Luck falls Huskies way

The Huskies celebrate an overtime winning goal.

    Lady Luck was on the side of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    For a short time, it appeared the Huskies would fall victim to a comeback by the visiting University of Calgary Dinos on Friday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink. The Dogs led 3-1 after two periods of play only to see the Dinos rally back to force overtime after tying things up 3-3.

    After a scoreless five minute four-on-four overtime period, the Huskies received a huge break during the five-minute three-on-three session that followed. Sophomore Huskies forward Michael Sofillas fed the puck to linemate John Lawrence who proceeded to break towards the Dinos net for a scoring chance.

    Lawrence’s initial shot was stopped, but Dinos forward Elgin Pearce accidentally knocked the puck into his own goal while attempting to sweep it out of harm’s way.

    The Huskies themselves looked stunned for a moment before realizing they had pulled out a 4-3 victory at the 1:53 mark of the second overtime frame. The home side’s bench proceeded to empty out for a victory celebration in the offensive zone, while the crowd at Rutherford gave one of their loudest ovations of the season.

    For a while, it appeared the Huskies wouldn’t need any overtime goals to extend their current winning streak to four games. After playing through a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the Huskies drew first blood, when sophomore forward Cameron Blair sniped a shot past Dinos goaltender Steven Stanford to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.

John Lawrence picked up the Huskies OT winning goal.

    The Dinos tied things up at 1-1 just three minutes later, when Spencer Edwards potted a goal from in close off a scramble type situation.

    The Huskies jumped back out front 2-1 working on a power play, when Michael Sofillas slipped home his fourth goal of the season.

    Before the second period ended, Huskies centre Sean Aschim stole the puck from a Dinos defenceman in the University of Calgary zone and immediately fed a pass to his linemate Matthew Spafford, who was alone in front of the goal. The fifth-year forward wasted little time in tucking home his second tally of the campaign to put the Huskies up 3-1.

    While play though the first 40 minutes was fairly even, the Dinos came with a huge push back in the third period outshooting the Huskies 12-5. At the 5:55 mark, Dinos rookie forward Mitch Cook picked up his first goal of his Canadian Interuniversity sport regular season career to cut the gap to 3-2.

    With 29 seconds remaining in the third, Dinos fourth-year forward Dylan Walchuk deflected home a point shot from defenceman Drydn Dow to force a 3-3 tie. The Huskies protested that Walchuk’s goal was knocked home with a high stick, but the officials ruled the goal was good.

    The Dinos carried play in the first overtime period recording the only five shots on goal in the frame.

    The Huskies lone shot on goal in the second overtime period eventually led to Pearce’s accidental own goal.

    Jordon Cooke made 35 saves to earn the win in goal for the Huskies (16-3), who are ranked third in the CIS top ten rankings. Stanford, who is a graduate of the WHL's Saskatoon Blades, turned away 19 shots in goal for the Dinos (7-8-4).

    The Huskies and Dinos will go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink.

Russians power Dinos past Huskies

Iya Gavrilova had a goal and two assists for the Dinos on Friday night.

    Iya Gavrilova and Sasha Vafina came through when the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team needed them the most.

    The two members of Russian’s 2014 Olympic team combined for three goals and two assists to push the Dinos past the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies 4-2 at the Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.

    Gavrilova, who has two assists, netted the winner at the 12:59 mark of the third period, which broke a 2-2 tie. Vafina scored twice, while Stephanie Zvonkovic had the Dinos other tally.

    Feisty forward Marley Ervine and Lauren Zary replied with singles for the Huskies.

    Hayley Dowling made 24 saves to earn the win in goal for the Dinos. Jerrica Waltz turned away 21 shots to take the loss in goal for the Huskies.

    The Huskies, who are rated sixth in the CIS top ten rankings, fell to 11-6-2. The Dinos improved to 5-10-4, but they still sit last in the eight team Canada West Conference.

    Both squads go at it again on Saturday in Calgary.

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Brooms put on hold for Huskies

Dinos prevent sweep as Canada West looks unpredictable

Huskies forward Marley Ervine, left, battles Dino Iya Gavrilova for a draw.

  The University of Saskatchewan Huskies got a feel for just how unpredictable the Canada West women’s hockey ranks could be this season.

    Hosting the University of Calgary Dinos who limped into a pair of games at the ancient Rutherford Rink with an unexpected 0-2 mark, the Huskies picked up a solid 3-2 win on Friday night, but the Dinos collected their first victory of the season with a 3-2 comeback effort on Saturday.

    In Friday’s encounter, the Dogs led 2-0, 3-1 before holding to a 3-2 victory. Paige Anakaer, Marley Ervine and Hanna McGillvray scored for the Huskies. Chelsea Court and Stephanie Zvonkovic replied for the Dinos.

    Cassidy Hendricks made 18 saves to earn the win in goal for the hosts, while Sarah Murray turned away 27 shots taking the loss in goal for the visitors.

    The Huskies held the advantage in territorial play for lengthy stretches on Friday night and appeared strong. The Dinos didn’t looked like they would get a chance to make a rally until Zvonkovic pulled them to within 3-2 scoring with 63 seconds to play in the third.

    Despite the late goal to cut their edge to one, the hosts shut things down defensively to close out Friday’s victory in solid fashion.

Kori Herner gets set to wire home a goal for the Huskies.

    With having won their first three regular season games, the Huskies got out of the gate slow on Saturday. The Dinos took a 1-0 at the 6:02 mark of the first on a power-play goal from Iya Gavrilova, who was a member of Russia’s team at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

    As the opening 20 minutes came to a close, the Huskies started string together a series of strong back-to-back shifts to turn the tide.

    The hosts came out flying in the second and constantly crashed the Dinos net with solid scoring chances holding a 14-7 in the shots on goal department. Anakaer, who is the Huskies captain, tied things up at 1-1 just past with midway point of the frame with a gritty positive bounce goal.

    Kori Herner put the Dogs up 2-1 late in the second breaking down the left wing into the Calgary zone and wiring a shot past Dinos goaltender Hayley Dowling.

    The Huskies couldn’t hold the momentum as the Dinos answered back with two goals that seemed to come out of nowhere to go up 3-2. Court potted the equalizer at the 5:17 mark and Cheyann Newman picked up the winner at the 11:37 mark.

    The home side tried to push back, but the rally attempt was big time hampered when Huskies star defender Julia Flinton was tagged with a double minor for checking to the head with 5:49 to play in the third. The Huskies killed off the penalties, but couldn’t find the equalizer despite mounting pressure in the Dinos over the contest’s final 90 seconds.

Captain Paige Anakaer, middle, celebrates scoring for the Huskies.

    Jerrica Waltz made 26 stops to get tagged with the loss in the Huskies net, while Dowling turned away 29 shots to earn the win for the Dinos (1-3).

    While Saturday’s setback to the Dinos might have been a bit disappointing, the Huskies have to be happy they are off to a 3-1 start.

    Their next challenge should be an interesting one. This coming Friday and Saturday, they travel to Lethbridge to face the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, who are off to a surprising 4-0 start with a pair for road sweeps over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Vancouver and the University of Alberta Pandas in Edmonton.

    The Huskies have played fairly sound structurally in their first four outings. Going forward, they just have to keep finding ways to improve on a day-to-day basis, because it appears the Canada West conference is going to be up for the taking.

Sweet opening sweep

Jordon Cooke backstopped the Huskies to a pair of victories.

    The Huskies men’s hockey team seem to like variety when it comes to victory.

    The Dogs opened the regular season on the road in Calgary and swept away the Dinos, who are expected to be a powerhouse this season.

    On Friday, rookie forward Andrew Johnson scored 53 seconds into overtime to lift the Huskies to a 6-5 victory. Zak Stebner, Levi Cable, Michael Sofillas, John Lawrence and Kendall McFaull all netted singles in regulation for the Huskies. Spencer Edwards, Chris Collins, Kevin King, Dylan Walchuk and Elgin Pearce replied with singles for the Dinos.

    Jordon Cooke made 25 stops to earn the win in goal for the Huskies, while Steven Stanford turned away 23 shots taking the loss in the Dinos net.

    The wild affair saw the Dinos lead 2-0 after the first, and the Huskies hold leads of 3-2 and 4-3 in the second. The Dinos took a 5-4 edge in the third, before the Huskies forced overtime.

    On Saturday, Johnson scored a short-handed goal at the 11:36 mark of the second, and that proved to be the difference in a 1-0 victory. Cooke made 27 stops for his second career CIS shutout, while Myles Hovdebo turned away 21 shots taking the setback in the Dinos goal.

    The Huskies open their home schedule this coming Friday and Saturday when they host the Lethbridge Pronghorns (1-1) at 7 p.m. both nights at the Rutherford Rink.

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