The Huskies women’s hockey team returned from the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship with their first ever bronze medal. The Dogs defeated the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks 6-3 to claim third place in the tournament.

The McGill University Redmen defeated the University of Montreal Carabins 4-2 to earn the gold medal. The championships took place from March 14-16 in Fredericton, N.B.

The Huskies opened their tournament with a tough matchup against the top-seeded Carabins. Showing why they were the team to beat in the tournament, the Carabins notched a 3-0 win over the Dogs.

Head coach Steve Kook was proud of the way the team played against one of the top teams in the country on such a large stage.

“It would have been easy for us coming in, first time at a national championship, to fold up when the first one went in, and we didn’t,” he said to St. Thomas University sports information. “We don’t know what to expect here. We’re not going to know until we get put into a situation.”

In their second game, the Huskies battled the St. Thomas University Tommies and came away with a 3-2 victory. The win kept the Huskies in medal contention, allowing them to finish second in their pool and advance to the bronze medal game.

After dropping their opening contest, the Huskies regrouped well and returned to the ice ready to fight for the win.

“We talked about simple things — beating one guy and having someone else there to support the puck — and that’s something that we weren’t doing at the beginning,” Kook said.

“Maybe you take [St. Thomas University] for granted just a little bit and you try to skate through the neutral zone and they did such a good job with sticks and bodies.”

The Tommies were seeded sixth in the tournament, three spots lower that the Dogs, but the Huskies did not underestimate their lower-ranked opponent.

“I know we don’t have a whole lot of experience at national championships but you sure expect all the teams to come out ready to play, especially when meaningful games are still on the line,” Kook said.

In the battle for the bronze medal game, three third period goals helped the Huskies secure their first-ever CIS medal. The Huskies triumphed 6-3 over the Golden Hawks.

After two periods of play the Huskies held a 3-2 lead, but less than a minute into the final period the Golden Hawks evened the score.

From there the game belonged to the Huskies, as two empty Golden Hawk net goals from Sara Greschner and Marley Ervine gave the Dogs a 6-3 victory.

Huskie Julia Flinton scored three goals in the win and was named the Canada West star of the week for her efforts during the tournament.