Huskies squeak out ninth win in a row, nail down playoff bye

Jared Dmytriw had the winning goal for the Huskies on Saturday.

    Riley Lamb nearly robbed the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    The first year netminder for the University of Manitoba Bisons came up with an incredible 42 save performance on Saturday night at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, Man. The 21-year-old gave his Bisons a prime opportunity to steal a victory, but his effort wasn’t enough to keep the Huskies at bay.

    The Huskies overcame an early 2-0 first period deficit and ultimately rallied for a 4-3 victory in the U Sports regular season clash to pull out a ninth straight victory. The win allowed the Huskies, who are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, to improve to 20-4-2 to ensure they will have a bye through the first round of the Canada West playoffs and will host a best-of-three semifinal series.

    The Huskies and their “forever rivals” the U of Alberta Golden Bears (21-5) are guaranteed to finish in the top two positions of the Canada West Conference standings. Both squads have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

    Both teams have 42 points to hold down the first and second spots in the Canada West standings. The Golden Bears hold the standings tiebreaker having won three out of the four head-to-head meetings between the two sides.

Kohl Bauml scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    Against the Bisons on Saturday, the Huskies fell behind 2-0, when Bisons defenceman Ryan Carlson scored 48 seconds into the first period and again at the 3:15 mark of the opening frame.
    The Huskies battled back to even the score at 2-2 heading into the first intermission with goals coming from the sticks of rookie winger Justin Ball and fifth-year winger Kohl Bauml.

    U of S held a 16-5 advantage in shots on goal after the opening 20 minutes.

    In the second, fifth-year centre Logan McVeigh scored 65 seconds into the frame to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead. The Huskies were unable to add to their advantage despite holding a 19-3 edge in shots on goal.

    At the 7:01 mark of the third, Bisons fifth-year offensive defenceman Adam Henry netted his 10th goal of the season to even the score at 3-3.

    Rookie centre Jared Dmytriw potted his 10^th of the season and the game winner with 2:58 remaining in the third to put the Huskies ahead for good at 4-3.

    Sophomore netminder Travis Child turned away 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies.

    The Bisons fell to 9-13-2-2 to sit fifth in the Canada West standings.

    After starting 0-3-1, the Huskies have rolled off a 20-1-1 record over their past 22 outings. 

Logan McVeigh scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    They have battled the injury bug throughout the campaign including a rash of injuries at the start of the season on defence.
    The Huskies can still finish first in Canada West, if the Golden Bears, who are rated fourth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, suffer a loss in one of their final two games.

    The Huskies close their regular season schedule with a home-and-home series with the University of Regina Cougars, who sit seventh in Canada West with an 8-15-2-1 record. The Cougars need to win both games against the Huskies to give themselves the best shot to move into the top six of the Canada West standings and earn a playoff berth.

    The two sides meet this coming Friday at 7 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place and again this coming Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

    The Golden Bears close out their regular season schedule hosting the Bisons this coming Friday and Saturday in Edmonton.

Major third period collapse costly for Huskies women’s team

Elizabeth Salyn had a goal and an assist for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team saw a golden opportunity to move into second in the Canada West Conference standings slip through their fingers.

    On Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place, the Huskies built a 3-0 victory over the U of Manitoba Bisons after 40 minutes of play. With star fourth-year netminder Jessica Vance playing goal and the Huskies carrying the reputation of being one of the best defensive teams in the conference, it seemed like that lead would be insurmountable.

    Unexpectedly, the Bisons rallied for four straight goals in the third period to skate away with a 4-3 victory in the U Sports regular season contest.

    The Bisons improved to 9-16-1 with the win but still remained last in the eight-team Canada West Conference. Due to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds slipping past the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns 2-1 in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday, the Bisons were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

    The Huskies entered Saturday’s clash with the Bisons riding a seven-game winning streak. With the loss, the Huskies fell to 16-7-2-1 to sit third in the Canada West standings with 49 points coming off 14 regulation wins, two extra time wins and three extra time setbacks.

    U of S trails the U of Calgary Dinos (16-7-1-2) by one point for second place. The Dinos have 50 points in the standings coming off 15 regulation wins, one extra time win and three extra time setbacks.
    In Canada West women’s hockey, teams are awarded three points in the standings for regulation wins, two points for extra time wins and one point for extra time setbacks.
    The top two teams in Canada West earn byes past the first round of the playoffs and the opportunity to host best-of-three Canada West semifinal series.

Shyan Elias had an assist for the Huskies on Saturday.

    Both the Huskies and Dinos have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules. The Huskies hold the standings tiebreaker over the Dinos having won all four head-to-head encounters between the two sides.

    The Huskies can’t finish any lower than third or any higher than second in Canada West.

    The U of Alberta Pandas (19-7) top the Canada West standings with 56 points coming off 18 regulation wins and one extra time win. The Pandas, who are rated fifth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, need to earn one more point in the standings to lock up first in Canada West.

    The Dinos hold the standings tiebreaker against the Pandas having one three out of four head-to-head encounters between the two sides.

    In Saturday’s clash between the Huskies and the Dinos, fifth-year centre Elizabeth Salyn scored to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the first period with fifth-year veteran left-winger Shyan Elias and third-year right winger Abby Shirley picking up assists. 
    Fifth-year left-winger Rachel Lundberg and sophomore forward Kara Kondrat each netted their first goals of the campaign in the second period to put the Huskies up 3-0.
    Salyn had an assist on Lundberg’s goal to finish with a two-point night.

    At that point, things fell apart for the host side. Just 1:42 into the third, third-year left-winger Mekaela Fisher scored for the Bisons to cut the Huskies lead to 3-1.

    At the 10:44 mark of the third, fourth-year right-winger Sheridan Oswald tallied for the Bisons to cut the Huskies edge to 3-2.

    With 1:26 remaining in the third, Bisons fifth-year captain Jordyn Zacharias scored the equalizer to force a 3-3 tie. Just seven seconds after that tally, Bisons rookie right-winger Kate Gregoire scored the winner for the visitors to cement the final score a 4-3.

    Zacharias had two assists to go with her goal.

    Vance turned away 16 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Fifth-year veteran Amanda Schubert turned away 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Bisons.

    The Huskies also failed to score on three third period power-play chances as the Bisons roared back on the scoreboard to add to the collapse for the host side.

Kara Kondrat had a goal for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The Huskies close their regular season with a home-and-home series against the U of Regina Cougars, who sit fourth in Canada West with a 13-13 record. The two sides meet this coming Friday at 7 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

    They then go at it on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Merlis.

    The Dinos close their season with a home-and-home series with the Pronghorns (9-14-1-2). They go at it this coming Friday in Lethbridge and again this coming Saturday in Calgary.

    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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