Cara Wooster, donning the Huskies “Play for a Cure” jerseys, scored the overtime winner Jan. 20.

On Jan. 21, in the second of two games the Huskies women’s hockey team played against the visiting Manitoba Bisons, the Dogs lost 4-3 in a shootout.

Both teams had to send five shooters before Bisons forward Nellie Minshull scored the only goal of the breakaway contest. Minshull, however, fumbled the puck on her way to the net and had to stop to reach back and retrieve the puck before she fired it through Huskies goaltender Mackenzie Rizos’ five-hole. The crowd and the Huskies bench erupted when the goal was allowed, thinking that the play should have been considered dead when Minshull was forced to stop and turn back. After some referee deliberation the goal was still counted, giving Manitoba the extra point and the win.

“I don’t know how she makes that call,” commented Huskies head coach Steve Kook in regards to the referee’s decision. “Our goalie thought it was a dead play. Their player thought it was a dead play and probably shot the puck because she was pissed off.”

The official ruling on shootout and penalty shots is that the puck, not the player, must be kept in motion towards the goal line. Therefore, as long as the puck did not stop in its forward movement the goal was rightfully allowed.

Huskies forward Danny Stone started the scoring in the first period for the Dogs and added another midway through the second frame with help from the nifty passing of Julia Flinton and Breanne George.

The Bisons’ Caitlin MacDonald and Addie Miles each potted a goal to tie the game at two going into the third period. Manitoba then took their first lead of the game three minutes into the third frame when Amy Lee tallied one.

The Dogs managed to tie it up again late in the third period after a long slap shot from the point rang off the post and bounced to a wide open Sara White, who easily pushed it past the goal line for her sixth goal of the year.

Overtime solved nothing despite a two-minute man advantage for the Huskies after Manitoba’s Caitlin MacDonald got called for holding. The shootout ensued and Manitoba won with Minshull’s effort.

It wasn’t the first time these two teams needed extra time to find a winner. The previous night’s game also went into overtime with the teams knotted at two goals each after 60 minutes.

Huskies forward Cara Wooster came up big in that game, scoring 3:28 into the extra frame to give the Dogs a 3-2 win.

“I jumped off the bench and went all the way around the net, the puck landed on my stick and the goalie overplayed it so I was able to put it into the open net,” she explained.

That goal counts as Wooster’s second overtime winner this year and puts her at sixth in the Canada West points race.

Wooster isn’t about to rest on those stats, however, and going into the bye week she recognizes the team can still improve.

“We need to get back to hard work,” she said. “We can’t dwell on this loss too long. We got three out of four points [this weekend], but we need to move on.”

Huskies Lindsay Karst and Julie Paetsch both scored in the weekend’s first game to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead early in the second period. The lead shrunk to one before the second intermission, though, with a power play goal from Manitoba’s Minshull. Then in the final frame the Bisons scored their second goal on the man advantage, this one coming off the stick of Caitlin MacDonald.

The Dogs were sporting their special “Play For A Cure” jerseys in that game. Play For A Cure, held by Huskie Athletics, raises funds and awareness for cancer research. The jerseys were sold to fans and Huskie alumni following the game, and the team sold raffle tickets for a pink Play For A Cure quilt.

The Huskies raised a total of $3700 towards the charity, but that amount will rise as more jerseys are still being sold.

“Cancer is one of those diseases that no matter whom you know, someone is always affected by it, and I think it’s great that the team does something to try and help out,” said Rizos. “We are all people, and to do something beyond hockey to help the community and the Canadian Cancer Society is great.”

The women’s team will rest up this week as they enjoy a week off. They will resume play Feb. 3 and 4 when they travel to Calgary to take on the Dinos, who boast a 9-1 home record.

Bisons trample Dogs

The Huskies men’s hockey team suffered its first back-to-back regulation losses of the season last weekend as they fell 4-2 and 3-1 to the University of Manitoba Bisons.

The losses were only the Dogs’ fourth and fifth of the season.

They still sit tied with Alberta at first in the Canada West, sporting a 15-5-2 record.

Maintoba is two points behind with a 14-4-2 record.

The Huskies, who have a bye week this weekend, will host Calgary at Rutherford Rink Feb. 3 and 4. They have yet to lose at Rutherford this year — their only home loss came at the Credit Union Centre on Oct. 21.

With files from Kevin Menz

—
Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf