Huskies begin playoff push with Canada West quarterfinal at MBP

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team is set to begin another quest for a Canada West banner as U Sports playoffs begin across the country.

It’s the second year in a row the Huskies will host a quarterfinal after christening playoff hockey at Merlis Belsher Place last season.

The third-ranked Huskies meet the sixth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds in a best-of-three series for the third time in four years.

Even though the Huskies finished third in the conference with 52 points, 18 more than the T-Birds, head coach Steve Kook isn’t taking the T-Birds lightly.

“You don’t have to go too far back,” Kook said, noting the playoffs wipe away all points in the standings. “B.C swept us here in the regular season. There’s a big point difference, but it’s completely different here. Same thing happened when Mount Royal came in (last year).”

Saskatchewan needed overtime in the third game of its quarterfinal series against the Cougars last year to advance after winning three of four regular-season encounters.

Just like last year, the team is entering the playoffs with Canada West star Jessica Vance in net. The fourth-year netminder’s season save percentage of .930 — with four shutouts during 10 wins and seven losses of action — boosted her career save percentage to .947, a new conference record.

She doesn’t mind seeing her name in the record books right as the post-season is about to begin.

“Confidence is key for my position, so I think it’s really important to have (the statistics to rely on) and it’s awesome whenever things like that happen just to help out my confidence,” Vance said.

The Huskies lost both games at home against the T-Birds at the start of the season and then returned the favour in Vancouver last month.

Vance doesn’t care about the regular-season schedule. She expects a battle regardless.

“I think we know what to expect coming in,” Vance said. “B.C. has never been a weak team. They’ve always been tough to play and we’ll never take them lightly.”

Kook isn’t dwelling on the home losses after his team went 8-4 in the second half of the season.

“We’ve played well since Christmastime. We’ve been on a good run here. We just have to make sure we keep doing the same things,” he said.

UBC’s season went in a different direction during that span. The T-Birds won two of their final 15 games to sputter into the final playoff spot.

The weekend could come down to the performance of the goalies. UBC goaltender Tory Micklash boasts a career save percentage of .930.

Kook doesn’t imagine that will influence his team to play a defensive game. He has planned for fast-paced, free-flowing games all weekend.

“We’re guilty sometimes of hanging on (to the puck) too long. Our focus in the second half was making sure we set the pace and we set the shots early. We think if the puck is on Micklash and there’s a rebound, we can win those (battles),” he said.

With eight graduating players on the roster — Leah Bolken, Elizabeth Salyn, Morgan Willoughby, Shyan Elias, Rachel Lundberg, Courtney Cormack, Emily Nutter and Brooklyn Haubrich — who potentially are playing in their final U Sports action, the team is hoping to dig in for a long playoff push.

“There’s a crew of kids here that are driving the bus, clearly. Their message has been really clear: ‘This is our last kick at the can and before you know it, it’s going to be yours,’ ” Kook said of his veteran leaders.

“They’ve pointed at the open space that’s over there on the white wall and said: ‘There’s room for a banner there,’ so that’s their driving focus.”

Puck drop on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) is at 7 p.m.