Bears stay alive in post-season with Game 3 win over Hounds

Abby Soyko scored the winner for the Bears on Monday.

    The Prince Albert Northern Bears added at least 60 minutes of life to their 2018-19 season.

    On Monday at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, the Bears staved off elimination from the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs with a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of a best-of-five first round series with the Notre Dame Hounds. With the win, the Bears cut the Hounds lead in the series to 2-1.

    Notre Dame will have its next chance to wrap up the series hosting Game 4 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Duncan McNeill Arena in Wilcox. If the Bears are able to win that contest, the two squads would meet in a series deciding Game 5 on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Hounds claimed Game 1 of the series by a 3-2 score last Thursday in Prince Albert, and took Game 2 by a 5-1 score last Saturday in Wilcox.

    In Monday’s encounter, the Bears took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal from Miranda Heidt. The hosts went up 2-0 when veteran forward Jasper Desmarais scored on the power play at the 6:57 mark of the second period.

    Before the second intermission rolled around, the Hounds cut the Bears lead to 2-1 on a goal from star forward Lyndsey Janes.

    At the 9:11 mark of the third period, star captain Abby Soyko put the Bears up 3-1 with a power-play goal.

    Jada Livingston scored for the Hounds with 6:10 remaining in the third period to cut the Bears lead to 3-2. Notre Dame was unable to net the equalizer from that point.

    Lexi Beuker turned away 15 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Bears, who were 17-9-2 during the regular season. Star netminder Kaitlyn Ross turned away 31 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hounds, who were 12-13-3 in the regular season.

    During the series, Soyko was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star at forward. Bears forward Jadyn Kushniruk, who is playing her final season of midget AAA eligibility, was named the winner of the Carol Scheibel Top Scholastic Player award.

    The Bears off-ice crew of Dwight Sachkowski, Gary Schwan, Ron Wildey and Lloyd McBeath won the Esso Volunteer Award.

    The winner of this series will advance to face the defending SFMAAAHL champion Saskatoon Stars in a best-of-five semifinal series. The Stars finished first overall in the SFMAAAHL with a 27-1 record.

Wildcats sweep away Sharks in OT

Taylor Lind is the MVP of the SFMAAAHL.

    The Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats punched their into the SFMAAAHL semifinal round in dramatic fashion.

    On Sunday at the Fairview Arena in Swift Current, the Wildcats downed the Battlefords Sharks 2-1 in overtime in Game 3 of a best-of-five SFMAAAHL first round series. With the win, the Wildcats swept the best-of-five set 3-0.

    In the series clinching win, sophomore 15-year-old forward Baylee Kirwan scored the winner on a power play at the 2:22 mark in overtime to deliver the Wildcats to victory. Sara Kendall and Maddy McCleary picked up assists on the winning tally.

    Star captain Taylor Lind gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead scoring a power-play goal 40 seconds into the second period. Brooklyn Rublee and Ryleigh White had assists on Lind’s tally.

    Veteran forward Ensley Fendelet, who is playing her final season of midget AAA eligibility, potted the equalizer for the Sharks to force a 1-1 tie and overtime with 2:18 remaining in the third period.

    Harper Davey stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Wildcats, who were 17-10-1 during the regular season. Haylie Biever turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Sharks, who were 11-13-4 in the regular season.

    The Wildcats are 14-1 including action in the regular season and playoffs since returning to play after the Christmas break.

    During the series with the Sharks, Lind was named the winner of the Hayley Wickenheiser Most Valuable Player award, a first team SFMAAAHL all-star at forward and formally received the Kelly Bechard Top Scorer award. Sharks captain Ali Aitken was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star at forward.

    The Wildcats will face the Regina Rebels in a best-of-five SFMAAAHL semifinal series. Game 1 of that series is set for 4:45 p.m. at Saturday at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

Rebels douse Prairie Fire in three games

Neena Brick is the top rookie of the SFMAAAHL.

    An offensive explosion allowed the Regina Rebels to sweep the Melville Prairie Fire out of the SFMAAAHL playoffs.

    On Sunday at the Co-operators Centre in Regina, the Rebels broke a 1-1 tie scoring three times in the third period to down the Prairie Fire 4-1 in Game 3 of a best-of-five SFMAAAHL first round series. With the win, the Rebels sweep the best-of-five set 3-0.

    Brooklyn Stevely gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead at the 2:29 mark of the first period. Samantha Thompson netted the equalizer for the Prairie Fire scoring on the power play at the 13:23 mark of the first period to force a 1-1 tie.

    Facing elimination, the Prairie Fire ensured the 1-1 score held up heading into the third period.

    The Rebels scored three times in the first 5:18 of the third to cement the final outcome. Neena Brick scored twice and Samantha Sichkaruk had a single in the Rebels three-goal surge.

    Payton Schlamp turned away 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rebels, who were 17-7-4 during the regular season. Cheyenne Jamieson turned away 38 shots to take the setback in goal for Prairie Fire, who were 10-16-2 during the regular season.

    During the series, Brick was named the winner of the Dana Antal Top Rookie award, while Stevely was named a first team SFMAAAHL all-star defender.

    Prairie Fire veteran defender Allison Hayhurst was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star. Melville head coach Casey O’Brien claimed the Shannon Miller and Wally Kozak Top Coach award.

    The Rebels advance to face the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats in a best-of-five SFMAAAHL semifinal series. Game 1 of that series is set for 4:45 p.m. at Saturday at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

Canada just short of women’s hockey gold at Universiade

🇨🇦🥈 Medalist in Women’s 🏒 at @Krasnoyarsk2019.

Final is 2-0 for 🇷🇺.

3rd consecutive silver at Winter Universiade and 7 for 7 in Final Universiade games for #uCAN

4th 🏅 of this Universiade for 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/eGOHUwiWXK

— U SPORTS Team Canada (@USPORTSIntl) March 11, 2019

    A heroic 40 save performance from Jessica Vance wasn’t enough to capture a gold medal for Canada’s women’s hockey team at the FISU Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

    Vance, who is the star netminder for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, made 40 saves on Monday as Canada fell 2-0 to host Russia in the gold medal final at the Winter Universiade. Canada’s women’s hockey team captured a silver medal in each of the last three Winter Universiades.

    Thanks to Vance’s puck stopping, Canada and Russia entered the third period locked in a 0-0 tie. At the 6:53 mark of the third, Canada was given a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass while in the defensive zone.

    On the ensuing power play, Liana Ganeeva scored to give Russia a 1-0 lead. Alevtina Shtareva scored into an empty-net inside of the game’s final 15 seconds to seal a 2-0 win for the host side.

Nadezhda Morozova turned away 34 shots to pick up the shutout win in goal for Russia.

    Besides including Vance, the Canadian roster contained Leah Bohlken, who is a star defender for the Huskies, and Kaitlin Willoughby, who was the former star captain with the Huskies and now plays professionally for the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

    Vance and Willoughby are both alums of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female midget AAA team. Before joining the Huskies, Bohlken spent time in the SFMAAAHL briefly with the Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wing and mainly with the Regina Rebels. She also played for the Notre Dame Hounds entry in the Junior Women’s Hockey League.

    Willoughby was the captain of the Canadian team and was a member of Canada’s women’s hockey team that won silver at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

    With the conclusion of Monday’s gold medal game, the 2018-19 hockey seasons for Vance and Bohlken have come to an end as the Huskies were eliminated from the U Sports playoffs back on Feb. 23.

    Willoughby’s season still has one more game. She will join the Inferno to play for the Clarkson Cup to become CWHL champions on March 24 in Toronto against Les Canadiennes de Montreal. The Clarkson Cup is a one-game championship final.

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

-------

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Raiders emulate storied form in topping WHL’s East Division and Eastern Conference

The Raiders locked up first in the WHL’s Eastern Conference on Saturday.

    The Prince Albert Raiders weren’t going to let anything stand in their way of locking up first place in the WHL’s East Division and Eastern Conference.

    Not even the Brandon Wheat Kings live-or-die sprint to make the WHL playoffs could stand up to the determination of the Raiders.

    On Saturday before a standing room crowd of 2,678 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, the Raiders took a 2-1 edge on the visiting Wheat Kings in the first period and romped to a 7-1 regular season victory. The Raiders were dominant in the second and third periods holding a 5-0 edge on the scoreboard and a 36-9 advantage in shots on goal over those frames.

    The win allowed the Raiders, who have won their last three straight games, to improve to 49-8-1-2 and clinch first place in the WHL’s East Division and the Eastern Conference. Prince Albert last topped the East Division back in the 1998-99 campaign posting a record of 45 wins, 22 losses and five ties.

    The Raiders, who are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, last topped what is now known as the Eastern Conference back in the 1991-21 campaign posting a record of 50 wins, 20 losses and two ties that season. In 1991-92, the Eastern Conference was just know as the East Division as the WHL contained 15 teams as opposed to the 22 member clubs that are part of the circuit in the current day.

Noah Gregor scored twice for the Raiders.

    Prince Albert needs to earn just four more points in the standings to lock up first overall in the WHL and win the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy. The only time to date the Raiders finished first in the overall WHL standings was back in the 1984-85 season, when they posted a franchise best 58-11-3 record and went on to win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup as CHL national champions.
    The Wheat Kings saw their six game winning streak end in a thud falling to 29-23-3-4. During that winning streak, the Brandon side looked impressive over that stretch.

    Brandon still holds the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with a two-point standings edge over the Red Deer Rebels (29-24-4-1). The Rebels have a game in hand on the Raiders.

    In Saturday’s encounter with the Wheat Kings, the Raiders jumped ahead just 2:37 into the opening frame on a goal from overage centre Noah Gregor. Ozzy Wiesblatt, who is a 16-year-old rookie right-winger, extended the Raiders advantage to 2-0 scoring at the 11:33 mark of the opening frame.

    Just under a minute later, Wheat Kings 16-year-old rookie defenceman Vincent Iorio scored his first career WHL regular season goal to cut the Raiders edge to 2-1. That was as close as Brandon got before the route was on.

    Jacob Brook, Gregor, with his second of the contest, and Parker Kelly, with his 30^th of season, pushed the Raiders lead out to 5-1 by the end of the second period. Kelly, who is in his fourth full season in the WHL, hit the 30-goal plateau for the first time in his major junior career.

    Overage centre Sean Montgomery and star left-winger Cole Fonstad rounded out the Raiders scoring in the third period.

    Fonstad had three assists to go with his goal and was a plus-four in the plus-minus department. His line with Gregor and Wiesblatt had an extremely hot night.

    Gregor had an assist to go with his two goals and was a plus-four. Wiesblatt had two assists to go along with his goal and was a plus-four as well.

Cole Fonstad had four points for the Raiders.

    Raiders captain Brayden Pachal had an assist and was a plus-three and engaged Wheat Kings captain Stelio Mattheos in a second period fight.
    Ian Scott made 15 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders.

    Jiri Patera started in goal for the Wheat Kings turning away 25-of-30 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal. He was pulled after the Raiders fifth tally coming at the 12:18 mark of the second period. Ethan Kruger turned away 16-of-18 shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

    The only down part for the Raiders came from the fact Kelly received a boarding major and a game misconduct with 4:12 remaining in the third period. The infraction will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    The Raiders return to action on Wednesday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Wheat Kings resume play on Friday, when they travel to Calgary to take on the Hitmen at 7 p.m. local time at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Cable’s hatty powers Huskies to sweep of Cougars

Levi Cable (#10), Taran Kozun and the Huskies advance in the playoffs.

    A hat trick from fourth-year winger Levi Cable allowed the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team to sweep the Mount Royal University Cougars out of the U Sports post-season.

    On Saturday before 1,725 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the Huskies overcame an early 2-0 deficit to romp past the Cougars 7-3 in Game 2 of a Canada West Conference quarter-final series. The win allowed the Huskies to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0.

    The Cougars took a 2-0 edge by the 7:24 mark of the opening frame with goals coming off the sticks of fifth-year forward Zack Henry and Ryley Lindgren.

    A short time later, the Huskies even things up at 2-2, when Cable netted his first two goals of the night coming two minutes and 10 seconds apart from each other.

    Before the first period ended, Huskies fourth-year forward Andrew Johnson netted a short-handed goal to give the host side a 3-2 lead.

    At the 2:53 mark of the second, Henry netted his second goal of the night for the Cougars to even things at 3-3. The Huskies dominated the rest of the way from that point.

    Carson Stadnyk netted the winning goal for the Huskies at the 5:03 mark of the second to give U of S a 4-3 lead. Sophomore winger Alex Forsberg extend the Huskies advantage to 5-3 a little more than two minutes after Stadnyk’s goal.

Carson Stadnyk scored twice for the Huskies on Saturday.

    In the third, Stadnyk added his second of the contest and Cable completed his hat trick scoring into an empty net to round out the scoring for the Huskies.

    Captain Jesse Forsberg and forward Collin Shirley each had two assists for the Huskies.

    Taran Kozun stopped 12 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies, who have won their last 12 straight games including action in the regular season and playoffs. Riley Morris turned away 27-of-33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Cougars, who finished fifth in the Canada West regular season standings with a 12-11-5 mark.

    With the win, the Huskies, who are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, advance to host the best-of-three Canada West Championship series against their “forever rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears, who are the defending Canada West Conference and U Sports national champions.

    Game 1 of that series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

    The Golden Bears, who are rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, swept the University of Calgary Dinos 2-0 in the other Canada West semifinal series and have won their last 15 straight games including action in the regular season and playoffs.

    By making the Canada West Championship series, both the Huskies and Golden Bears have earned berths to the University Cup U Sports national championship tournament, which runs March 14 to 17 in Lethbridge.

    The series between the Huskies and Golden Bears is expected to be a serious heavyweight tilt.

    The Huskies finished first in the Canada West regular standings with their best record in program history at 25-3. The Golden Bears finished a point behind the Huskies in the standings with a 24-3-1 mark.

    The two sides split their four head-to-head regular season encounters.

Pandas sweep Huskies women’s hockey team out of playoffs

Morgan Willoughby scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team wasn’t able to avoid the brooms despite a spirited effort.

    On Saturday at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, the Huskies dropped 2-1 decision to the host U of Alberta Pandas in Game 2 of a Canada West semifinal series. With the win, the Pandas sweep the best-of-three series 2-0 and ended the Huskies journey through the U Sports playoffs.

    In a back-and-fourth first period, the Pandas escaped the frame with a 1-0 lead, when fourth-year forward Regan Wright scored with 0.5 seconds remaining on the clock.

    At the 16:15 mark of the second period, Huskies fourth-year defender Morgan Willoughby drove home a point shot to force a 1-1 tie. Sophomore forward Chloe Smith picked an assist on Willoughby’s tally.

    Until Willoughby’s goal, the Pandas had shutout the Huskies in 11 straight periods including action in the regular season and playoffs in their head-to-head encounters.

    Inside of the final minute of the second, the Pandas scored their winner when a screen shot from fourth-year defender Cayle Dillon gave the host side a 2-1 lead.

    The Huskies held a 6-4 edge in the shots on goal department in the third period, but were unable to find the equalizer. Their comeback effort was hampered with a too many players penalty call with 1:49 remaining in the third period.

Chloe Smith had an assist for the Huskies on Saturday.

    Jessica Vance turned away 22 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Kirsten Chamberlin stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pandas, who are rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    The Huskies finished fourth in the Canada West Conference regular season standings with a 16-10-1-1 mark and eliminated the Mount Royal University Cougars 2-1 in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series.

    The Pandas, who have won their last four straight games including action in the regular season and playoffs, topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 23-5 record. They advance to host the defending Canada West Conference and U Sports national champion U of Manitoba Bisons in a best-of-three Canada West Championship series.

    The Bisons, who finished second in Canada West with a 20-5-2-1 mark, are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, and they swept the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 2-0 in the other Canada West semifinal series.

    Game 1 of the Canada West title series is set for Friday in Edmonton.

    Both the Pandas and Bisons have berths locked up in the U Sports national championship tournament, which runs March 14 to 17 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Vance, Bohlken to join Willoughby at Winter Universiade

Jessica Vance is heading to the Winter Universiade.

    The 2018-19 season is over for the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, but it will continue two of the squad’s stars in Jessica Vance and Leah Bohlken.

    Vance and Bohlken were named to play for Canada’s women’s hockey team at the FISU Winter Universiade, which will run March 2 to 12 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The duo will join former Huskies star captain Kaitlin Willoughby on the Canadian women’s hockey squad.

    On Saturday, this season’s version of the Huskies were eliminated from the U Sports playoffs with a 2-1 loss to the U of Alberta Pandas in Game 2 of a Canada West Conference semifinal series.

    Willoughby graduated from the Huskies women’s program at the end of last season, but she is still eligible to play in the Winter Universiade. The product of both Canwood and Prince Albert, Sask., suited up for Canada at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

    She collected a goal and five assists in five games helping Canada win a silver medal. Canada’s women’s side fell 4-1 to Russia in that year’s gold medal final.

    Vance, who is a star third-year goalie, had a stellar campaign for the Huskies posting a 12-7-1-1 record, a 1.28 goals against average, a .946 save percentage and six shutouts. In 2017-18, Vance, who is from Prince Albert, Sask., was named the MVP of the Canada West Conference recording a 14-3-1 record, a 0.77 goals against average, a .964 save percentage and nine shutout.

    Vance was a first team all-Canadian all-star in 2017-18 helping the Huskies advance to the U Sports national championship tournament.

Defender Leah Bohlken will play for Canada internationally.

    Bohlken had a breakout season offensively in 2018-19 skating in her fourth campaign with the Huskies. Appearing in 27 regular season games, the Moose Jaw, Sask., product had career highs in goals (nine), assists (seven) and points (16). She was a plus-three in the plus-minus department.

    Willoughby is playing her first season of professional hockey as a winger with the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. In 27 regular season games with the Inferno, the 23-year-old has one goal and five assists for six points and is a plus-one in the plus-minus department. The Inferno lead the CWHL standings with a 23-4-0-1 record.

    Last September, Willoughby attended a tryout camp for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team.

    Before joining the Inferno, Willoughby had a spectacular five-year career with the Huskies. She is the second all-time leading scorer in the history of the Huskies program piling up 50 goals and 61 assists for 111 points in 132 regular season games.

    Willoughby’s goal total ranks third all-time in the history of the Huskies and her assists total is fourth all-time in team history.

    Before joining the Huskies, Willoughby played from 2008 to 2013 for the Prince Albert Northern Bears of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League piling up 34 goals and 63 assists for 97 points in 96 career regular season games. She shares the Bears career regular season assists record with current team captain Abby Soyko.

    In a curious development, U Sports announced the rosters for the women’s and men’s hockey team that will compete at the upcoming Winter Universiade on Friday. Vance and Bohlken were still involved in U Sports playoffs, and there was no work on what their status would have been had the Huskies advanced to the Canada West Championship series, which is in a schedule conflict with the Winter Universiade.

Kaitlin Willoughby in action for the Huskies last season.

    Now that the Huskies have been eliminated from the post-season, dealing with that possible schedule conflict is now a forgotten point.

    The Canadian women’s team roster released on Friday for the Winter Universiade did not include any members of the U of Manitoba Bisons or the U of Alberta Pandas, who have advanced to the Canada West Championship series. The Canadian men’s team roster released on Friday doesn’t contain any members from the U of Saskatchewan Huskies or the U of Alberta Golden Bears, who will go head-to-head in the men’s Canada West Championship series.

    Still, the fact Vance and Bohlken will play at the Winter Universiade means they have hit the radar for Hockey Canada’s women’s national team system. That development might open more doors for them in the future.

    The individual success of Vance, Bohlken and Willoughby is a big feather in the cap of the Huskies women’s hockey program.

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

-------

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Huskies who rock

Kaitlin Willoughby is all smiles after a goal.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies had a tough Christmas season over how the resignation of football head coach Brian Towriss played out, but there are still lots of good people who are involved with that athletics program.

    Due to the awkward news conference that happened on Dec. 19, 2016 to announce Towriss was stepping down, fury went up around Huskies alums and current players from football and the other sports that comprise the 15 total teams from the athletics program. Supporters from all the program’s teams were also very unhappy about that move. 

    The fury was so great that an apology was released by U of S president Peter Stoicheff regarding how that situation was handled.

    While a lot of former athletes and current ones were upset over that situation, an educated guess leaves me to believe the memories and attachment to the Huskies logo and colours will make the hurt feelings disappear over time. I believe some alums and supporters have already started to return to games after about a couple of weeks despite saying they wouldn’t be back for a lengthy time.

    In the present, there is still a second half of the U Sports season that needs to be played out, and the Huskies teams that are in action can still do some special things.

    The Huskies teams are still represented by a large number of quality individuals. As the Huskies like to give out what they call their seven major awards at the end of every season, here are seven outstanding individuals that represent the green and white.

Kaitlin Willoughby

Kaitlin Willoughby breaks up ice for the Huskies.

    Willoughby is the extremely likeable and sweet star of the Huskies women’s hockey team.

    Actually, trying to dislike this 21-year-old Prince Albert product is like trying to hate Bambi. You just can’t do it.

    As a rookie in 2013-14, the speedy and skilled forward cemented her spot in the history of the Huskies hockey program, when she scored the double overtime winner in a series deciding Game 3 of the Canada West championship to give the Huskies a 2-1 victory over the U of Regina Cougars at the ancient Rutherford Rink. 

    The win marked the first time the Huskies women’s team won a Canada West title, and they would capture a bronze medal at nationals. She also happened to become the U Sports rookie of the year collecting 10 goals and 15 assists in 28 regular season games.

    Her production wasn’t just a one-year thing. In 102 regular season games, Willoughby has piled up 38 goals and 49 assists despite always facing extra attention from the opposition. She has eight goals and eight assists in 20 games this season, and she will play for Canada’s women’s team at the FISU Winter Universiade, which runs Jan. 29 to Feb. 8 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

    Willoughby is loved by her teammates on any of her teams past and present and by a large number of players from the other Huskies teams. While she is sweet, she can get fired up on the ice, if someone takes a liberty or cheap shot at one of her teammates or her. It is a side her opponents would be wise not to bring out of her or you might find out she can be traditional P.A. Raiders tough.

    On a night by night basis, Willoughby alone makes it worth the price of admission to attend any Huskies women’s hockey game, and she is a player you can never go wrong with supporting.

Emmalyn Copping

Emmalyn Copping nails a kill.

    Copping is the big city girl who has made her life in the smaller city.

    The Calgary, Alta., product arrived on campus before the start of the 2013-14 campaign to play for the Huskies women’s volleyball team. She quickly established herself as a standout outside hitter averaging 2.53 kills per set and 2.04 digs per set in her career, and she has also made her life in “the Bridge City.”

    Usually, players that live outside of Saskatoon return home for the summer months. Copping ended up working full time in Saskatoon. She became well known as first a courteous server at Earls before moving on to keep customers upbeat when they pass through the doors of Hudsons.

    She kept a fairly busy schedule in summer.  When she wasn’t training to prepare for volleyball season, Copping was working.

    On the court, Copping helped bring respect back to the Huskies women’s volleyball team. The Huskies were last a powerhouse squad back in the 2001-02 campaign posting a 16-4 regular season record, when setter Carlee Thorsen and middle Lindsay Bothner were stars for the green and white. Since that time, the Huskies have often struggled to earn five wins in regular season play.

    With Copping, the Huskies posted a 9-13 mark in her first year in 2013-14 and a 10-14 record last season. Both of those marks are the best records the Huskies have posted since the 2001-02 campaign.

    Before she joined the Huskies, Copping spent one season with the Medicine Hat College Rattlers women’s volleyball team of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference in 2012-13. She shined on and off the court there and became really well known for keeping an eye on the two young sons of then Rattlers men’s volleyball coach Steve Russell.

    When the Huskies make community appearances, Copping, who is positive and sweet, shines when she interacts with young fans.

    Copping is currently playing her final season of U Sports eligibility. You can bet she will do her best to help the Huskies earn their first Canada West playoff berth since that 2001-02 campaign.

Matt Forbes

Matt Forbes (#13) looks to drive the ball for the Huskies.

    How key is Forbes to the Huskies men’s basketball team?

    So far this season, the Huskies have already equaled last season’s total of regular season victories at eight. The Huskies are 8-4 in 12 games this season after posting an 8-12 record in 2015-16.

    Forbes was supposed to play out his final campaign of U Sports eligibility last season, but the 6-foot-6 post suffered a foot injury in the Huskies first pre-season game that sidelined him for the entire campaign. So far this season, the Regina Beach product is back in top form averaging 13.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game.

    While he usually matches up against players that are taller in height than he is, Forbes still changes the dynamics of the inside game for the Huskies both offensively and defensively in a good way. When Forbes isn’t in the lineup, it presents a huge void for the Huskies to fill.

    In 2014-15, Forbes was instrumental in helping the Huskies post a 15-5 regular season record averaging 13.4 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. He helped the Huskies advance to the Canada West championship game, where they fell 70-67 to the U of Victoria Vikes. That result allowed the Huskies to make an appearance at nationals.

    Away from the court, Forbes can often be found working as a staffer at other Huskies events. He is also one of the friendliest players on the Huskies men’s hoops team, and he is comfortable with talking to anyone that greets him out of the blue. Forbes also made the Huskies all-academic second team in 2012 and 2015.

    With Forbes in the fold, the Huskies have a good chance to make another deep playoff run.

Ben Getzlaf

Huskies receiver Ben Getzlaf (#86) collides with a defensive back.

    The rookie receiver from the Huskies football team prefers to shy away from accolades, but you will likely hear a lot about him in future seasons.

    The Holy Cross High School graduate had the expected modest first season catching six passes for 74 yards and one touchdown. Traditionally, the Huskies football program likes young players to focus on developing for a couple of seasons before seeing significant field time. For a first year player fresh out of high school, Getzlaf saw a lot more field time than most players in his position normally receive.

    In high school, he starred for the Crusaders and played on two of Saskatchewan’s teams that took part in the Football Canada Cup. Getzlaf also suited up for Canada’s under-18 team for the International Bowl series that ran Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 last year in Arlington, Texas.

    When he joined the Huskies, a number of the team’s veterans were impressed with the skill set Getzlaf had. Standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 180 pounds, Getzlaf makes his living on the field as a possession receiver that runs crisp routes.

    Getzlaf’s second cousin is veteran CFLer Chris Getzlaf, and both like to avoid the limelight if they can.

    One of Ben Getzlaf’s visibly most embarrassing moments came, when he had to pose for some pictures for a feature that ran on him in the Saskatoon Express about a year ago. In a scene you might see on a signing day for a United States university team, Getzlaf put on a Huskies football hat and posed for a photo holding a football out towards the camera with one hand.

    The whole picture shoot was done in front of about six players from the Holy Cross Crusaders senior girls’ basketball team, who laughed and gave him the gears. Getzlaf turned blushing red.

    In future seasons, expect Getzlaf to one day become the Huskies silent and modest star pass catcher.

Kendall McFaull

Kendall McFaull raised the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy.

    McFaull is the even-keel captain of the Huskies men’s hockey team.

    A product of Rosetown, Sask., McFaull is remembered by minor hockey coaches in the Saskatoon area for being extremely coachable.

    Before joining the Huskies, McFaull established himself as a high-character guy during his four seasons toiling on the blue-line with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. After his 17-year-old season in the 2009-10 campaign, McFaull, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 210 pounds, was selected in the sixth round and 155^th overall in the NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers, who relocated to Winnipeg to become the second version of the Jets.

    With the Warriors, McFaull, who was the team’s captain in his final WHL campaign in 2012-13, established himself as a solid defensive defenceman who is tough to play against in front of the net, and he had the ability to chip in the odd point here and there. He carried that reputation on to the U of Saskatchewan campus.

    McFaull played a key role on the Huskies back end during their trips to the University Cup national championship tournament in 2014 and 2016.

    Last season in his third year of eligibility, McFaull was named the Huskies captain and he led the Huskies to a first place finish in the Canada West conference recording five goals, six assists and a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department in 28 regular season outings. In the first game of the playoff run that saw the Huskies win a Canada West title, McFaull scored the overtime winner that delivered his side to a 4-3 victory over the U of Calgary Dinos.

    When the Huskies captured the Canada West championship, McFaull ensured the memory the Huskies late hard working, glue guy forward in Cody Smuk was part of the celebrations. Smuk passed away from cancer in June of 2015, and McFaull was his teammate on both the Warriors and Huskies.

    During the Canada West title celebrations, McFaull skated around the ice with Smuk’s jersey and he helped bring Smuk’s parents, Marty and Darla, and fiancée, Stephanie Vause on to the ice for the team picture.

    McFaull seems to ensure his Huskies, who lead Canada West with a 15-3-2 mark, always step in the right direction.

Zak Rempel

Zak Rempel serves the ball for the Huskies.

    During his career with the Huskies men’s volleyball team, Rempel has morphed into the guy that will play any role that is asked of him.

    Way back in the fall of 2013, Rempel joined the Huskies after a successful two-season run as the star setter for the Medicine Hat College Rattlers men’s volleyball team of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. With the Rattlers, Rempel showed strong leadership qualities and was always front and centre for post-game interviews, and it didn’t matter if it was good or bad.

    In his first two seasons with the Huskies from 2013 to 2015, Rempel, who stands 6-foot-5, saw decent action as a setter and proved to be calming influence when things got hectic on the court. Unfortunately, nagging injuries slowed Rempel down especially at the end of his second season.

    After leaving the program for a season, Rempel returned to a Huskies team that had won a silver medal at the Canada West championship tournament and advanced to the semifinal in the U Sports national championship tournament. He also came back to a Huskies team that was deep at setter with Derek Epp, who was a member of Canada’s junior national team, and Troy Wiebe, who was in his final year of eligibility.

    Rempel moved over to become an outside hitter and is playing more of a supportive role. The 23-year-old has always been a good influence in the dressing room, and he will step back to take lesser time on the court to help the team.

    When he has stepped on the court, Rempel has averaged 2.56 kills per set.

    Rempel has always carried a sound commitment when it comes to working out in the gym. With the Huskies just holding on to one of the seven playoff berths in the Canada West conference with a 7-5 record, you bet Rempel will be there to help his team in whatever role he is called up to do.

Lisa Thomaidis

Lisa Thomaidis is the best coach in Huskies Athletics.

    She is known as “The Idol.”

    Way back in 1998, Thomaidis arrived on the U of S campus at age 26 to become the new head coach of the Huskies women’s basketball team. Back then, the Huskies seemed to always find themselves at the bottom of the Canada West standings.

    Since that time, Thomaidis built the Huskies into a national powerhouse winning four Canada West titles, qualifying for the U Sports nationals in seven of the last eight years and winning the program’s first national championship in March of last year. She was also named a YWCA Woman of Distinction in 2009.

    When she isn’t coaching the Huskies, Thomaidis is the head coach of Canada’s national senior women’s basketball team. Under her guidance, Canada won gold at the Pan-Am games in 2015 and make the quarter-final round at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

    On campus, she is looked up to not only by the players she coaches but also a large number of players that are members of the Huskies other women’s team.

    Thomaidis’s greatest gift is the fact she is able to inspire great confidence in her players. Due to that fact, her players always improve greatly as the season progresses.

    On the court, Thomaidis’s squads always play a sound team game and mix things up on the court. They can push the ball up court in transition or slow things down and break down a defence in half court. On the defensive side be it press, man or zone, Thomaidis’s teams can do it all.

    Away from the court, Thomaidis’s players always seem to be first rate superstar people who carry themselves extremely well. When all is said and done, the veteran coach likely sees that as her biggest victory.

    While she has coached for a long time, Thomaidis can still be young at heart too. When the Huskies won the Canada West title last year, she finished cutting down the net, turned to her players, smiled and said it was time to go out and party. Her players gleefully responded with big cheers.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass on about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. Huskies players have also made two editions of “People Who Rock” columns in this blog. The first of those columns can be found right here and the second is here.