Goalie Camryn Drever having historic season with Huskies hockey

In her senior year with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, goaltender Camryn Drever is on pace for one of the greatest seasons in the history of the program.

The fifth-year goalie out of Edmonton owns a record of 12-4 with 16 games started for the Huskies. In those 16 starts she has a save percentage of .955 – the best in the country – and a goals-against average of 1.31, which ranks third in Canada.

Her stellar play has led the Huskies to a 17-5-2 record, and the team is currently in a dogfight for one of the top playoff seeds in a very competitive Canada West conference.

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So what has made Drever so successful?

“A lot of hard work and I think just trusting the process,” she said in an interview before start of their series against the University of Alberta Pandas.

“The team in front of me puts in the work too, and I think our defensive corps has been getting better and better since the beginning of the year. I owe them a lot of credit in front of me.

Goaltender Camryn Drever boasts one of the best records in Huskie history. (Electric Umbrella/Derek Elvin)

“If you look at it from a technical standpoint, it would be just being able to fight through traffic and save that first rebound and not allow the other team those extra bit of chances,” she added.

“I think it helps that our penalty kill has been phenomenal the last couple years. I think that helps my numbers too. We usually pre-scout our teams too, and I think that helps me.”

Looking at Drever’s numbers this season, some might think it’s an anomaly, but if you dig deeper, that isn’t the case.

Goaltender Camryn Drever said a lot of hard work helped get her to where she is today. (Electric Umbrella/Derek Elvin)

In her five seasons with the Huskies, Drever has averaged a save percentage of .944 and her goals-against average has been limited to 1.49.

According to the Huskies’ record books, if the season were to end today, Drever would have the third-highest save percentage in the program’s history and would need to get to 15 wins to secure the all-time school record for wins in a season.

Currently, she owns the second-best goals-against average in program history, which was 1.19 back in 2019.

Steve Kook, her coach, said her off-ice work is a big part of the reason why Drever has been able to remain so consistent for his squad.

“Her work ethic is unbeatable,” Kook stated. “She’s one of the fittest athletes on our team. The work she puts into her craft is unbelievable.”

Kook said he’s been impressed by her numbers this year.

“To be this late in the season and still have that sort of save percentage is amazing,” he added.

“It’s unheard of. Having her back there helps us to be prepared for what we’re doing, and if you look at the scores we’re used to playing one-goal games, and we’re comfortable in playing that way in large part because of Cam.”

Kook said Drever’s success as a goalie started when she played minor hockey in Edmonton.

When she was a teenager, she played two seasons for the U18 AAA St. Albert Slash from 2016 to ’18. During her time with the Slash, she led her club to two straight national championships.

Kook suggested that experience helped prime Drever for an outstanding career with the Huskies.

“She’s had quite the history of winning in her background. That winning pedigree just sticks with her,” Kook added.

Drever will be relied upon down the stretch of the season for the Huskies as they attempt to not only win Canada West championship, but also set their sights on the national championship that they’ll be hosting in March.

Drever said she’s ready to get the big games started in February.

“I’m really excited. The playoffs is a different kind of breed of hockey and I’m super-excited for all of our first-year players to experience that,” she explained.

“It’s my last go, and the last go for six other players on the team, and I think we just want to be able to do our best and end out on a win.”

The Canada West playoffs for the Huskies will begin on Feb. 16 or Feb. 22, depending on where they finish in the standings. The national championship set to be hosted at Merlis Belsher Place is scheduled to start on March 15.