Jessica Vance blankets Calgary in two straight games this weekend, moving her higher in the Canada West record books. (Twitter/UofS Women's Hockey)

By Brady Lang

Vance-sanity

Two straight shutouts propel P.A.’s Vance higher in Canada West record books

Jan 19, 2020 | 2:01 PM

It was a perfect weekend for University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey goaltender Jessica Vance.

The fourth-year netminder blanked the University of Calgary Dinos in two straight games, both 1-0 wins.

Those two shutouts pushed Vance past former Alberta goaltender, Dana Vinge, for second all-time in shutouts in Canada West History. Vance also is now tied for eleventh in all-time wins at 35.

Vance, who’s from Prince Albert, has done all of this in just 54 career games. She said the shutout record wasn’t on her mind going into the two-game set this weekend, however.

“It feels good, it’s just even better that I got my team the two wins this weekend. I think we really needed those.”

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Vance now will set her sights on the all-time Canada West record of 31, set by Alberta’s Lindsey Post in 2017.

With a year of eligibility still left for Vance, she said Post’s record is something she does have tucked away in her mind.

“I try not to think about it. I just take it game-by-game, especially this weekend, I got two and obviously, I don’t expect myself to, but it’s always a goal.”

Vance’s two shutouts this weekend came with a combined 40 saves in regulation, along with four stops in Friday’s shootout.

During that Friday game, Vance made a sprawling pack-stack save to keep the Huskies alive during the second overtime period. She said it was something she hasn’t actively worked on, but instincts played a factor.

“I (don’t know where) that came from. I never do anything like that in practice, so they were pretty excited. It was just a spur of the moment thing, it (was) pretty cool.”

Moving forward for the Huskies, the team will now travel to Vancouver for a weekend set against the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds. UBC sits in sixth in the Canada West standings at 7-10-1-4, while the Huskies are now 11-6-2-3, good for third in the standings.

Vance said at this point, it’s all about getting a bye in the first round for the club. The Huskies are just four points back of Calgary for second, and they’re hoping to catch them before the end of the season.

“That’s our focus now. We want to finish first or second, so we can get that bye.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Chris Vandenbreekel