Stone scores hat trick as Huskies sweep Pronghorns

by Braydon Epp, U of Lethbridge Sports Info Assistant

LETHBRIDGE, AB - The University of Saskatchewan Huskies opened the new year with a weekend sweep of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in Lethbridge on Sunday night, and they did it in impressive fashion by drubbing the Horns 6-0.

The series took place a weekend before other teams kick off the new semester's schedule, as it was being played to make up for postponed games in October due to H1N1.

Vanessa Frederick (Saskatoon, 4th) picked up a shutout in the game and turned aside 35 shots in the process while Horns goalie Ashley Kavanagh (Amherstburg, ON, 2nd) was chased after stopping 6 of 9 Huskies' shots before giving way to usual starter Kailey McMaster (Kenora, ON, 5th) who managed to stop 17 of the 20 shots she faced.

The Huskies burst out of the gate and scored on their first shot of the game as Danny Stone (Prince Albert, SK, 2nd) took a feed in the slot and fired a wrist shot while on her knees and put the puck over the shoulder of Kavanagh. Stone's marker would be the only shot faced by Kavanagh in the period, as the Horns took over the majority of the offense but could not solve Frederick, who stopped all 11 attempts on goal.

Saskatchewan did not want a repeat of their one shot performance in the first period and came out with guns blazing for the second, and were rewarded 1:08 into the frame as Julie Paetsch (Lanigan, SK, 3rd) picked up a rebound in front of the net and flipped the loose puck over a down and out Kavanagh. The Huskies kept the momentum going as Stone broke in on the right wing before putting on the brakes and cutting into the slot and wiring a wrist shot over the glove of Kavanagh. Horns coach Chandy Kaip then pulled Kavanagh in favor of Kailey McMaster (Kenora, ON, 5th) in an attempt to motivate her troops and McMaster came through with the Horns lone highlight of the second frame as she slid across the net to deny Stone a hat trick when she was sent in alone on clear breakaway. Despite the 3-0 deficit, the Horns still managed to outshoot the Huskies in the second frame by a 16-13 margin.

McMaster could not prevent Stone from completing the hat trick however, as the Huskies' sniper notched her third of the game and seventh of the season on the power play at the 2 minute mark of the third by slipping the puck through the Horn's goalie's five hole at the side of the net. The Huskies added their fifth and sixth goals of the contest when the Horns gave them a two-man advantage near the midway point of the period with goals courtesy of Breanne George (Saskatoon, 3rd) and Megan Frohaug (Vanscoy, SK, 2nd).

The loss drops the Horns to 3-7-2 on the season and the weekend sweep left them unable to make up any ground on the idle UBC Thunderbirds for the fourth and final playoff spot. The Horns currently sit three points back of the T-Birds. Meanwhile, the Huskies improve 8-3-3 on the season and now are just one point back of the Manitoba Bisons for second in the Canada West Conference.

The Pronghorns now head out east to take on the No. 4 Manitoba Bisons (10-2) for a weekend series starting Friday, January 8, while the Huskies have a weekend bye before returning to action January 15 and 16 to host the Bisons in a series with playoff implications.