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| Layne Young, middle, celebrates his winning goal for the Huskies. |
On Friday
before a season high crowd of 2,281 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the
sophomore left-winger tipped home a mid range shot from linemate Levi Cable to
give the Huskies a 3-1 lead over the University of British Columbia
Thunderbirds at the 3:57 mark of the third period.
The
Thunderbirds cut the cap to 3-2 with a turnaround shot from sophomore
left-winger Maxwell James right in front of the U of S net with 31.1 seconds to
play in the third, but the visitors couldn’t find the equalizer.
The Huskies
held on to make the 3-2 score hold up as the final in Game 1 of the Canada West
Championship series between the two teams. Young was pumped he could net the
winner for his side.
“It feels
really good,” said Young. “It is an unbelievable feeling.
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| Layne Young has had a breakout season with the Huskies. |
Thanks to
their victory in Game 1, the Huskies will try to close out the best-of-three
set in Game 2 on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Merlis. If necessary, Game 3 is slated
for Sunday at 7 p.m. at Merlis.
After
pulling to within 3-2, any further last second heroics by the Thunderbirds were
stifled, when star netminder Rylan Toth was given a minor penalty for boarding
inside of the final 20 seconds of the third.
The
Thunderbirds were starting out of their own zone on a rush shortly after the
ensuing faceoff that resulted after cutting the Huskies edge to 3-2. Toth
started skating out of his net for an extra attacker, when the puck was turned
over to Cable along the right wing boards.
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| Layne Young is playing in lots of different situations for the Huskies. |
Cable was
playing in his 174th consecutive game for the Huskies including action in the U
Sports regular season and post-season, and Young said Toth’s hit on the veteran
provided some comic relief for the U of S side.
“We were
poking fun at Levi a little bit,” said Young. “It is not too often you get hit
by a goalie, especially from behind, so it was kind of funny.
“I was on
the ice. I saw it. It was quite the thing that is for sure.
“I had
never seen that before.”
During the
opening 20 minutes of Friday’s game, Toth, who is in his third year with the
Thunderbirds, was doing what he does best in keeping his squad in the game as
the Huskies held a 14-2 edge in shots on goal over that span of time.
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| Jordan Tkatch, left, celebrates scoring the first goal for the Huskies. |
As for
Huskies star netminder Taran Kozun, he had to be extremely sharp on one of the
two shots he faced in the opening frame. The Nipawin, Sask., product had to make
a key stop on a tipped shot from James on a UBC power play.
The Huskies
expanded their edge to 2-0 at the 12:06 of the second period, when right-winger
Carson Stadnyk tapped home a backdoor feed from centre Logan McVeigh on an offensive
zone rush.
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| Rylan Toth was penalized for making a big hit for the Thunderbirds. |
That set
the stage for the dramatics in the third.
While U of
S had a strong start, Huskies head coach Dave Adolph thought his side had to
ultimately gut out the win.
“It wasn’t
a Picasso, and it never usually is in the playoffs,” said Adolph, whose team
was outshot 21-17 through the second and third periods. “I thought that once we
got the lead we started playing tentative.
“We started
playing cautious. I think every team when you get to this point you are so
worried about the next five minutes. You can’t think that way.
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| Levi Cable played in his 174th consecutive game for the Huskies. |
Adolph was
pleased to see Young net the winner.
“He (Young)
is a really skilled player,” said Adolph. “It is good.
“Some of
our young guys the more times they get out there in these situations that is
just going to help our program. Layne (Young) is going to be a goody.”
Before
joining the Huskies, Young was a star in the junior A ranks piling up 86 goals,
167 assists for 253 points in 169 regular season games playing with the
Battlefords North Stars from 2014 to 2018. The Frenchman Butte, Sask., product
was named the MVP of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in his final
campaign with the North Stars in 2017-18 after posting 35 goals and 72 assists
in 57 regular season games.
Adolph was
happy Young elected to join the Huskies enrolling Agriculture and Bioresources
program at the U of S.
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| Carson Stadnyk had the Huskies second goal on Friday. |
“He is a
third generation dairy farmer and farmer. It is no different than (Huskies
rookie forward) Justin Ball, who is going to be a star in our league too, when
he gets his chance. Junior A guys don’t get overlooked.
“Sometimes
they chose an academic route rather than a hockey route.”
After
netting one goal in six regular season games as a rookie, Young recorded eight
goals, 11 assists and a plus-10 rating in the plus minus department in 27
regular season games with the Huskies as a sophomore.
 |
| Jake Kryski had the Thunderbirds first goal on Friday. |
“It has
been huge,” said Young. “We’ve been together since game one of this year, so
our chemistry has just built all year.
“It is has
been awesome. They are great guys to play with, and it has just been great.”
The
22-year-old said he would love to see the Huskies four fifth-year players in
Bauml, Cable, McVeigh and Andrew Johnson graduate from the program hoisting
championship trophies.
“All four
of our fifth years are just unbelievable people,” said Young. “I think they
deserve a championship.”
Kozun made
21 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Toth turned away 28 shots
to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds.
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| Jared Dmytriw set up the Huskies first goal on Friday. |
The
Thunderbirds have enjoyed a Cinderella run to get to this point after finishing fifth
in Canada West with a 9-14-4-1 mark. They cracked the U Sports Top 10 rankings
this week at the ninth position.
Both teams
are guaranteed berths to the David Johnston University Cup, which is the U
Sports men’s hockey national championship tournament. The U Sports national
championship tournament is played in an elite-eight format. It runs from March
12 to 15 in Halifax, N.S.
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| The Huskies celebrate their victory in Game 1 of the Canada West final. |
“I think
the nerves might hit a little bit tomorrow,” said Young. “We just have to play
our way, and I think we will be OK.”
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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