SASKATOON – University of Saskatchewan women’s hockey coach Steve Kook is drawing up a plan to beat the Manitoba Bisons this weekend. What’s tougher to diagram is a way to stay out of the penalty box.
“Regardless of how you play you can’t win games if you’re sitting in the penalty box for 24 minutes a game, so that’s something we have to address,” Kook said.
After a 7-2 start the Saskatchewan Huskies have dropped three straight games including a 4-3 loss to the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday that saw the Huskies whistled for 12 minor penalties. In both weekend defeats the winning goal came on a Thunderbirds power play.
“It’s just little things. We may be one stride behind and we feel we can get our stick in there to gain a little bit of an edge, and we just can’t do those things,” Kook said.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team frustrated by split with UBC
The Huskies are averaging 11.9 penalty minutes per game this season, which is the second-highest mark among Canada West schools. With the conference’s top five teams currently separated by just four points in the standings, discipline could wind up being what distinguishes the contenders from the pretenders.
“We’ve got to move our feet instead of our sticks. We might have the tendency to be a bit lazy sometimes,” said third-year forward Kaitlin Willoughby, whose bodychecking minor led to the Thunderbirds’ game-winner on Saturday.
Discipline goes hand-in-hand with special teams, and thankfully for the Huskies those are an area of strength. The team has killed 88.1 per cent of its penalties, second best in the conference, and the power play is clicking at an impressive rate of 30.8 per cent, which is number one. But timing is everything.
“The timely execution is something we’re probably looking for a bit more,” said fifth-year forward Marley Ervine, who has one power play goal and one shorthanded marker this season. “We haven’t had those timely, difference-making goals and kills.”
Taking advantage of those opportunities and staying out of the box will be key against Manitoba, which comes into the weekend tied with the Huskies for second in the conference thanks to a five-game winning streak that’s seen the Bisons outscore their opposition 17-3.
The Huskies and Bisons clash for the first time this season Friday and Saturday at Rutherford Rink. Friday’s game starts at 7 p.m. CT while Saturday’s tilt is set for 5 p.m.
Comments