Expect Golden Bears and Huskies to play for keeps

“Forever Rivals” battle in Canada West final once again

The Huskies and Golden Bears will renew their rivalry.

    Don’t expect the participants in the Canada West Conference championship series to coast into the University Cup.

    For the third straight year, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team will face the University of Alberta Golden Bears for the Canada West title. The Huskies won the conference title in 2016, while the Golden Bears took the conference crown last year.

    As has been the case for the previous three years, the two participants in the Canada West final automatically earned berths into the U Sports national championship tournament the University Cup.   
    The University Cup runs March 15 to 18 and is being hosted by the defending U Sports champion University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in Fredericton, N.B., for a second straight year.

    While the Huskies and Golden Bears knew they had berths locked up at the University Cup each of the past two years, they still played for keeps when they met in the Canada West final. In case anyone has forgotten, this is an old school pure sports rivalry.

    These two teams do have some respect for each other, but there is also a healthy dislike for one another that goes along with that respect. The dislike becomes obvious in the head-to-head encounters.

Jesse Forsberg had another stellar season on the Huskies back end.

    Unlike the past two years, the Canada West championship series this year won’t be held at the ancient Rutherford Rink.
    On the strength of finishing first in Canada West with a 23-4-1 record, the Golden Bears will host this year’s best-of-three series at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta., with Game 1 set for Friday. The Golden Bears are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    The Huskies, who finished second in Canada West with a 20-7-1 mark, will be the underdogs. They are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    Fans in Edmonton love getting into this rivalry, and it is expected the Golden Bears will do their best to cram over 2,500 spectators into their home rink.

    The Huskies are also beat up on the injury front. Star netminder Jordon Cooke is on crutches and is out for the rest of the post-season. On Wednesday, he was named Canada West’s goalie-of-the-year for a third straight year.
    The team’s first line of Michael Sofillas, Josh Roach and Logan McVeigh are all battling injuries along with sophomore forward Wyatt Johnson.

    Johnson, who has a concussion, isn’t expected to be available. Roach has the highest likelihood of being ready for Game 1 out of the trio from the injured first line.

Luke Philp topped Canada West in scoring.

    The Golden Bears have all their top players at their disposal. Sophomore forward Luke Philp topped Canada West in scoring with 11 goals and 29 assists. He was named Canada West’s player-of-the-year.
    Fellow sophomore forward Trevor Cox was fourth in Canada West scoring with seven goals and 27 assists.

    Fourth-year forward Stephane Legault was fifth in conference scoring with eight goals and 22 assists. Centre Steven Owre, who was named Canada West’s rookie-of-the-year, sat ninth in Canada West scoring with 17 goals and 11 assists.

    Defensive forward and captain Riley Kieser had another solid campaign appearing in 25 regular season games recording five goals, eight assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department.

    Jason Fram, who was named Canada West’s defenceman-of-the-year, is the quarterback on the power play for the Golden Bears netting nine goals and 14 assists appearing in all 28 regular season games to lead all defencemen on his team in scoring.

    Sophomore Brendan Burke is expected to carry the load in goal for U of A. In 15 appearances in the regular season, Burke posted an 11-2-1 record, a 2.03 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and two shutouts.
    Burke combined with goaltending partner Zach Sawchenko to take Canada West honours as the due with the lowest goals against average at 2.14.

    Roach, who was named Canada West’s sportsmanship and ability award winner, topped the Huskies in scoring collecting 13 goals and 24 assists in 27 regular season games to finish second in scoring in Canada West. Jesse Forsberg had another strong season for the Dogs recording five goals, 15 assists and a plus-15 rating to further cement his reputation as an elite offensive defenceman.

Huskies D Tanner Lishchynsky, left, tracks Golden Bears F Taylor Cooper.

    Due to all their injuries, the Huskies will have to rely on their character guys to carry the load. Their gritty forward unit of fifth-year centre John Lawrence, fourth-year right-winger Parker Thomas and rookie left-winger Alex Forsberg has turned heads as being the line that can play physical and provide offence.

    Forsberg, who has quite a bit of offensive skill, finished third in team scoring for the Huskies posting 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 regular season appearances. Thomas, who is the most gritty player on the unit, had career highs in goals (seven) and assists (10) appearing in 27 regular season games. Lawrence, who is known as a defensive forward, had eight goals and eight assists to go along with a plus-15 rating appearing in all 28 of the Huskies regular season games.

    The Huskies do have depth up front and will look to get scoring by committee from the likes of Kohl Bauml, Levi Cable, Collin Shirley, Carson Stadnyk and Connor Gay.

    Captain Kendall McFaull, who was named the winner of Canada West’s student-athlete community service award, anchors a steady defensive back end.

The Golden Bears hold up Huskies centre John Lawrence.

    Taran Kozun, who was the WHL goaltender of the year in the 2014-15 campaign when he was with the Seattle Thunderbirds, will carry the load in goal for the Huskies in relief of the injured Cooke. Kozun posted a 4-0-1 record, a 2.00 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and one shutout in five regular season appearances in his rookie campaign. In the playoffs, Kozun has a 2-1 record, a 2.09 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.

    During the regular season, the Golden Bears won three out of the four head-to-head meetings with the Huskies, and U of A will be sizable favourites to take the Canada West championship over a U of S side that is hampered by injuries.

    Don’t expect the Huskies to go quietly. They have shown their perseverance so far in the post-season, and they will put in the effort to ensure there are no guarantees of the final outcome of this series.

    Due to the intensity of this rivalry, there will likely be some unpredictable plot twists. Expect to see some compelling must-watch drama in these encounters.
    NOTE - University of British Columbia Thunderbirds head coach Sven Butenschon took home honours as the Canada West coach-of-the-year, while the Mount Royal University Cougars won the Canada West Fair Play Trophy as the team with the fewest penalty minutes during the regular season at 312.

Vance named Canada West MVP

Huskies G Jessica Vance was named the Canada West MVP.

    Jessica Vance couldn’t have been shutout from capturing the highest individual honour in Canada West women’s hockey.

    On Wednesday, the 20-year-old netminder for the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team was named the most valuable player of the Canada West Conference. Vance posted a 14-3-1 record, a 0.77 goals against average, a .964 save percentage and nine shutouts.

    She tied for the second most individual shutouts posted in one regular season in the history of the Canada West Conference equaling the nine put up by former U of Alberta Pandas netminder Stacey McCullough in the 2000-01 campaign. Former U of Alberta Pandas goalie Lindsey Post holds the Canada West record for most shutouts in one regular season at 10 set back in the 2014-15 campaign.

    Thanks to Vance’s effort, the Huskies set a new team record for most wins in one regular season at 19 finishing second in the conference with a 19-7-2 record.

    In the post-season, the Huskies will play the U of Manitoba Bisons in a best-of-three Canada West championship series that beings win Game 1 on Friday in Winnipeg, Man. Game 2 and if necessary Game 3 will be held Saturday and Sunday respectively in Winnipeg.

    The Bison finished first in Canada West with a 22-5-1 record.

    The Herd is rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, while the Huskies are rated eighth.

Bisons G Lauren Taraschuk was named the Canada West rookie-of-the-year.

    U of M netminder Lauren Taraschuk was named the Canada West rookie-of-the-year on Wednesday. The 18-year-old Winnipeg, Man., product appeared in 12 regular season games posting a 10-2 record, a 0.71 goals against average, a .961 save percentage and five shutouts. Taraschuk has become the Bisons main starter in goal for the post-season.

    Bisons head coach John Rempel was named the Canada West coach of the year for a second straight year.

    Third-year Defender Mikayla Ogrodniczuk of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds won Canada West’s student-athlete community service award.
    Both the Huskies and Bisons have berths lock up at the U Sports nationals, which run March 15 to 18 in London, Ont., and are hosted by the University of Western Ontario Mustangs.

    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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