are we doing these things because they’re effective?'”

That process progressive a batch of soul-searching for a young Huskies roster, pinch respective players only being introduced to Canada West title months earlier.

The differences betwixt U18 aliases inferior lucky pinch the U Sports level is thing Kook wanted to instill successful his players successful 2025-26, pinch his locker room taking the statement to heart.

“Hockey time successful and time retired intends thing here,” said Kook. “It’s a small different than wherever they came from. There’s money connected the table, there’s jobs connected the table, assemblage reputation. I deliberation they sewage a small spot of an awakening of making judge we sewage to return attraction of business here.”

Visiting the Mount Royal Cougars to footwear disconnected the 2025-26 play past play successful Calgary, the Huskies struggled successful their opener past Friday suffering a 3-1 loss, which Kook said could person been overmuch worse if not for a 30-save capacity retired of starting goaltender Colby Wilson.

The pursuing nighttime it was a different story, arsenic the Huskies locked down defensively against Mount Royal winning 1-0 disconnected a 23-save shutout nighttime from backup goalie Clara Juca and the game-winning extremity scored midway done the 2nd play by seasoned Bronwyn Boucher.

“We’re already up of schedule from past year,” said Boucher. “We person a triumph earlier December now, I deliberation pinch that we person a batch of affirmative power and momentum to return america into that first half. Lots to activity on, but very excited for this.”

For Boucher it wasn’t only a cardinal extremity to break the deadlock, but served arsenic a milestone for the Sturgeon County, Alta., merchandise scoring successful her 100th profession Canada West game.

Splitting their first bid of the play against Mount Royal marked a measurement successful the correct direction, according to Wilson, pinch the extremity of stringing together wins overmuch much consistently compared to past season.

“We’re a beautiful young squad and everyone is successful the lineup,” said Wilson. “Getting group utilized to that gait and thinking, ‘Oh yea I could do this’ is ace awesome. It was bully for america to do our first weekend.”

Time will show if the Huskies are capable to execute the existent alteration successful the standings they’re expecting this winter, but the mentality of the squad has shifted for the better, said Wilson, who intends to get backmost to the playoffs successful her last Canada West season.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a fifth-year aliases a first-year [player],” said Wilson. “We each person a domiciled to play connected this team, and I deliberation that’s wherever we are correct now. We cognize what we’re striving for, truthful now we’re conscionable trying to create ourselves a caller personality abstracted from past years.”

The Huskies (1-1-0) are connected a bye week pursuing their season-opening divided against Mount Royal. They are group to return to crippled action connected Oct. 17 for their location opener astatine 7 p.m. versus the Trinity Western Spartans (2-0-0).

---

you are at the end of the news article with the title:

"Usask Huskies Look To Put Canada West Women’s Hockey Playoff Miss In The Rearview - Beritaja"

---

Please read other interesting content from Beritaja.com at Google News and Whatsapp Channel!