Saskatoon’s Bairos eyes championship repeat after blood clot

Hamden, Connecticut is a long way from home for Saskatoon athlete Avery Bairos.

For the past two seasons, the town of 61,000 residents is where she’s pursued her athletic dreams with the Quinnipiac University Bobcats women’s hockey team and where she’s training ahead of her junior NCAA season.

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“It’s been great here being in Connecticut,” Bairos said. “Having the opportunity to train down here is super awesome, it’s been a lot of fun and I’m really excited for next season.”

Just two years removed from making the jump from the Saskatoon Stars of the Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League to the NCAA level at Quinnipiac, Bairos has felt both exuberant highs and devastating lows to begin her college career.

It all goes back to the 2024-25 season for Bairos, her first with the Bobcats and first since moving away from Saskatchewan.

Only 18 games into her NCAA career in January of 2025, the former Stars captain noticed something wasn’t quite right on a practice day.

“I noticed my arm was feeling strange after practice,” Bairos said. “I went to go get it checked out by my trainer and then right away she could tell that something was unusual.”

Bairos quickly underwent an ultrasound which showed blood clot around a vein in her right arm.

After consultation with team trainers, Bairos was rushed to the emergency room that night and spent two days in hospital.

An initial surgery was ordered to remove the blood clot, however it was determined a second, more invasive surgery would need to be performed.

“My first rib and my collarbone were compressing on my vein, which is what caused the blood clot,” Bairos said.

“They found out that in order for me to not have anymore blood clots, they would have to remove part of my first rib. I believe they removed two-thirds of my first rib.”

Those initial days were both painful and difficult mentally for Bairos, who had her parents Tony and Lorelei travel from Saskatoon to be with her.

For someone who had never required surgery before in her hockey career, she said it was hard to get over why something so random had happened to her.

“I was really questioning why this was happening,” Bairos said.

“I was 18 at the time, healthy. I was like why is this happening? At that point I was just like, ‘I’ll do anything to get healthier, treat this and make this better.’ It was definitely a lot of shock at the moment.”

Worsening her situation, Bairos was informed by doctors that as a result of the blood thinning medication she needed to take, her freshman season at Quinnipiac was essentially over.

“I remember that crushing me,” Bairos said. “Obviously, those are words that no athlete wants to hear not being able to finish the rest of the season. That was a hard thing to hear at that moment.”

Bairos began the road to recovery roughly a month after her second surgery, as she focused on slow movements with her pectoral and chest muscles still recovering.

However, she began adding weight during the 2025 off-season and eventually was cleared to return to the ice for her sophomore year with the Bobcats.

“Going through that experience gave me even more reason just to work harder,” Bairos said.

“To show people that you can have surgery of this kind, have a step taken away from you a little bit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t push back even harder.”

Bairos elevated in her second NCAA season in 2025-26 with 41 games played as well as four goals and nine points.

It was in the playoffs where she got her breakthrough moment however, in the Eastern College Athletic Conference semifinal against the Princeton Tigers.

Bairos scored on her own rebound 3:48 into overtime to send Quinnipiac through to the conference championship game the next day against Yale.

In that championship tilt, Bairos netted her second goal of the weekend in what would end up as the game-winner in a 5-1 victory for the Bobcats to capture their second conference title in program history.

“To have that moment to win it in the championship against Yale was a great feeling,” Bairos said. “I was just super grateful to be with those girls and to win a championship with them.”

After a 4-0 shutout in the opening round of the NCAA national tournament over Franklin Pierce, Quinnipiac’s run came to a close in national quarter-finals against the eventual NCAA champions from Wisconsin.

With a conference title under her belt as a sophomore, Bairos thinks back to those frightening days in early 2025 and the support she received from friends, teammates, coaches and support staff.

“I had incredible teammates and friends helping me out, trainers helping me out,” Bairos said.

Saskatoon athlete Avery Bairos (left) celebrating with her parents Lorelei (middle) and Tony Bairos (right) after winning the 2026 Eastern College Athletic Conference women’s hockey championship. (Avery Bairos/Facebook)

“It definitely was a scary experience, but I think I had the right people and I was at the right place to get through all those things.”

Just days ahead of her 20th birthday, Bairos is now set to become one of the veteran faces up front for the Bobcats forward group in her junior season.

She said the lessons of the past two years are front and centre in her mind ahead of puck drop for the 2026-27 season, especially the empathy she received and now aims to pass along.

“I learned how important it is to be there for your teammates and your friends when they are going through challenging situations,” Bairos said.

“I think even just having a simple conversation with someone while they’re going through something challenging can really go a long way.

Bairos will play her first game of the 2026-27 season with the Bobcats on Sept. 19, as they begin their conference title defence against the University of Connecticut Huskies.

Read more:

• Huskies quarterback Amundrud cleared for return after cancer battle
• Penalties, mistakes lead to 30-16 Riders loss to Lions
• Hilltops fend off Calgary Colts 36-26 to earn first home victory of 2026 season