Playing up rivalries in U Sports women’s hockey a mistake – only for now

Thunderbirds sweep Huskies in epic rivalry series

The T-birds mob Hannah Clayton-Carroll after her OT2 winner.

    It was a column that was a bigger bust than Alexandre Daigle’s NHL career.
    In a column I published on this blog on Thursday, I ask, “Should a women’s hockey rivalry be played up in U Sports?”

    After Game 1 of a Canada West quarter-final series won 3-2 in overtime by the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies drew 324 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the answer is a resounding “No.” But, it is only a resounding “no” for now, and it didn’t have any reflection on the two teams in question – just the attendance.

Members of the Huskies react to falling in an epic rivalry clash.

    On Saturday at Merlis, the two sides followed up battling toe-to-toe in what could go down as one of the most epic games in U Sports women’s hockey in Game 2 of the set. The Thunderbirds prevailed in double overtime, when right-winger Hannah Clayton-Carroll tipped home a shot from UBC captain Mathea Fischer through the five-hole on Huskies star netminder Jessica Vance.

    The Thunderbirds took the game 1-0 and swept the best-of-three series 2-0. They advance to play the University of Alberta Pandas in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series beginning this coming Friday. 
    On Saturday, a total of 417 spectators watch the Thunderbirds and Huskies - two archrivals - stand up for the honour their game.

    It was a beautiful sight to behold.

    The only thing missing was the background of a packed sellout crowd and the fan atmosphere like you see in some of the old storied rinks of the Western Hockey League during playoff time like the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex in Swift Current or The Arena, which is now decommissioned in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Hannah Clayton-Carroll (#22) had the double overtime winner for UBC.

    With the way the Thunderbirds and Huskies played in their quarter-final series, to say they deserved that is an obvious understatement. Game 2 was one that could have been played on national television.

    The blog post I published on Thursday trying to play up the rivalry between the Thunderbirds and Huskies, which can be found by clicking here, sat between 70 to 80 page views for most of the day Friday with a slight surge over the dinner hour.

    In the piece, I outlined the past bitter rivalry between the Thunderbirds and Huskies, detailed the challenges promoting rivalry in U Sports and proceeded to take some digs at the Thunderbirds to play into the rivalry.

Huskies Morgan Willoughby, left, and UBC’s Hannah Koroll in a stare down.

    With an attendance of 324 spectators and minimal page views on the post, you can’t justify at this moment in time going the route of creating a rivalry column to increase interest in the series. The attendance figure was the lowest for the Huskies women’s hockey team this season.

    Over 14 regular season home dates, the Huskies women’s team had the second best average attendance at 496 per game.

    It is a big mistake to produce a rivalry column right now, because the interest beyond the family and friends of the two teams isn’t there.

    Basically all you do is upset some of the parents on both sides of the rivalry, and of course that inevitably happened. There is an unwritten rule in minor sports that parents can be your worst enemy in the community, if they feel you have wronged their kid.

Kennedy Brown (#2) breaks out of the pack for the Huskies.

    The parents on both sides have sizable emotional investment in their athletes and have put countless hours in over the years helping their kids get to this point. All the players on both sides are where they are, because they are elite people. Of course, some parents are going to be protective of that.

    There were a lot parents that were all into the rivalry as well, so I am uncertain how I might be grading an overreaction by some on the front that didn’t like the rivalry piece.

    While members of the Thunderbirds and Huskies are elite athletes of young adult age spanning 18 to 24, the low attendance figures at this moment do not justify writing a rivalry column along the lines that you would write involving the Western Hockey League’s Prince Albert Raiders taking on the Saskatoon Blades.

Mathea Fischer (#26) brings the puck up ice for the Thunderbirds.

    The Raiders usually are in standing room at their 2,580 seat rink when they play the Blades, and the Blades can expect 4,000 to 5,000 spectators when the Raiders come to town. The interest is there to create a rivalry column to stir the pot.

    I was trying to transfer some elements from last year’s memorable six-game second round WHL playoff series between the Raiders and Blades into the series between the Thunderbirds and Huskies.

    At the moment for U Sports women’s hockey, the best way to advance a playoff series is a feature article on a popular player. 

The epic T-birds-Huskies clash was just missing a Raiders type home crowd.

    Usually, my page views for features on female hockey players, not just in U Sports, do well, even if attendance isn’t high.

    The risk of doing a rivalry column where attendance is just limited to family and friends is it can potentially increase tension between the parents groups and friends groups. The tensions can be increased with a controversial finish. I have seen that happen in the past in hockey.

    Friday’s classic encounter had a controversial finish.

Morgan Willoughby works the point for the Huskies.

    Fischer knocked in the winning goal with a high stick inside of the final 20 seconds of the first overtime period of that contest.

    It was a bang-bang play hard for the officials to see, but it was clear on replay. There are no instant replay reviews in U Sports women’s hockey.

    That type of finish combined with a rivalry column can create a lot of hostility between parents groups.

    As Friday went on and I saw the rivalry post wasn’t gaining views, I started to wonder if attendance would not be good. I was at the Indoor Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex that day, and I learned it was reading week next week at the University of Saskatchewan and most of Saskatoon’s high schools.

    I got the impression attendance wouldn’t be high at the women’s hockey games, because athletes at the training centre who were not in season were focused on getting away to ski trips and vacations. 

Hannah Koroll starts a rush up ice for the Thunderbirds.

    In the current age of elite sport, athletes put more time into their craft than in any other era, so I don’t blame those athletes on wanting to get some down time.

    Fairly confident there wasn’t going to be a big attendance figure for Game 1, I figured it would be best to stay away just in case there was some type of controversy or incident, because due to the rivalry column, I would be the easy target to blame for any possible incidents had they occurred.

    That is a risk you also take in writing a rivalry column. I elected to follow the Game 1 proceedings online with the thought of trying to prevent any further hostilities.

    I figured it would be the best for everyone to get the night’s sleep and refocus for Saturday.

    Full marks go to the Thunderbirds on rallying from down 2-0 to get the win in Game 1. The fact that Saskatoon product and former Prince Albert Northern Bears captain Hannah Koroll got the third period equalizer was really nice.

The Thunderbirds and Huskies engaged in numerous physical battles.

    She scored a power-play goal on a beauty play pinching down from the post to the side of the U of S net to pot the tally. Former Medicine Hat Tigers captain Kris Russell scored many goals on that exact play, so that was a pretty sweet play.

    Actually, the two games Koroll played on Friday and Saturday were the best two games I ever saw her play. I saw her be a key member helping the Bears win the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League title in 2017 and advance to the Esso Cup national female midget AAA championship tournament.

    Believe it or not, I do want to see her do well and reach her full potential in the game.

Thunderbirds goalie Tory Micklash dives for a loose puck.

    I know I took jabs at her in a couple of pieces this season including the rivalry piece. When you are trying really hard to fire jabs at someone, it does mean they are one of your favourites, and honestly that is the case here whether you believe it or not. She is an all-world talent.

    Hockey players that have come through Prince Albert aim to emulate the romantic vision of the WHL’s Raiders of being the team of Mike Modano and Dave Manson - franchise where honour still matters. Koroll lived up to that this weekend.

Jessica Vance clamps on to a save for the Huskies.

    On the U Sports front, you always have to be mindful of how much time universities in Canada put into oversight. I apologize to all parties involved for any time they had to put into addressing the rivalry column that they didn’t want to. In the current world, I know how time becomes more and more a stressed commodity.

    Friday night while Game 1 was on at my home, I had to do catch up on other projects, and I completed the catch up.

    At the moment, I still feel the time I spent on the rivalry column would have been better spent doing a feature on a popular player to advance the series. Of course due to the community support in “Hockey Town North,” I have found Prince Albert area players are consistently popular, so talking to defender Morgan Willoughby and Vance of the Huskies are can’t miss subjects.

T-birds LW Ireland Perrott, left, avoids Huskies LW Shyan Elias.

    Koroll too is a can’t miss subject. I think the picture I shot of her and Willoughby, who is another former Bears captain, having a stare down in Game 2 will ultimately be a popular one in Prince Albert. It encompassed what that hockey community is about.

    During the Game 2 clash, Vance turned away 28 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Tory Micklash stopped 38 shots to get the shutout for the Thunderbirds.

    Both sides had multiple great scoring chances in Game 2, and they transitioned up and down the ice at a frightening pace. 

Emma Nutter controls the puck on the point for the Huskies.

    The officials put the whistles away for most of the game, and there were actually a lot of great hits too.

    While I think the rivalry column is a mistake at this time, I do not regret the exercise, because I believe something really special came out of it. If I didn’t write the rivalry column, maybe the games that happened wouldn’t have occurred.

    The Thunderbirds and Huskies proved U Sports women’s hockey can play in the big time and how great the game can be. It is society’s loss that interest in the game is only contained in a small niche group of people.

    Both teams proved they can handle a series being hyped like a rivalry series in the Western Hockey League, which of course is a guy’s league. Shame on anyone that doubted that.

The T-birds-Huskies series ended with genuine respectful handshakes.

    Being human, there was a small sliver in me that maybe doubted that, so shame on me.

    At the end of Game 2, the handshake line was a genuine one with respect, and you could tell the players on both the Thunderbirds and Huskies knew in their hearts they made their point.

    I would love to see U Sports women’s hockey reach the interest leagues like the Western Hockey League have. Today isn’t that day.

    The rest of us need to catch up to where the Thunderbirds and Huskies are, and the rivalry column wouldn’t carry the feeling of being a risk. It would just be another fun part of the game.

    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, Thunderbirds rivalry is for real

Should that be played up in U Sports women’s hockey?

The Huskies and Thunderbirds scrum at the end of their 2018 playoff series.

    Should a women’s hockey rivalry be played up in U Sports?
    I have been struggling with that question since a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series was cemented between the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

    Game 1 of the series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place. Game 2 is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Merlis, and if necessary, Game 3 is slated for 7 p.m. at Merlis.

    The Huskies finished third in Canada West with a 17-7-2-2 record, while the Thunderbirds were sixth with a 10-13-4-1 mark.

    This will mark the fourth time the two sides have faced each other in the post-season since 2014 and the third time since 2017. Due to the recent playoff encounters, a lot of ill will has built up between the two sides causing the squads to become archrivals.

    When these teams last met in the post-season, the lasting image was of then Huskies captain Kaitlin Willoughby trying to get after Thunderbirds centre Mathea Fischer after a Thunderbirds player hit Huskies star netminder Jessica Vance at the third period buzzer.

The officials break up the Huskies and Thunderbirds in 2018 playoffs.

    A huge scrum developed in front of the Huskies goal, and tensions were high enough that a brawl could have resulted.

    That was how a 2-1 Huskies victory concluded of Game 2 of a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series, which U of S swept 2-0.

    The post-game handshakes from that Game 2 weren’t actual handshakes but a series of “low fives” like you would see at a minor sports event played at the eight-year-old age level.

    Huskies head coach Steve Kook received a one game suspension, when it was deemed his players broke an archaic league rule by coming up the bench at the end the game before the referee’s command.

    Both teams return a lot of players from that 2018 series to this year’s tilt including Vance and Fischer. Since that series, it is safe to say there has been bitterness in the encounters between these two teams.

    Even with that back story, I have wondered if it worth playing up the rivalry angle leading up to this series. 

Huskies D Morgan Willoughby and T-birds D Celine Tardif talk dinner plans.

    While the rivalry is a great one, it isn’t the Prince Albert Raiders taking on the Saskatoon Blades in the Western Hockey League. On that circuit, the fact the fans get passionately into that rivalry makes in that much better.

    The Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert is usually packed for those games, and it is fair to expect 5,000 to 6,000 spectators to appear at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon when those teams meet.

    Fans will bring signs to the rink to show their dislike for the rival and beaks will go off on various social media lines.

    Comparatively, games in U Sports women’s hockey are mostly family and friends games when it comes to attendance and receive extremely little play in the mainstream media. If attendance exceeds 200 for a U Sports women’s hockey game, it is deemed a success.

    One of the few exceptions to that reality was the last Crowchild Classic in Calgary, Alta., that featured the women’s game between the U of Calgary Dinos and the Mount Royals University Cougars in the primetime spot. 

Huskies D Isabella Pozzi (#8) nails a Thunderbirds player this season.

    That contest on Jan. 30 drew 10,002 spectators to the Scotiabank Saddledome to see the Dinos down the Cougars 4-1. That attendance figure is a U Sports record for women’s hockey.

    The Huskies women’s team has been one of the attendance leaders in Canada West since moving into Merlis for the start of the 2018-19 campaign. In 2018-19, the Huskies averaged 650 spectators through 14 home regular season games to lead all women’s hockey teams in Canada West.

    This season, the Huskies averaged 496 spectators for their 14 home regular season dates to sit second behind the Dinos, whose figure was propped up being pegged as the home team for the Crowchild Classic.

    Also, it seems like to me U Sports women’s hockey is patronized, where you should cheer players like an eight-year-old athlete who has learned a skill.

    U Sports women’s hockey teams are elite squads made up of highly skilled athletes, but they don’t get anywhere near the following to make it worthwhile to play up the rivalry angle.

Huskies D Emma Nutter (#21) and T-birds C Mathea Fischer trade words.

    If you do, you come off as a jerk.

    Plus, I don’t believe the appetite is there for U Sports programs to play up a rivalry angle. If you do and things get over the line out of hand, teams ultimately have to answer to university presidents and university board of directors.

    Both traditionally have had no patience for sports teams going overboard with rivalries as university are deemed institutions of higher learning. The academics thumb their noses at athletes who get too worked up over rivalries.

    Outright suspensions from school have to be the biggest worry in that scenario too.

    I always feel the fan codes of conduct are used as a deterrent with regards to cheering at a U Sports event.

    On the Huskies hockey front, the last time a crowd was extremely engaged in a playoff series was the 2016 men’s Canada West final between the Huskies and their “forever rivals” the U of Alberta Golden Bears. The Huskies hockey teams were playing out of the ancient Rutherford Rink back then, and that place was rocking like the Art Hauser Centre during Raiders Western Hockey League playoff games.

    I don’t condone going out and getting offensive with heckles. If a fanbase wants to do the Winnipeg, Man., fan thing and chant someone on their team is better than someone on the opposition, go for it.

Hannah Koroll would be great, if she played for the Huskies.

    As for me, I think I will finish off going down the “jerk” road in the women’s hockey rivalry between the Huskies and Thunderbirds, because I believe rivalry sells tickets.

    Being based in Saskatoon, I can’t wait for the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team to take on the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds women’s diving – er – I mean women’s hockey team. I wonder if the Thunderbirds prefer to work from the three-foot board or the 10-foot board?

    Thunderbirds sophomore defender and Saskatoon Holy Cross High School grad Hannah Koroll is a good player. She would be a great player, if she played for the Huskies women’s hockey team.

    Actually, you could get your dislike in the jealously department on for Koroll, because she is a 13 out of 10 in the looks department, great in school, and if she want to be, she can be the best player on the ice in any game she skates in. She might end up being like Tom Brady one day.

    Anyways, take a screenshot of this post and send it to the Thunderbirds women’s hockey team to see, if you like. I don’t care.

    This post might get me unfriended on all social media lines by celebrity University of British Columbia Thunderbirds women’s volleyball team alumna Claire Hanna. I don’t care.

There won’t be a lot of love between the Huskies and Thunderbirds.

    As Rod Pedersen used to say as the play-by-play voice of the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats when they would take on the Moose Jaw Warriors in major junior hockey’s greatest rivalry, “Let’s get it on, because we don’t get along.”

    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.

Fiala, Jockims surge Stars to Game 2 win over Bears

Saskatoon takes 2-0 lead of SFMAAAHL title series

Joelle Fiala celebrates her game winner for the Stars.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Joelle Fiala and Kaitlin Jockims drove home two big blows to knock the Prince Albert Northern Bears on the ropes.

    On Sunday night at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, it appeared overtime was on tap for Game 2 of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League Championship series. With 5:40 to play in the third period, Bears star forward Abby Soyko zipped into the Saskatoon zone on the left wing to get in alone on a breakaway and scored on a coast-to-coast rush to lock the Bears in a 2-2 tie with the visiting Saskatoon Stars.

    Just 17 seconds later, the Stars responded when defender Abby DeCorby found Fiala in the low right slot, and Fiala drove home a shot to the top right corner short side on Bears goaltender Ryan Fontaine to give the Stars a 3-2 lead.

    Building off the momentum from Fiala’s goal, the Stars went up by two goals just 2:10 later when forward Kaitlin Jockims was sprung on a breakaway, and she popped home a tally to the left corner of the Prince Albert goal.

Stars F Joelle Fiala, left, battles Bears D Jordan Ashe for the puck.

    Those markers proved to be the difference as the Stars took the contest 4-2 and a 2-0 commanding lead in the best-of-five series against the Bears, who are the defending SFMAAAHL champions. Saskatoon will try to close things out at home in Game 3 on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena and win their third league title in four years in the process.

    “It was exciting to get another goal since they just scored,” said Fiala about her game winner. “I think it was pretty big whether it was me or anyone else scoring.

    “We needed another goal just to get up a little bit since they just scored.”

    Jockims was pumped to add the insurance tally.

Kaitlin Jockims had a key insurance goal for the Stars.

    “I just kind of went to the net and shot it,” said Jockims. “It kind of put the game away, and the team felt more secure.

    “I thought we showed what kind of team we were. They kept scoring, and we kept scoring right after like keeping the momentum in like our favour.”

    The Stars ability to respond quickly after the Bears scores proved to be the difference in Sunday’s clash.

    The Bears opened the scoring when captain Hannah Koroll fired home a shot from the point through a screen to give her side a 1-0 lead with 4:54 to play in the first period. At that point in the contest, the Bears were controlling play having just worked on two straight power plays.

    Momentum changed with 1:22 to play in the opening frame, when Stars captain and SFMAAAHL regular season scoring leader Mackenna Parker netted a goal from close in to force a 1-1 tie. Just 37 seconds after her goal, the Stars took a 2-1 advantage, when the rebound of a point shot from defender Ashley Messier was knocked home by standout centre Grace Shirley at the left side of the Prince Albert goal.

    Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby pointed towards those two Stars tallies as being a big turning point in the contest.

Abby Soyko had the third period equalizer for the Bears.

    “The biggest key I think was the first period maybe,” said Willoughby. “They had two late goals in the first.

    “If we could have been 1-0 or even tied going into two, it is a different ball game.”

    The Bears had a big chance to force a tie in the second, when forward Haley Kicia tried to knock home a puck Stars netminder Arden Kliewer was having trouble controlling. Kliewer finally froze the puck to stop play and ultimately made 30 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Stars.

    Fontaine turned away 19 shots to take the setback in goal for the Bears.

    “As a team, I think we played hard,” said Fiala. “We pushed back.

    “P.A. played really well. They always give us a hard game. We maybe didn’t play our best, but that goes to show you how much better we can be.”

    With the Bears having the edge in scoring chances on Sunday, Willoughby said it was tough to see Game 2 slip away.

    “It is hard pill to swallow obviously,” said Willoughby. “The task of winning three games in a row seems like it is a hard thing to do too.

Stars goalie Arden Kliewer gathers in a loose puck in traffic.

    “You just have to look at it as one game at a time and one period at a time, and you break it down to one shift at a time and that is the only way you can look at it. If you look at it winning three games, it is too much to concentrate on.

    “That was the message we gave the girls. We just told them it happened in 2009 when the Bears won the league.”

    When the Bears won their first league title in team history in 2009, they dropped the first two games of the best-of-five title series to the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats before winning three straight to take the series 3-2.

    The Stars would like to flip the script from last season, when they were swept away by the Bears in the SFMAAAHL finals 3-0. Fiala said her team is aiming to finish things off in Game 3.

The Stars celebrate their Game 2 victory over the Bears.

    “We definitely want our broom back,” said Fiala. “We’re not going to play to lose.”

    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 drive for U Sports nationals upsets wraps up

Danielle Nogier scored her first U Sports goal on Saturday.

    The effort was there, but the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team couldn’t string together a run of upsets at the U Sports elite eight national championship tournament.

    On Thursday, the seventh seeded Huskies downed the second seeded Saint Mary’s University Huskies 3-2 in a quarter-final match at the U Sports women’s hockey nationals in London, Ont., at the Thompson Arena. Saint Mary’s entered the tournament as the Atlantic University Sport conference champions.

    On Saturday, U of S faced the host and third seeded University of Western Ontario Mustangs, who are the Ontario University Athletic conference champions, in a semifinal match. The Huskies looked ready to pull off another upset.

    While killing a penalty with 2:07 to play in the first period, Huskies defensive forward Danielle Nogier blocked a point shot with her stick and shot out on a breakaway chance into the Mustangs zone. She fired home a shot between the legs of Mustangs netminder Carmen Lasis to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

    The goal was Nogier’s first in U Sports play including the regular season and playoffs.

    The Mustangs jumped ahead 2-1 in the second period on a pair of power play goals. At the 5:06 mark, Mustangs forward Amanda Pereira found linemate April Clark with a beauty backdoor pass and Clark potted the equalizer to force a 1-1 tie.

    At the 10:20 mark of the second, Mustangs defender Emma Pearson fired a shot on goal from the point and the rebounded landed in front of Huskies star netminder Jessica Vance. Mustangs forward Alyssa Chiarello beat Vance to the loose puck and knocked home the tally that would win the game for the Mustangs.

    The Huskies came out hard on the Mustangs in the third period outshooting the host side 9-4, but the U of S shooters couldn’t solve Lasis.

    The contest ended with Huskies defender Morgan Willoughby firing a shot over top of the Mustangs net.

    Huskies fifth-year star captain Kaitlin Willoughby had a number of strong scoring chances in the semifinal loss but couldn’t find the back of the net.

    Vance turned away 24 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Lasis turned away 24 shots to pick up the win in net for the Mustangs.

Kaitlin Willoughby’s U Sports career has come to a close.

    The loss put the Huskies into Sunday’s bronze medal game against the Quebec Student Sport Federation champion and fourth seeded Concordia Stingers.

    The Huskies threw everything including the kitchen sink at Stingers netminder Katherine Purchase in the first period holding a 14-5 edge in shots on goal in the frame. Thanks to the play of Purchase, the game’s score remained tied 0-0 after 20 minutes.

    Concordia scored twice in the second and twice in the third to pull out a 4-0 victory. Forward Claudia Dubois scored twice including the Stringers first goal 39 seconds into the second period on the power play and her squad’s final goal into an empty net with 2:39 to play in the third period.

    Sophie Gagnon and Brigitte Laganire had singles for the Stingers coming in the second and third periods respectively.

    Purchase made 37 saves to pick up the shutout. Vance turned away 24 of 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies.

    When Sunday’s game concluded, it brought an end to the U Sports careers of Huskies fifth-year players in Willoughby, defender Kira Bannatyne, defensive forward Kennedy Harris and speedy forward Kori Herner.

    The Huskies posted a 19-7-2 record to finish second in Canada West. In the playoffs, they swept the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 2-0 in a best-of-three semifinal series before being swept by the University of Manitoba Bisons 2-0 in a best-of-three Canada West championship series.

    For most of the season, the Huskies weren’t able to crack the U Sports top 10 rankings, so they defied expectations outside of the inner circle of the team in making the “frozen four” semifinal portion of the U Sports national championship tournament.

    The Bisons defeated the Mustangs 2-0 in the tournament’s gold medal game to claim their first U Sports championship in women’s hockey and capture the Golden Path Trophy.

Overtime bits underdog Huskies men’s team at University Cup

Parker Thomas scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    Overtime wasn’t kind to the underdog University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team at the University Cup.

    After upsetting the third seeded and Ontario University Athletics conference champion McGill University Redmen 4-1 in a quarter-final game on Friday, the sixth seeded Huskies concluded the tournament by dropping a pair of overtime heartbreakers at the Aitken University Centre in Fredericton, N.B.

    On Saturday, the Huskies faced their “forever rivals” for the 504th overall time in the second seeded University of Alberta Golden Bears and saw a 2-0 lead fade into a 3-2 overtime setback. Including play in the regular season, Canada West championship series and nationals, the Golden Bears won six of seven head-to-head matches with the Huskies.

    In the semifinal encounter at nationals, the Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 12:13 mark in the first period, when gritty right-winger Parker Thomas banged home a loose puck at the left side of the Golden Bears net.

    The Huskies extended their lead to 2-0 at the 17:46 mark of the second, when left-winger Alex Forsberg popped home a power-play goal from the front of the Golden Bear’s net.

    The Dogs ran into penalty trouble in the third, which allowed the Golden Bears to rally back with a pair of power-play goals. First, high-scoring forward Luke Philp scored at the 6:41 mark to cut the U of S lead to 2-1.

    U of A potted the equalizer on a bit of a positive bounce power-play tally with 4:43 to play in the third. Defenceman Graeme Craig fired a point shot that deflected off the glove of Huskies goaltender Taran Kozun, looped high in the air and fell into the U of S net to force a 2-2 tie.

    In overtime, Golden Bears forward Stephane Legault blocked a point shot from Huskies defenceman Jordan Fransoo causing the puck to deflect into the centre ice zone. Golden Bears winger Trevor Cox zipped into the centre ice zone, grabbed the loose puck, burst down the right wing and fired the winner past Kozun to give the Golden Bears the victory at the 3:15 mark of the extra frame.

Kendall McFaull’s U Sports career has come to a close.

    Kozun turned away 33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Zach Sawchenko turned away 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Golden Bears.

    In Sunday’s bronze medal game, the Huskies faced the first seeded host team and Atlantic University Sport conference champion University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. The Huskies took a 3-1 lead in the second period, fell behind 4-3 before forcing a 4-4 tie heading into the second intermission.

    After a scoreless third, Varsity Reds rookie forward Alexandre Goulet scored his second goal of the contest at the 4:14 mark of overtime to deliver his team to a 5-4 victory.

    Levi Cable, Jaimen Yakubowski, MacKenzie Johnston and Carson Stadnyk had singles for the Huskies.

    Matt Murphy, Tyler Boland and Olivier LeBlanc replied with singles for the Varsity Reds.

    Kozun turned away 33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies. Alex Dubeau turned away 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Varsity Reds.

    Entering the University Cup, the Huskies were pegged as a team that could be eliminated in one game due to the fact they were playing without star goaltender Jordon Cooke due to a knee injury. Cooke was named the U Sports goaltender-of-the-year and a first team U Sports all-Canadian in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.

    Cooke claimed honours as the Canada West goaltender of the year for a third straight season this past campaign and he was named a second team U Sports all-Canadian.

    Kozun played really well in place of Cooke.

    When Sunday’s game concluded, it brought an end to the U Sports careers of Huskies fifth-year players captain Kendall McFaull, defenceman Connor Cox, hard-working centre John Lawrence and high-scoring centre Josh Roach.

    The Golden Bears won the University Cup championship game for the 16^th time in team history downing the fifth seeded St. Francis Xavier University X-Men 4-2.

Bears return to SFMAAAHL title series

Hannah Koroll scored for the Bears on Saturday.

    The Prince Albert Northern Bears are returning to the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League championship series.

    On Saturday, the Bears, who are the defending SFMAAAHL champions, traveled to Wilcox, Sask., looking to eliminate the Notre Dame Hounds from the SFMAAAHL playoffs in Game 4 of a best-of-five semifinal series. They stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period with singles coming from the sticks of captain Hannah Koroll, Kailee Peppler and Alli Soyko.

    The Hounds battled back in the second with Anna-Liese King and Lyndsey Janes netting singles to cut the Bears lead to 3-2.

    The Bears hung on to claim a 3-2 victory in the game and 3-1 victory in the series.

    Ryan Fontaine turned away 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Bears on Saturday. Kaitlyn Ross turned away 24 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hounds.

    The Bears now advance to the best-of-five SFMAAAHL championship series to face the Saskatoon Stars for a second straight year. Prince Albert swept away Saskatoon in last year’s title series 3-0. The Stars won the SFMAAAHL championship in 2015 and 2016.

    The Stars have home ice advantage for the series finishing first in the SFMAAAHL regular season standings with a 24-3-1 mark. The Bears finished second in the league standings with a 22-5-1 record.

    The dates and times for the SFMAAAHL titles series have yet to be announced.

    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.

Bears edge Stars in marquee SFMAAAHL showdown

Bears goalie Ryan Fontaine tracks the action around her net.

    PRINCE ALBERT – Jeff Willoughby didn’t want any doubt to linger in his players’ heads, when it came to taking on the Saskatoon Stars.

    So far this season, the head coach of the Prince Albert Northern Bears saw his side fall three times in regulation to the Stars. On Wednesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Bears, who are the defending Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League champions, pulled out a 2-1 victory in a tight checking battle with their biggest rival.

    “It means more than the three points in the standings,” said Willoughby. “It gives confidence for the girls.

Goalie Arden Kliewer makes a stop for the Stars.

    “We’ve play everybody up until this point, all seven other teams. Heading into playoffs, I’ve seen it happen before where a team hasn’t had success against another team and it spills over to the playoffs. Getting this win for us is huge.”

    The victory gives the Bears some breathing room on the Stars with regards to the race for first place in the SFMAAAHL standings. The Bears improved to 17-3 to sit in top spot with the win and hold an 11-point edge over the second place Stars, who fell to 14-2.

    Prince Albert has recorded all its wins in regulation time for 51 standings points, while Saskatoon has 40 standings points recorded on 12 regulation victories and two overtime wins. The Stars, who have topped the SFMAAAHL standings in each of the past three seasons, have four games in hand on the Bears.

Captain Hannah Koroll had two assists for the Bears.

    In Wednesday’s clash, the two sides entered the third period locked in a 0-0 tie. Arden Kliewer turned away 17 shots over the first two frames for the Stars, while Ryan Fontaine stopped 14 shots over the opening 40 minutes for the Bears.

    Tough as nails 17-year-old Bears defender Jordan Ashe was pleased with how her side handed the Stars vast number of high flying forwards like captain Mackenna Parker, Grace Shirley, Anna Leschyshyn and Joelle Fiala.

    “I think we did pretty good,” said Ashe. “I think we need to work on our head manning the puck, (and) being more firm on the blue-line making sure we don’t fumble pucks.

    “Overall, we were pretty solid. (Bears captain) Hannah (Koroll) was really solid as well.”

    Koroll ultimately picked up helpers on both Bears goals.

    At the 3:07 mark of the third, the Bears went ahead 1-0, when 14-year-old rookie forward Rhea Peterson flipped home the puck into the Saskatoon goal over top of Kliewer.

    With 7:22 to play in the third, the Bears capitalized on another break to go ahead 2-0 after killing off a Stars power play. Kliewer mishandled the puck resulting in a goal from Bears forward Alli Soyko.

Joelle Fiala (#27) scored the Stars lone goal on Wednesday.

    Saskatoon came with a hard push back. With 5:44 to play in the third, Fiala scored on the power play to cut the Bears lead to 2-1.

    Shirley thought she collected the equalizer during a net scramble with 1:37 to play in the third, but the officials waved off her goal saying she knocked the puck into the Prince Albert net with a high stick.
    Inside of the final minute of the third, Stars defender Chace Sperling wired a shot off the crossbar of the Prince Albert goal to just miss netting the equalize for Saskatoon.

    Fontaine made 22 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Bears. Kliewer turned away 20 shots to take the setback in goal for the Stars.

    Ashe said she like the atmosphere in her team’s dressing room, when the Bears were getting ready before the game.

Defender Jordan Ashe played her 100th regular season game for the Bears.

    She believes her side did a good job in not getting over-hyped to play the Stars and came with the same approach they would for any opponent.

    “In all honesty, it is not a big difference,” said Ashe. “We need to treat them like everyone else and not put extra expectations on top of that.”

    Overall, Willoughby thought this fourth and final meeting between the two sides in the 2017-18 regular season would be a competitive one, and the veteran bench boss said both sides delivered a tight contest.  

    “I thought there was a lot of back and forth play, not a high shot amount,” said Willoughby. “There was lots of blocked shots. There was lots of tight checking.

    “Those teams were tight gap all over the place, and that is what we expected. It was just a battle back and forth. Our second goal came with good timing.”

Defender Chace Sperling just missed scoring the equalizer for the Stars.

    Both teams now have to wait a bit for their next respective regular season games.

The Stars return to action on Jan. 6 in the new year, when they travel to Wilcox, Sask., to face the Notre Dame Hounds (10-3).

    The Bears head to Calgary for the prestigious Mac’s Tournament, which begins this coming Tuesday. They return to regular season play on Jan. 13 in the new year, when they travel to Melville to face the Prairie Fire (7-11).

    100-CLUB – A combined four players in Wednesday’s contest hit the ice for their 100^th career SFMAAAHL regular season game. Ashe and forward Abby Soyko played their 100^th career regular season games with the Bears, while forward Jordyn Gerlitz skated in her 100^th career regular season contest with the Stars.

The Bears celebrate their 2-1 victory over the Stars.

    Stars forward Jayda Sachs also played her 100^th career regular season game, and her total included making 56 appearances with the Bears in her first two campaigns in the league.

    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.

Stumborg will do whatever it takes to help Hilltops

FB Colin Stumborg has played a key part in the Hilltops success.

    Out of all the high points Colin Stumborg has been part of with the Saskatoon Hilltops, nothing might beat getting some love from the offensive line.

    When Stumborg joined the Hilltops in 2013 after graduating from Saskatoon’s Bishop James Mahoney High School, he was tasked with switching from tailback to fullback. That move meant Stumborg would have to block more than any previous point in time during his football career.

    The 22-year-old believes the nod he received over the past couple of seasons from the Hilltops offensive line means he got the blocking part of the team’s game right.

    “The past couple of years they’ve called me their piglet,” said Stumborg, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 235 pounds. “The O-line are always the hogs, and I got sort of adopted into the family as the piglet.

    “It feels good to have the respect and support of those guys.”

    While he has become a top-rate blocker, Stumborg has the skills to make key plays offensively. A lot of times, the plays Stumborg makes will catch opponents off guard, because he might only get two or three touches a game.

    Last Sunday in the Hilltops 36-24 PFC final victory over the Regina Thunder at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, Stumborg scored a rushing touchdown on a one-yard plunge with 23.3 seconds to play before halftime to give the toppers a 23-10 lead.

Colin Stumborg hammers his way into the end zone.

    Late in the fourth quarter with the Hilltops holding a 29-24 advantage, Stumborg hauled in a 26-yard pass on a play action play to get his team deep in Thunder territory. His catch set up a game-sealing touchdown from defensive tackle Garth Knittig on a short-yardage play.

    “Those were some of the biggest plays I have ever had to be a part of,” said Stumborg, who has helped the Hilltops win the last three straight Canadian Junior Football League titles. “That is the biggest moment my number has ever been called.

    “When I got called, it was a good confidence boost. I knew that Sarge (Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant) and the other coaches that they trusted me to make that play. I just knew that I have to go out there and do it.”

    Sargeant said Stumborg has given the Hilltops another dimension with what they can do offensively.

    “I’d say about the last month we just fell in love with the type of game he adds to us,” said Sargeant. “We bring him in for a blocking area, and we keep him out in a quad of four receiver set.

    “Because he has good hands and he is a good blocker, he just make everyone better around him. He has been a great leader, a great kid. We’ve just been real happy with his production, his performance and his leadership.

    “He’s done exactly what we’ve asked.”

Colin Stumborg scores on a TD reception.

    Now in his fifth and final year of CJFL eligibility, Stumborg said it hasn’t sunk in that he will play his final home game ever for the blue and gold this coming Sunday. The Hilltops (9-1) host the Vancouver Island Raiders (8-3-1), who are based out of Nanaimo, B.C., in a CJFL national semifinal match at 1 p.m. at SMF Field.

    The winner advances to the CJFL national championship game – the Canadian Bowl. The Canadian Bowl will be held on Nov. 11 by the team that wins the Ontario Football Conference title game. The OFC final is set for this coming Sunday in Windsor, when the host AKO Fratmen (8-1) take on the Hamilton Hurricanes (6-3).

    For Stumborg, it doesn’t seem that long ago, when he was trying to earn his place on the Hilltops roster in 2013.

    “It is a battle,” said Stumborg. “It is a grind.

    “I didn’t play a whole lot in my first year, but that is most guys on the team. You just have to come out, and you have to keep battling and you have to grind and you have to get better every single day.

    “Hopefully by the end of your fifth year, you’re in the spot that we are in right now.”

    He has enjoyed being part of three straight CJFL championship victories.

    “It has been a wild ride,” said Stumborg, whose Hilltops have won their last 11 straight post-season games. “I’ve been to every one of those three victories playing more and more every year.

    “It would feel really good as a fifth-year to go out with that fourth one.”

    Sargeant said Stumborg has had a big impact with the Hilltops during his five seasons with the team.

Colin Stumborg (#28) got to enjoy a PFC title win last Sunday.

    “He (Stumborg) has been fantastic,” said Sargeant. “He has been our special teams’ leader with the punt team for the last couple of years, and he has great hands.

    “It is not a big deal for him to make plays, and he was one of the best players on the field (last) Sunday.”

    Against the Raiders this coming Sunday, Stumborg said he will do whatever it takes to get the win. If the coaches want him on the field for just two plays or every play, he will do whatever task he is given.

    “As long as we come out with the “W” that is really all that matters,” he said.

Saskatchewan sends strong squad to under-18 nationals

Hannah Koroll is part of a strong Saskatchewan provincial team.

  Saskatchewan will send a strong team to Hockey Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Championship, which runs Nov. 1 to 5 in Quebec City.

    The 20-player roster for the Saskatchewan squad is comprised of 10 members from the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA program. The Stars players heading to the event include forwards Joelle Fiala, Jordyn Holmes, Kaitlin Jockims, Anna Leschyshyn, Mackenna Parker, Jayda Sachs and Grace Shirley. They will be joined by Saskatoon defenders Grace Tam and Dana Wood along with netminder Jordan Ivanco.

    The defending Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League champion Prince Albert Northern Bears have three representatives on the provincial team including forward Kate Ball, defender Hannah Koroll and netminder Ryan Fontaine.

Grace Shirley will join Saskatchewan’s stellar provincial team roster.

    The Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats placed two players on the provincial team in forward Taylor Lind and defender Taylor Kirwan.

    Defenders Allison Hayhurst and Hannah Pennell from the Melville Prairie Fire round of the blue-liners on the Saskatchewan squad.

    Miranda Hatt of the Regina Rebels, Jenna MacLean from the Notre Dame Hounds and Regina product Kennedy Bobyck, who is playing for the Edge School female prep team based out of Calgary, round out the forwards on the Saskatchewan team.

    Wildcats head coach Terry Pavely will be the head coach for the Saskatchewan under-18 squad. The assistant coaches will be Greg Slobodzian, who is the head coach of the Stars, and Kelsie Graham from the Saskatchewan Hockey Association.

    Saskatchewan opens the under-18 tournament on Nov. 1 against British Columbia’s provincial team.

Apathy should worry Blades

Captain Evan Fiala and the Blades are off to a slow start.

    When the Saskatoon Blades dropped a 7-2 decision to the Victoria Royals on Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre, it felt like you didn’t hear too much rageahol from fans.

    As weird as that sounds, that actually might be a worry as apathy for local sports teams seems to be a reoccurring characteristic from sports fans in Saskatoon.

    Having missed the playoffs in each of the past four seasons, there was optimism at the start of this season after the Blades went 28-35-7-2 and finished five points back of the Calgary Hitmen for the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference in 2016-17.

    Going into the current campaign, the Blades put together a wonderful marketing blitz bringing back their classic Pac-Man logo and look as the club’s regular full-time look for the first time since the 1993-94 season ended.

    A 3-7-1 start seems to be dampening enthusiasm. After drawing 7,460 spectators to their home opener where they honoured the now late Bruce Gordon on Sept. 22, the Blades have drawn over 3,000 fans just once in their following five home dates.

    While there is still lots of time to get things turned around, the ability to draw in the casual fans helps create the larger attendance figures and wins are needed to create that ability. A lot of times, those causal fans won’t look at the ins and outs of the everyday activities regarding the team if they want to go to games.

Blades rookie Kirby Dach and company have played before small crowds.

    They will notice the scores like the last two home clashes in the loss to the Royals and the 6-3 setback to the Vancouver Giants on Oct. 18. Combine those results, the team’s current record and four straight years out of the post-season, the apathy switch gets turned on.

    Against the Royals, the Blades drew 2,732 spectators and 2,578 came out for the loss to the Giants.

Following the setback to the Royals, I have heard from a couple of regulars that attend games, but the Blades don’t come up in talks with people unless I bring them up. If I focus a blog post around the Blades after they had a bad loss, page views come in with very low numbers.

    On the other hand if the Blades win on the road against the Pats in Regina, the page views pour in.

    The Blades have been outstanding on the marketing and community side over the past four and a bit seasons, and they need to continue that. I get a big feeling people in Saskatoon want to see them win.

    With that said, it seems like any continued losing will be met with shoulder shrugs and empty seats.

    Starting Nov. 1, the Blades play a stretch where they will be on the road 12 times and at home four times over 16 contests. It would be nice locally, if some positive momentum could be started before the team’s schedule gets home heavy to help attract fans.

    Until then, the Blades travel to Swift Current to face a tough Broncos (9-1-1) side on Friday and host the Brandon Wheat Kings (9-3-0-1) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday.

Could a Leason re-flame a Saskatoon rivalry?

Quarterback Darryl Leason in action for the Rams in 2000.

    For those that have a long memory of Saskatchewan sports rivalries, the head was raised with a trade on the WHL front.

    After the Prince Albert Raiders had defeated the visiting Victoria Royals 4-3 on Wednesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders announced they sent a third round selection in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft to the Tri-City Americans in exchange for 18-year-old centre Brett Leason. Leason is the son of legendary Regina Rams quarterback Darryl Leason.

    Darryl, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 230 pounds, helped stoke the rivalry pretty good between Regina and Saskatoon over two stretches. The first came in battles with the Hilltops from 1992 to 1995, when the Rams were still part of the Canadian Junior Football League.
    The Rams won three straight CJFL titles from 1993 to 1995.

    After the Rams moved to the U Sports ranks in 1999, Leason rejoined the Rams to cause aggravation in “the Bridge City” for those who supported the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team from 2000 to 2001. Leason guided the Rams to a 42-39 loss in the 2000 Vanier Cup to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

    Brett plays for the Raiders and their biggest rival happens to be the Saskatoon Blades. It is a different time in sports in the present day, but it would be interesting if there are rivalry sparks that ignite with Brett playing for the Raiders.

    Darryl’s time with the Rams included two high points in the rivalry between Regina and Saskatoon. The first came in the 1995 Prairie Football Conference final against the Hilltops.

    On the frozen concrete of Regina’s Taylor Field, the Rams had a 19-8 win sealed, and all their offence had to do was kneel on the ball one last play to officially end the game. Darryl started to go down on one knee only to stand up quickly and throw a touchdown pass to a wide open Josh Shaw. The play was nullified by a penalty, but tensions ran high between the two centres for a long time over that moment.

    The second high came during a Canada West semifinal playoff game in November of 2001 between the Rams and Huskies at Taylor Field. Entering that contest, Darryl missed three straight games and was going to attempt to play the Huskies with a completely torn anterior cruciate ligament and a partially torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

Rams QB Darryl Leason steps up in the pocket to throw in 2001.

    Darryl hit the field and led the Rams to a 58-31 victory. He completed 20-of-33 passes for 418 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions before giving way to backup Mike Wong for mop up duty.

    Twice in the contest there were questionable hits on Darryl including Huskies linebacker Colin Dutton launching himself at the signal caller’s knees. The hits drew boos from a large contingent of the 7,122 spectators that came to support the Rams.

    Emotions were so high that Huskies supporters believed the Rams were a desperate team having Darryl play in such a beat up physical state.

    Rams supports thought the cheap shotting Huskies would sink to all types of new lows to keep their season alive.

    The Rams were penalized 11 times for 106 yards in the contest, and the Huskies took 13 penalties for 153 yards.

    Ian Hamilton, who was the Rams beat writer at the time for the Regina Leader-Post, wrote that Darryl had a game for the ages. Kevin Mitchell, who was the Huskies beat writer for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, wrote Darryl dropped bombs on the field and during the post-game media scrum.

    Darryl gave a doozy quote for all media in attendance stating, “I was hoping for 450 (yards passing). I made a few bad decisions.

    “I could have been (taken) out of the ball game earlier than I was (by the Rams’ coaches in the fourth quarter) if I didn’t throw a couple of interceptions and some other bad passes.”

    Huskies supporters took that as Darryl rubbing in the final outcome of that contest.

QB Darryl Leason and the Rams win the Hall of Fame game in 2001.

    As for Brett, he has played in 81 career WHL regular season games collecting a modest nine goals and 19 assists. His rookie campaign in 2016-17 has been his only full season so far.

    Growing up in Calgary, Brett, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 206 pounds, has been a phenom at all levels of minor hockey piling up points. During his last minor hockey campaign in the midget AAA ranks in 2015-16 with the Calgary Flames, he had 21 goals and 29 assists in 32 regular season games.

    Due to having depth at forward, the Americans traded Brett, who was selected by Tri-City in the third round and 50^th overall in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft, to the Raiders in hopes that he would get more ice time and opportunity in Prince Albert. If Brett can start scoring like he did in minor hockey, he will be a very key pick up for the Raiders and a thorn in the side of every opponent including the Blades.

    It is a different era, so time will tell if Brett has his father’s skill when it comes to stirring up any rivalries in media interviews.

    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.