Saturday, 14 November 2015

Huskies rally comes up short

The Huskies push for an equalizer in the final seconds of the third.
    A rough opening 20 minutes came back to haunt the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.
    On Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Huskies fell behind the visiting University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 3-0 in the first period, while being outshot 17-9. The hosts made a spirited comeback over the next two frames scoring twice in the second and once early in the third to force a 3-3 tie.
    Despite the fact the Huskies outshot the Thunderbirds 29-5 over the final two periods, the visitors pulled out a 4-3 victory, when Austin Vetterl picked up with winner with 5:44 remaining in the third.
    The Thunderbirds, who are ranked ninth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top ten rankings, got the jump on the Huskies early. Third-year forward Luke Lockhart roofed home a power-play goal at the 1:52 mark of the opening frame to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 edge.
    Near the end of the first, defenceman Neil Manning and forward Chase Clayton scored singles 44 seconds apart from each other to give the Thunderbirds a 3-0 edge.
    The Huskies, who are ranked second in the CIS ratings, came out of the first intermission putting on all kinds of pressure in the Thunderbirds end. They finally broke thru on the scoreboard at the 11:55 mark of the second, when Thunderbirds goalie Matt Hewitt mishandled a puck, and Jesse Ross popped home the loose disk for his fourth goal of the season.
Levi Cable scored twice for the Huskies on Saturday.
    At the 15:49 mark of the second, the hosts cut the Thunderbirds edge to 3-2 working the power play when Levi Cable tucked home a rebound from a shot taken by rearguard Jesse Forsberg.
    Cable netted his second goal of the contest at the 3:11 mark of the third, when he lasered home a short-handed tally.
    With the way the momentum of the contest was going, it appeared the Huskies would go ahead, but Vetterl picked up the winner on one of the few chances his club was able to break into the offensive zone over the final 40 minutes.
    In the final seconds of the third, the Huskies tried to get the equalizer when a mad scramble saw a whole bunch of bodies fly into the UBC net, but the puck stayed out.
    Hewitt made 35 stops for the Thunderbirds (7-2-3). Jordon Cooke made 18 saves taking the loss in goal for the Huskies, who still sit at the top of the Canada West conference standings with a 10-2 mark.
    The Huskies and Thunderbirds also met on Friday night at the Rutherford Rink, and the hosts skated away with a 4-1 win in that encounter.
    Sean Aschim, Logan McVeigh, John Lawrence and Andrew Johnson scored for the Huskies, while Cooke made 19 saves to earn the win in goal. Manning had the lone reply for the Thunderbirds, while Eric Williams turned away 21 shots taking the loss in the UBC net.
    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday, when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the University of Manitoba Bisons (5-5-2).

T-Birds sweep in Vancouver

Marley Ervine speeds into the offensive zone for the Huskies.
    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team fell out of first place in the Canada West conference after dropping a pair of heartbreakers to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Vancouver.
    On Friday, the Thunderbirds pulled out a 1-0 victory over the Huskies, when Mathea Fischer scored at the 2:05 mark of a second overtime period. Danielle Dube made 19 saves to earn the win in goal for the Thunderbirds, while Cassidy Hendricks turned away 28 shots taking the overtime setback for the Huskies, who are ranked seventh in the CIS top ten rankings.
    The Thunderbirds claimed a 4-3 regulation victory on Saturday to complete the sweep. Haneet Parhar, Stephanie Schaupmeyer, Madison Patrick and Kelly Murray picked up singles for the Thunderbirds, while Samantha Langford made 20 saves to earn the win in goal.
Lauren Zary scored twice for the Huskies, while Marley Ervine picked up a single. Hendricks made 20 saves to take the loss in goal.
    The Thunderbirds move into first in Canada West with the sweep improving to 8-3-1. U of S fell to 7-3-2.
    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday when they host the University of Manitoba Bisons (7-5) at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink. The Bisons are currently riding a five-game winning streak.

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