A Couple Of Pros

It's often said that there are unbreakable bonds formed in the heat of battle, and we can certainly twist those words apply them to hockey where there are battles between players all over the ice. It's the experiences both on and off the ice, however, that build the foundation for life-long friendships between players that exist even when players get traded or leave via free agency, and there have been examples older players choosing to play for a championship with friends as opposed to heading to the top team in the league. This same thing happens at other levels of hockey as well, and two women who forged a life-long friendship through hockey will follow their dreams to the professional level together next season!

The Saskatchewan Huskies will add two more names to the list of graduates who found professional hockey homes as it was announced today that goaltender Camryn Drever and defender Isabella Pozzi have agreed to one-year deals with Skellefteå AIK in the SDHL next season! For those wondering, Skellefteå AIK is the newest team to join the top level of women's hockey in Sweden after they defeated AIK IF in the relegation round, pushing AIK IF to the Nationella Damhockeyligan for next season, so the stakes will be high for Drever and Pozzi as they jump into one of the best leagues on the planet!

If all of the "AIK" stuff above has you confused, AIK IF is a team based in Stockholm while Skellefteå AIK calls the city of Skellefteå home. AIK is the Swedish acronym for "athletic club" so it can be confusing, but that's why the city names are usually included with the AIK acronym. While AIK IF doesn't include "Stockholm" in their name, virtually every other team that uses the AIK abbreviation does. Hopefully, that helps with any confusion in the names.

Drever and Pozzi are no stranger to big games, having just played in the 2024 U SPORTS National Championship while also being part of the gold medal-winning 2023 Team Canada squad that won the FISU Universiade Games. Obviously, professional hockey will raise the level of competition for these two once again, but both Drever and Pozzi have shown they're capable of taking their games to another level. As part of a revamped Skellefteå club that's improving at all positions, it's exciting to see them make this jump!

Drever will tandem with Miranda Dahlgren, a 24 year-old netminder from Skellefteå whose numbers were ridiculous last season. Since joining Skellefteå AIK in 2018-19, Dahlgren is 53-9-0 including being 8-1-0 last season. Her goals-against average is 0.93 with last season showing a 0.67 mark, and her save percentage since 2018 has been an incredible .950 with last season clocking in at .947. To say that Skellefteå has two goalies who can steal games might be underselling how good the Drever-Dahlgren tandem will be.

Pozzi's skills are almost suited for how Skellefteå plays the game as they had four defenders in their top-ten scorers last season. Malou Berggren is the top defender returning this season for SDHL play as she had two goals and 12 assists last season, and it appears that Pozzi will be expected to step into one of Johanna Kellander's or Pernilla Forsgren's spots as a catalyst for offence from the blue line while playing solid defence. Pozzi's talents and ability to play a more physical game should fit nicely in Skellefteå's black-and-gold.

The biggest question mark heading into next season will be the coaching as head coach Martin Lindh was hired in this offseason to take over the club as they enter the SDHL. The 42-year-old Swede coached Troja-Ljungby's women's team in the NDHL for seven seasons where they finished as high as second-place in the Södra Division in that time. There's no denying that his coaching style appealed to GM Ulrika Dahlgren, but we've seen good coaches struggle to find results in the SDHL due to the amount of talent skating there. If Lindh can figure out his team's strengths and weaknesses early and put a system in where strengths are maximized and weakenesses are minimized, Skellefteå should be successful in their SDHL debut season.

Adding a couple of great players and incredible people like Camryn Drever and Isabella Pozzi will certainly help Skellefteå both on and off the ice. As good as they play on the ice, they're fabulous women who have a history of giving back and doing more in the community as the city of Saskatoon can attest. Head coach Steve Kook will tell you how easy it is to coach these two players as they're committed to seeing the team succeed as much as they want their own success, and their teammates will tell you that these two women are excellent in the room, pushing players to be better and cheering other players' successes.

Drever and Pozzi look like good fits in Skellefteå for a number of reasons, and I believe the city and their fans will adopt these two Canadians pretty quickly. For a city that sits 12-degrees north of Saskatoon's latitude, everything I can see points to Camryn and Isabella finding Skellefteå to feel a lot like their university hockey home. And, of course, HBIC will keep an eye on them as the season gets underway in Sweden!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!