Murray Wood: Of Easter bunny bells and Juicy Fruit gum
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Steve Kook said it has been a non-stop month of competition for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, who’ve travelled to — and won playoff games in — four different cities across the country.
The team is in Prince Edward Island now, preparing to compete in its first game Friday at the U Sports women’s hockey championship tournament.
The Huskies began their competition streak in Winnipeg, winning two playoff games against the Manitoba Bisons. Four days later, the Huskies were off to Calgary to face the Mount Royal Cougars.
Saskatchewan’s series win in Alberta sent the team to the Canada West final in Vancouver. Despite being swept by the Thunderbirds, the Huskies qualified for the U Sports tournament — and now they’re in Charlottetown.
“It’s part of the journey, part of the experience,” said Kook, the Huskies’ head coach. “It’s on the other side of the world compared to where we’re from.”
Regardless of the travel and the exhaustion, Kook said it’s an exciting time for the group, which he described as “young,” with only two players having been to nationals before.
“By and large, this is a new experience for us and (we’re) trying to take it in as much as possible,” Kook said.
The group had two days to get acclimated and sightsee around the island before the competition began.
Kook feels good about the team’s chances in the tournament, which uses a sudden-death format.
“As soon as you lose, you’re out of the gold-medal championship,” Kook said. “We have a real good opportunity in front of us.”
The coach described the team as “light” right now, a feeling the players have maintained throughout the post-season in spite of their exhaustion. Kook said that will be important as they head into the high-stakes competition.
“These games, you play good for one and you advance to the next one,” he said. “That’s just the mindset.”
Even more impressive, Kook pointed out, is that these athletes are all, first and foremost, students.
“All the travel and all of the hockey and competing … they have to be concerned about their studies as well,” he said.
Kook hopes their inexperience will be an advantage.
“These guys really don’t know any different so we’re going to go out there and play and they don’t know if they should be nervous or excited or what,” Kook shared.
He said the competition is a chance to watch “women’s hockey at the highest level” in Canada, coming off the Olympics and other major competitions.
