Huskies home for round one

Dogs dump rival Cougars 6-2 to close regular season

The Huskies celebrate their 6-2 victory over the Cougars on Saturday night.

    The goal gusher finally came for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, and they will host a home playoff series because of it.

    On Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Huskies used a four-goal third period surge to dump their provincial rivals the University of Regina Cougars 6-2 to close their Canadian Interuniversity Sport regular season schedule. The six-goal outburst was the highest for the Huskies in any game this season. In their previous nine contests, the Huskies netted just 12 goals, which included falling 2-1 to the Cougars in double overtime on Friday in Regina.

    Saturday’s victory allowed the Huskies to improve to 14-9-5 to finish fourth in the Canada West conference. They will host the fifth place University of Manitoba Bisons (13-13-0-2) in a best-of-three first round series that is expected to start this coming Friday at the Rutherford Rink.

    “Everyone hates the Rutherford Rink, and we love bringing teams in here,” said Huskies fourth-year forward Rachel Johnson, who scored twice in Saturday’s win. “To play here instead of Manitoba is definitely big and to have the momentum going into playoffs is also huge.”

Kaitlin Willoughby scored twice for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The Huskies drew first blood in Saturday’s contest scoring on the power play, when feisty forward Marley Ervine tipped home a point shot from star defender Julia Flinton. The hosts proceeded to go up 2-0 before the first period ended, when Kaitlin Willoughby deflected home a shot from linemate Lauren Zary.

    U of R responded with a huge push back in the second period as standout sniper Kylie Gavelin netted her 11^th of the season, while Bailey Braden potted the equalizer at the 9:27 mark to tie things up at 2-2.

    The Huskies countered the Cougars surge with their big third period outburst. The surge began at the 2:36 mark when Willoughby scored her second of the contest on a brilliant individual rush down the right wing where she roofed a backhander top shelf.

    Just 52 seconds after that tally, Johnson scored the first of her two goals on the night. The Edmonton product picked up her second marker just past the midway point of the frame popping home a shot while falling to the ice. Checking forward Kennedy Harris rounded out the scoring flipping home a long distance empty-net goal with the Cougars working a power play.

    Cassidy Hendricks made 29 stops to earn the win in goal for the Huskies. Toni Ross, who set a Cougars record for wins in a season at 17, turned away 15 of 20 shots taking the loss in goal for the U of R.

Rachel Johnson, centre, celebrates her second of two goals for the Huskies.

    “Coming into tonight and absolutely playing a great game, six goals, we haven’t done that in a long time,” said Willoughby, who finished with 10 goals on the season for a third straight campaign.       “It just means a lot that we can play at home next weekend. I think home ice is huge for us, especially that first weekend so we can gain some momentum.”

    The Prince Albert product was pleased to net her first multi-goal game of the season.

    “It was really nice actually,” said Willoughby. “The one goal I honestly had to do nothing. Zary made an amazing play.

    “The second I just found the top corner, which was awesome. It felt good. I am feeling really good going into playoffs now for sure.”

    The Cougars, who were rated 10^th in the CIS top ten rankings, entered Saturday’s game needing a regulation win to potentially finish first in Canada West and earn a bye into the semifinal round of the post-season. They dropped to 17-10-1 to finish third, which means they have to face the red hot University of Calgary Dinos in a first round best-of-three series. The Dinos finished with a 12-12-4 record after winning nine of their past 11 games.

Goalie Cassidy Hendricks makes a kick save for the Huskies.

    In a weird twist, the Cougars actually recorded the most wins in the conference. In Canada West women’s play, three points are awarded in the standings for regulation wins and two points are given for extra time victories, and the Cougars finished behind both the University of Alberta Pandas (16-9-3) and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (16-9-3) due to claiming victory 12 times in regulation. The Pandas had 15 regulation wins and the Thunderbirds had 13 regulation victories.

    The Huskies head into the post season having split their four encounters with the Bisons. Johnson is hoping her squad can find some magic to help capture a second conference title in three seasons. The Huskies won their first Canada West crown two years ago.

    “It is going to be a battle, but we are looking forward to it,” said Johnson. “Hopefully, we can do what we did back in 2014.”

Rally falls short for Huskies men’s team

Kohl Bauml scored for the Huskies on Saturday night.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team finished their regular season with a comeback attempt that came up just short in Regina on Saturday night.

    The host U of Regina Cougars jump out to a 3-0 lead at the 5:54 mark of the first period before the offence got going for the visitors. The Huskies rallied back to force a 3-3 tie heading into the second intermission, but fifth-year U of R forward Brock Appleyard netted the only goal in the third and his second tally of the night to give the Cougars a 4-3 victory.

    Stephen Langford and Sanfred King each had singles for the Cougars, while Mitch Kilgore turned away 27 shots to earn the win in goal. The Cougars finished last in Canada West with a 7-21 mark.

    Sean Aschim, Levi Cable and Kohl Bauml replied with singles for the Huskies. Blake Voth, who was making his fourth start of the campaign, turned away 27 shots taking the loss in goal for U of S.

    The Huskies, who were rated third in the CIS top ten rankings, had first place in Canada West locked up going into their last four games and finished with a 22-6 record. Their 22 victories equals a club record for wins in a regular season. The Huskies men’s team earned 22 wins in 1999-2000 finishing 22-3-3 and in 1987-88 recording a 22-5-1 mark.

    On Friday, the Huskies downed the Cougars 5-3 at the Rutherford Rink to allow Jordon Cooke to set a new school record for individual goaltending wins in a season at 19. During the regular season, Cooke posted a 19-5 record, a 2.52 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and two shutouts.

    The old record of 18 wins in a regular season was shared by Jeff Calvert (1998-99) and Ryan Holfeld (2012-13).

    The Huskies have a bye into the semifinal round of the playoffs and will be off next weekend waiting to see who they will play in a best-of-three series.

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

Ervine finds OT magic

Huskies halt Bisons five-game winning streak with 3-2 win

Marley Ervine is all smiles after scoring an OT winner.

    Marley Ervine was in the right place at the right time, when the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team needed her the most.

    With the Huskies locked in a 2-2 draw with the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons in a three-versus-three double overtime period, Ervine was sprung in on a breakaway after a turnover near the Bisons blue-line. The feisty fifth-year forward laser beamed a shot past Bisons goalie Rachel Dyck to give the Huskies a 3-2 victory on Friday night at the Rutherford Rink.

    The goal came after Ervine was snakebitten on a number of chances throughout the contest.

    “It felt pretty good,” said Ervine. “I felt like I had a few chances tonight. It was finally nice to see one be successful.

    “I was pretty tired, so I just thought get a quick shot off and maybe have a rebound, if I don’t score on the first one. I just wanted to get the puck on (goal) for sure.”

    The victory ended a five game winning streak for the Bisons (7-5-1) and put a wrap on a three-game skid for the Huskies (8-3-2), who were rated eighth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top ten rankings.

    Momentum swung back and forth during regulation. The visitors jumped ahead 1-0, when fifth-year forward Kayleigh Wiens scored on a wraparound just 1:27 into the second period.

    The Huskies battled back to go ahead 2-1 heading into the second intermission. First, rookie forward Elizabeth Salyn roofed home her first career regular season CIS goal through a screen to tie things up at 1-1.

    About three minutes after that tally, standout forward Kaitlin Willoughby blew past the Bisons defence to score on a breakaway to give the hosts a 2-1 edge.

    In the third, the Bisons found the equalizer with 6:45 to play in the frame, when defender Erica Rieder scored from close in.

Marley Ervine gets set to drive a shot on goal for the Huskies.

    When the contest advanced into overtime, the Huskies held a decided edge in territorial play through a five-minute four-on-four period, and they maintained that advantage in a second five-minute frame with three-on-three play.

    The offensive zone pressure finally resulted in the turnover that created Ervine’s overtime goal. As university teams play only on weekends, the Huskies three-game skid meant they last celebrated victory on Oct. 30 in Edmonton, when they downed the University of Alberta Pandas 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout.

    Ervine was pleased to see her team get back in the win column and also put an end to the Bisons winning streak in the process.

    “It definitely feels nice,” said Ervine. “It is nice to hear the win song in the dressing room for the first time in a long time.

    “Our league is so tight that anyone can beat anyone, so it is nice to see that we can kind of knock a team off their pedestal for a bit here.”

    Cassidy Hendricks turned away 19 shots to earn the win in goal for the Huskies, while Dyck made 24 stops to take the extra time loss for the Bisons.

    Both teams go at it again on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink.

Huskies men’s team eclipses last season’s win total

Josh Roach powers a Huskies victory with a three-point night.

    A three-point night from Josh Roach helped the U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team to surpass last season’s win total before the current campaign hit its halfway point.

    On Friday night in Winnipeg, Roach had a goal and two assists to help the Huskies double up the host U of Manitoba Bisons 6-3. The win allowed the Huskies, who are rated third in the CIS rankings, to improve to 11-2. Last season, the Huskies posted a 10-15-3 mark.

    Against the Bisons on Friday, the Huskies found themselves locked in 2-2 draw after 20 minutes and a 3-3 tie after 40 minutes. The visitors surged for three goals in the third to round out the contest’s scoring.

    Matthew Spafford, Parker Thomas, Jesse Forsberg, Levi Cable and Jordan Fransoo all netted singles for the Huskies, while Blake Voth turned away 26 shots to earn the win in goal.

    Warren Callis, Shaq Merasty and Brett Stovin, who is a former captain of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, replied with singles for the Bisons (5-6-2). Byron Spriggs turned away 33-of-38 shots to take the loss in goal.

    Both teams face each other again on Saturday in Winnipeg.

    If you want to pass along any comments about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. Check out more game photo on Twitter @StanksSports.