Roach writing memorable farewell tour with Huskies

Josh Roach leads Canada West in scoring with 10 goals and 20 assists.

    Josh Roach is going all in to try and make his swan song his most memorable campaign with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    On personal front, the 25-year-old ensured statistically his fifth-and-final season with the Dogs would be his most productive offensively picking up a pair of assists in a 4-1 U Sports regular season victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons on Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink. With those helpers, Roach has career highs in goals (10), assists (20) and points (30), and he leads the Canada West Conference in scoring with a three-point edge over Luke Philp of the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Josh Roach had two assists for the Huskies on Saturday.

    To go along with the points, Roach has posted a plus-16 rating in the plus-minus department, which is also a career high. He still has eight regular season games to go to build on those totals.

    “Obviously, it is nice,” said Roach, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 190 pounds. “You start the season, and you set personal goals for yourself.

    “To reach them with a month left in the season is obviously something pretty special.”

    Roach is building off a solid 2016-17 campaign where he recorded eight goals and 18 assists in 24 regular season games. For most of the past two campaigns, he has been part of a character forward unit that has developed into a dynamic scoring force with centre Logan McVeigh and left-winger Michael Sofillas.

    “Me and my linemates have been clicking,” said Roach, who is a Huskies assistant captain. “We’ve played the last few years out there, so we are comfortable out there.

Josh Roach has played in three University Cup tournaments.

    “We can feed off of each other and know where each other are. Playing with consistent guys who think the same way as you definitely helps.”

    During his time with the Huskies, the local product has gone through what seems like a lifetime of experiences. In three of his first four seasons, Roach and the Huskies appeared in the U Sports national championship tournament – the University Cup – in 2014, 2016 and 2017. The Huskies fell in the tournament’s title game in 2014 and 2017.

    Amongst those appearances at nationals was an emotional Canada West championship win at the Rutherford Rink in early March of 2016, which marked the high point in a campaign where the Dogs were playing to honour the memory of the late Cody Smuk. Smuk was the team’s all-heart, glue guy type gritty forward, who played from 2010 to 2014 and passed away from cancer in June of 2015.

Josh Roach is a plus-16 so far this season.

    Roach was one of Smuk’s former teammates, and during the on ice Canada West title celebrations in 2016, Roach and Huskies captain Kendall McFaull helped bring Smuk’s family on to the ice for the team picture with the trophy and championship banner.

    Roach said that day is still his most memorable moment with the Huskies, and the education student can’t believe how quickly his time with the team is passing by.

    “Looking back on it, it doesn’t seem like that,” said Roach. “Everybody says when you come in that enjoy it, because it goes by fast.

    “You don’t expect it when you first start, but it is crazy looking back now.”

    The skilled winger said his four seasons in the junior A ranks from 2009 to 2013 with the Humboldt Broncos and then the Flin Flon Bombers in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League helped prepare him to play at the Canadian university level. He was an offensive defenceman during his hockey career until being moved up to forward due to his scoring touch in his first campaign with the Huskies.

    From 2009 to 2012, Roach was a standout with the Broncos, and he helped them win a league championship and advance to the semifinal of the Royal Bank Cup, which is the national championship tournament for the junior A level.

Left-winger Michael Sofillas is one of Roach’s key linemates.

    During his time in Humboldt, Roach played under then Broncos head coach and general manager Dean Brockman, who is now the head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, and that experience proved to be very valuable.
    “Having a players’ coach like Dean (Brockman) throughout my junior career obviously was something a lot of guys don’t get to experience,” said Roach. “He definitely helped me along in my career. I have a lot to thank for him.”

    Against the Bisons on Saturday night, Roach picked up helpers on the Huskies second and third goals. The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on singles from left-winger Collin Shirley and Sofillas.

    Defenceman Blake Heinrich scored for the Bisons at the 10:10 mark of the third period to cut the Huskies lead to 2-1.

Centre Logan McVeigh is Roach’s other key linemate.

    U of S sealed victory with a power-play goal from offensive defenceman Jesse Forsberg with 1:39 remaining in the third period and an empty-net tally from right-winger Parker Thomas with 45 seconds to play in the third. The win allowed the Huskies to officially lock up a berth in the Canada West playoffs.

    Jordon Cooke turned away 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies, who are rated fourth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings. Byron Spriggs turned away 39-of-42 shots to take the setback in goal for the Bisons.

    Roach said that victory over the Bisons was an up and down game for his team.

    “I thought we had our moments when we played well,” said Roach. “We were pretty sloppy in our own end.

    “We definitely didn’t play to our strengths. Fortunately, we were able to come away with the ‘W.’”

Josh Roach has been part of many Huskies victory celebrations like this one.

    The win allowed the Huskies to improve to 16-3-1 and move into a tie for first in Canada West with the Golden Bears, who are also 16-3-1. The Golden Bears are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    The Bisons fell to 11-7-2 and sit nine points behind the Huskies and Golden Bears in the Canada West standings.

    Roach is looking forward to the sprint to the finish.

    “Obviously, we want to finish strong,” said Roach. “If we can do our job and set ourselves up pretty good going into the post-season, I think we will be good.

    “We just have to play our game and just keep at it.”

    The Huskies return to action on Friday, when they host the University of Calgary Dinos (6-11-3) at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.

Early Bisons goal does in Huskies women’s hockey team

Jessica Vance stopped 19 shots for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The U of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team ensured an early goal would prove costly to the visiting U of Saskatchewan Huskies.

    On Saturday at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, Man., fourth-year forward Nicole Carswell scored her first goal of the season at the 2:41 mark of the first period, and that tally proved to be enough to give the Bisons a 1-0 victory in a U Sports regular season clash over the Huskies. Bisons netminder Lauren Taraschuk turned away 26 shots to pick up her third shutout of the season and bring an end to the Huskies four-game winning streak.

    Jessica Vance turned away 19 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies after coming out victorious in her five previous straight starts.

    The Bisons, who are rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, improved to 14-5-1 to sit second in the Canada West Conference one standings point behind the first place University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (14-4-2).

    The Huskies fell to 12-7-1 to sit fourth in Canada West and five standings points back of the Thunderbirds.

    U of S returns to action on Friday with a road encounter in Calgary against the U of Calgary Dinos (6-12-2).

Gerlach delivers OT win to Blades

Max Gerlach scored the overtime winner for the Blades on Saturday night.

    Max Gerlach showed off the type of excitement he can bring to the Saskatoon Blades in dramatic fashion.

    On Saturday night at the Centrium in Red Deer, the 19-year-old centre netted two goals and an assist to deliver the Blades to a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 WHL regular season overtime victory over the host Rebels before 4,301 spectators. Gerlach was acquired by the Blades in a deal with the Medicine Hat Tigers that came before the WHL’s trade deadline on Wednesday.

    The Rebels jumped ahead 2-0 on a first period goal by Grayson Pawlenchuk and a second period tally from Mason McCarty.

    Before the second period ended, Gerlach potted his first goal as a member of the Blades to cut the Rebels edge to 2-1.

    With 1:43 to play in the third period, Gerlach teamed with Blades captain Evan Fiala to set up right-winger Josh Paterson for his 21^st goal of the season to tie things up at 2-2.

    At the 1:21 mark of overtime, Gerlach laser beamed his second goal of the contest to the top left corner of the Red Deer net to win the game for the Blades.

    Rookie Nolan Maier turned away 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 22-19-2-1 to hold the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a seven point edge over the Prince Albert Raiders (16-19-6-2). The Raiders have one game in hand on the Blades.

    Rookie Ethan Anders turned away 35 shots to take the setback in goal for the Rebels, who fell to 10-23-8-3.

    The Blades return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Cranbrook, B.C., to take on the Kootenay Ice (18-22-3).

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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