Young guns give Huskies’ attack some extra bite
Upgang, Bourassa step up to become team’s key offensive contributors
Two young guns are emerging as a pair of hotshots on the University of Saskatchewan women’s hockey squad.
Bailee Bourassa and Emily Upgang are among the team’s leading scorers as the Huskies near the midway point of their Canada West conference season.
U of S head coach Steve Kook says it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, the two players would emerge as key contributors offensively.
“Those two kids have some natural ability,” says Kook, whose Huskies return to action Friday and Saturday at home (7 p.m. game-time) on the U of S campus at Rutherford Rink.
“Those two kids have a couple of the hardest shots on our team. In our league, in the female game, if you can rip the puck, that’s pretty important.”
Not only does Upgang lead the Dogs in scoring along with team captain Kaitlin Willoughby, Upgang is tied for sixth among Canada West conference scorers with five goals and three assists for eight points through 12 games. Bourassa is right behind with four goals and two assists for six points.
“I’m not surprised at what they’ve done,” adds Kook. “I’m encouraged by how quickly it’s happened, but for those two, it’s happened pretty quickly because of their work ethic.
“Upper (Upgang) is, arguably, one of the hardest working kids we have on any given night, practice or game, and Bailee’s not that far behind.”
The U of S women’s squad is in transition this season following the graduation of goalie Cassidy Hendricks, blueliner Alyssa Dobler and forwards Rachel Johnson and Lauren Zary. A core of fifth- and third-year Huskies remains.
“It’s real nice to have a group of second-year kids — Bailee, Upper (Upgang) and also Kayla (Kirwan) in the back end — that can play a lot of big minutes for us,” says Kook.
That year the Huskies went to the national championship, it was their young kids who added the needed depth, he adds.
“If you can get four lines and three sets of D that are solid back there, and you don’t have any holes in your lineup, that’s going to help us get to where we want.”
Upgang, a native of Poplar Point, Man., played her midget AAA hockey for the Central Plains Capitals. She has two game-winning goals and a plus-7 rating this season.
“It’s obviously pretty exciting to get some goals this year,” says the 5-foot-7 forward, a former Capitals MVP and Manitoba Female Hockey League second-team all-star.
“Our team has found some pretty great chemistry. That obviously makes it easier to put the puck in the net and our team has been doing pretty well.
“As a younger player on the team, it’s all about building some confidence. As you get to the later years, you can be a leader like our older girls are for us right now.”
After a short-lived stay atop the standings, Saskatchewan sits in fourth in the Canada West with a 7-4-1-0 record.
“It was obviously really nice to be in first place, and to beat B.C. to get into first place was huge and a great feeling,” said Upgang, adding that each team has a chance to win every night.
“We look forward to getting (lost points) back in the coming weekends.”
Bourassa, a 5-foot-8 nursing student from Weyburn, has already equalled her goals total from last season.
“It feels really good to be one of the points leaders this year, but, at the same time, it just feels good knowing our team is doing well, in general,” said Bourassa.
“It’s important that we’re generating some scoring. It will be good in the future, when we lose people like Kaitlin Willoughby, that we can step up and try to fill her shoes and know that we’re kind of transitioning into doing that.”
Those two kids have a couple of the hardest shots on our team. In our league, in the female game, if you can rip the puck, that’s pretty important.