Fiala perfect fit for Huskies

Evan Fiala brings the puck up ice for the Huskies.

    Home is where the heart is for Evan Fiala.

    After he graduated from the WHL as the captain of the Saskatoon Blades at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, Fiala, who resides just outside of Saskatoon in Calvet, Sask., didn’t want to stray too far from his stomping grounds.

    The defensive defenceman signed on to play with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, who are based in North Charleston, South Carolina, to finish off the 2017-18 campaign after the Blades failed to make the WHL playoffs. Fiala skated in 10 regular season games scoring one goal in that stretch and four post-season games with the Stingrays.

Evan Fiala controls the puck behind his own net.

    For the 2018-19 campaign, Fiala wanted to play close to home, and he was hoping the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team would come calling. The Huskies came calling, and Fiala jumped at the chance to join the storied and historic U Sports squad.

    “The fact they were in my hometown pretty much is huge,” said Fiala, who still skates in almost every situation with a big smile on his face. “I’ve got family, and I’ve got a good fanbase here that has always supported me.

    “It made the decision pretty easy.”

    As a rookie in 2018-19, Fiala played in 25 regular season games for the Huskies posting four assists and a plus-eight rating in the plus-minus department. U of S finished first in the Canada West Conference with a 25-3 record.

    Fiala had a plus-five rating playing in all five of the Huskies games in the Canada West Conference playoffs.

    At the University Cup national championship tournament last March, he played in all three of the Huskies games in that event posting a goal and a plus-three rating.

Evan Fiala (#27) had two assists on Friday night.

    On Friday night before 1,064 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the 22-year-old collected a pair of assists and a plus-two rating helping the Huskies blank the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 5-0. The victory was the first for the Huskies in the 2019-20 regular season helping them improve to 1-3-1.

    Fiala has played in all five of the Huskies games in the current campaign posting four assists and a minus-one rating.

    When he joined the Huskies, Fiala knew they had graduated their captain in Kendall McFaull at the conclusion of the 2017-18 campaign. McFaull was a stellar defenceman who was strong in his own zone.

Evan Fiala’s mom Julie Fiala, left, watches Friday night’s game.

    Fiala was aware there was a spot open to get on the ice right away, but he knew that spot wasn’t just going to be given to him.

    “You have to prove yourself no matter what situation you are in,” said Fiala, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 210 pounds. “Thankfully, things have worked out that I’ve been able to play the games I have.

    “Hopefully, I can keep that spot.”

    During his WHL career that ran from 2014 to 2018, Fiala appeared in 266 regular season games split between the Spokane Chiefs and the Blades posting 17 goals, 53 assists, 500 penalty minutes and a plus-21 rating. He said the U Sports game is played at a higher pace than what is seen in the WHL due to the fact the players are more experienced being aged usually anywhere from age 19 to 26.

Evan Fiala passes the puck to a teammate.

    “It is definitely a step up,” said Fiala. “It is faster.

    “Everyone is bigger. It is a tonne of fun also. Everyone is usually where they need to be.

    “Everyone has been through it. They understand situations, and that is what makes the guys in there good. Everyone is on the same page.”

    Fiala enjoyed playing with the Huskies veteran players last season, and he said they played a big role in helping him get used to the U Sports league. He said star offensive defenceman Jesse Forsberg really made him feel like he belonged.

    Forsberg was the Huskies captain last season in his fifth and final campaign of eligibility.

    “We had a fantastic veteran group last year Jesse (Forsberg) especially,” said Fiala. “He is definitely missed.

    “He was a good role model also. You’re not going to see a more passionate guy.”

    Going into this season, the Huskies appeared to have strong defensive unit on paper, but the injury bug decided to wreak havoc on things in the early going. 

Evan Fiala (#27) can be a presence when things get rough.

    The Dogs were short four defencemen at one time due to injury and are still without third-year rearguard Sam Ruopp and fourth-year blue-liner Colby Harmsworth.

    Fiala said the players currently dressing for games on the Huskies back end are starting to find their groove in filling the void left by Ruopp and Harmsworth.

    “Those are two big sets of shoes to fill,” said Fiala. “Spags (Cody Spagrud) and Franny (Kendall Fransoo) have done an amazing job.

    “They are great D-men to play with. It definitely helps our squad.”

    In Friday’s game, the Huskies opened the scoring at the 8:01 mark of the first period, when left-winger Carter Folk blew home a shot from in front of the Lethbridge goal after taking a drop pass from Fiala.

    Just over five minutes later, the Huskies went up 2-0, when centre Logan McVeigh tipped home a point shot from Spagrud.

    Working on a power play 87 seconds into the second frame, Huskies right-winger Carson Stadnyk took the puck at the right side of the Pronghorns goal, did a spin-o-rama and tucked home a shot past Pronghorns starting netminder Taz Burman. The tally gave the host side a 3-0 edge.

Evan Fiala monitors action in the offensive zone from the point.

    The Pronghorns elected to pull Burman after the Huskies third goal. He turned away 13-of-16 shots fired his way.

    Backup Nik Amundrud turned away 22-of-24 shots in relief.

    At the 3:16 mark of the second, Huskies defenceman Shane Collins wired home a shot from in front of the Pronghorns for a 4-0 lead.

    Before the second period ended, the Huskies went ahead 5-0, when Stadnyk netted his second of the contest on shot coming off a rush up the left wing. Fiala picked up his second assist of the contest on Stadnyk’s second tally.

    Taran Kozun stopped 18 shots to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Huskies.

Evan Fiala (#27) and the Huskies celebrate Friday’s win.

    Fiala was happy the Huskies broke through on the win column. The education major could potentially play three more seasons at U of S, but he said he doesn’t look past what is happening in the present day.

    “I’m right here right now, and it has been so far so good,” said Fiala. “I will focus on this season and see what happens in the future.”

    The Huskies and Pronghorns (3-2) go at it again on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

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

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Confidence will be a battle for Blades

The Saskatoon Blades get tied up in a scrum with the Regina Pats.

    The Saskatoon Blades are expecting more than morale victories.

    On Saturday night in Brandon, the Blades earned a morale victory dropping a 5-3 decision to the host Wheat Kings, who are one of the top teams in the WHL with a 17-8-1-2 mark and have aspirations to contend for a league title. While the Wheaties controlled play in most of that contest, the Blades were able to gain traction during a couple of points to create legitimate hope of pulling out an upset.

    Saskatoon is also in year three under the ownership of Edmonton product Mike Priestner, which also includes being in year three of a massive rebuild after the club hosted the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament under previous owner Jack Brodsky. A blockbuster trade in 2011 that saw the Blades surrender a bunch draft picks to acquire Brayden Schenn from the Wheat Kings for that season’s playoff run also added another obstacle to the current rebuild.

    The retooling saw the club bring in Bob Woods as head coach and general manager at the start of the 2014-15 campaign as well as Dean Brockman as an assistant coach. Woods, who was an assistant coach with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, came to the Blades with boatloads of professional experience coaching in the NHL, AHL and East Coast Hockey League. Brockman was the storied head coach and general manager of the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

    The hires were very astute ones.

    With all that in mind, the Blades entered the 2015-16 campaign with hopes of seeing more tangible results in the win column and belief that a playoff berth could be achieved.

    After finishing last in the entire WHL for two straight campaigns, they jumped out to a 9-7-3 start and were comfortably holding a playoff spot.

    While they were 19-49-2-2 a season ago, the Blades work ethic was strong in most outings, and they dropped a number of close contests. The work ethic carried over into the current campaign and the wins were coming. Management, coaches, players and fans had to be excited about what was transpiring.

Brock Hamm has had struggles in goal for the Blades along with his defence.

    Recently, the wheels have fallen off.

    The Blades are 1-8 in their last nine games falling to 10-15-3 to sit four points back of the Edmonton Oil Kings (12-14-3) for the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

    The fact the Blades still have a young team surfaced in November, when the grind of the 72-game regular season really starts to sink in causing some to hit the wall. It also almost feels like the stench of the accumulated losses of the past two seasons is rearing its head.

    Last Monday, the Blades sent struggling 18-year-old sophomore netminder Nik Amundrud to the Calgary Hitmen for a sixth round pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft. Amundrud posted a 3-5-1 record, a 4.32 goals against average and a .870 save percentage. The Melfort, Sask., product showed a lot of upside as a rookie and took a step back this season.

    That left 18-year-old sophomore Brock Hamm to be the Blades projected number one netminder. Hamm started the season real strong looking like a top end number one, but he has struggle recently and currently posts a 7-8-2 record, a 3.92 goals against average, a .881 save percentage and one shutout on the campaign.

    In Wednesday’s 5-0 home loss to the Regina Pats, Hamm was beaten early on two deflection goals by the Pats that he had no chance on. He then looked lost trying to stop Regina centre Adam Brooks giving up a third marker at the 16:57 mark of the opening frame. Hamm was pulled after stopping eight-of-11 shots, but you could see in his eyes he was fighting demons in his head.

    Jake Morrissey, an 18-year-old goalie who was added to the Blades from the Drayton Valley Thunder of the Alberta Junior Hockey League last Monday, finished the game.

    The Blades defenceman haven’t been doing their netminders any favours as well. All of the Blades current blue-liners have minus rating in the plus-minus department. They appeared to have no faith in their defensive partners or other teammates against the Pats and would constantly try to pinch to one side of the ice or the other in the defensive zone only to be burned by a scoring chance or goal that came from the spot they vacated.

    The running around is a sign that the confidence in you teammates isn’t there as well as a lack of confidence in what is happening on the ice.

The Regina Pats celebrate their 15th straight win over the Saskatoon Blades.

    Standout offensive defenceman Brycen Martin was the Blades best player on the back end posting three goals, 21 assists and a plus-five rating in 25 games before being dealt to the Everett Silvertips last Monday. Marten and a conditional third round pick in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft went to Everett in exchange for 16-year-old defenceman Jantzen Leslie, who was a former first round WHL Bantam Draft selection, 16-year-old forward Ryan Anderson and a second round selection in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.

    That move will likely help the Blades over the longer term. Leslie played in Saturday’s loss in Brandon. Anderson is playing in the Alberta major midget AAA ranks with Edmonton’s South Side Athletic Club Boston Pizza Athletics posting 15 goals and nine assists in 19 games.

    In the present, the Blades need to find overall confidence. Hamm might have some after making 43 stops in the setback to Brandon. He gave Saskatoon every chance to steal a win.

    Saskatoon’s defenders really have to focus on the basics of just chipping the puck out of their own end and holding their position on either side of the net.

    There is still lots of time to rally back to earn a playoff berth, which currently isn’t that far out of reach. A more prolonged slide makes that task much more difficult.

    If you would like to pass on any comments about this blog post, you can do so by emailing stankssports@gmail.com.

Blades make strides, more work ahead

The Blades bench during a stoppage in play.

    They finished last in WHL, but the 2014-15 season for the Saskatoon Blades can't be considered a write off.
    Still rebuilding from hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup and making a blockbuster trade to get Brayden Schenn for a run in the 2011 playoffs, the Blades were going to hard pressed to make the WHL playoffs. On ice, a modest goal would be to build on the 16-51-2-3 record the team posted in the 2013-14 campaign. They did better that mark in a modest fashion with a 19-49-2-2 finish.
    In the second season under the ownership of Edmonton product Mike Priestner and his management group, the team started to set more building blocks to steer the club back into the direction of being a contender and ensuring the Blades brand stays relevant in the community.
    The biggest sign of success came from the fact 8,929 people came to the Sasktel Centre to watch the Blades final regular season home game on March 20, which they lost 3-1 to the Medicine Hat Tigers. I know the cynics will say the only reason attendance was that high was due to the fact there was a guaranteed 50/50 pot set at $51,000, which saw spectators Ross Wiebe and Carly, his daughter, walk away with a prize of $67,207.50.
    Still, the fact was 8,929 came to watch a final regular season game, when the Blades had been playing out the string for about three weeks with no hope of making the playoffs.

Blades centre Wyatt Sloboshan battles for a draw.

    As a charter member of the WHL in 1966, the Blades have seen their share of excellent seasons and really bad campaigns. In past campaigns where the final regular season home game had no meaning due to the fact the Blades would miss the post-season, it was common for about 2,300 to attend that last game. Out of the 2,300 that came, it usually felt like half the crowd didn't really want to be there.
    That wasn't the case with the final regular season home game for this season. All you had to do was look into the stands, and you realized the 8,929 spectators in attendance wanted to be at the Sasktel Centre that night. There was a good atmosphere in the building.
    Besides having a strong draw for their final regular season home game, the Blades drew 6,718 spectators to their second last regular season home date on March 14, when they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Brandon Wheat Kings, who finished first overall in the WHL.
    Overall, the Blades averaged 4,563 spectators for their 36 home contests, which was a slight drop in average attendance from the 4,719 spectators that came to games in the 2013-14 regular season. Those numbers are still good for two non-playoff years.
    The Blades management and office staff put in a lot of ground work over the course of the season to engage the community, and those efforts appear to be paying off. Over the past eight years, Saskatoon proper has seen a population increase of about 50,000, so there is also an untapped base to go after.

The Blades break out of their own zone.

    It seemed like every game this season the Blades had some promotion going to make coming to the rink fun. One of the more enjoyable ones was likely a Las Vegas style kind of event they put on in January. Overall, it is starting to feel like the Sasktel Centre is the place to be again in Saskatoon on Blades game nights.
    The Blades also had a new head coach and general manager in Bob Woods this season and a new assistant coach in Dean Brockman. While the wins didn't pile up for a roster that was the youngest in the WHL, the work ethic of the players was there night in and night out. On most nights, the Blades players gave those that came out to see them perform an honest effort.
    They also appear to have been successful in setting up a good culture around the dressing room. While the setback stockpiled, players still wanted to be at the rink. Actually, a number of players the Blades traded away to stock up WHL Bantam Draft selections didn't actually want to leave.
    They wanted to stay in Saskatoon to help turn the team's fortunes around, but they also understood there is a business aspect to the league. If deals could be made to help the club in the future, they will be made.
    Junior hockey is the first level where players can feel the sting of the business side of the game. With that said, the Blades did their part to lessen the sting of that business blow.

The Blades celebrate a goal.

    That was shown on the night 18-year-old defenceman and local product Nelson Nogier made his return to the Bridge City. Nogier spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Blades, and he was the poster boy team player, who was huge in representing the club in the community. He was also the WHL's scholastic player of the year in 2013-14.
    He was dealt to the Rebels just before the Christmas break in a blockbuster trade.
    When he made his return to play in the Sasktel Centre on Feb. 18, the Blades honoured him in a pre-game ceremony. He was presented his old game jersey in a glass case, an amazing looking framed action photo, and he took the ceremonial faceoff.
    The ceremony sent a message to any player looking to join the Blades that they will always be respected, if they come in and give an honest effort. It makes players want to play for the Blades, and it makes parents hope their kids get to go play for the Blades.
    On the ice, the Blades appear to have some pieces of the puzzle in place. Netminders Nik Amundrud and Brock Hamm look like they could be a solid tandem, when they return as 18-year-old sophomores.
    Veteran defenceman Brycen Martin, who was picked up in trade with the Swift Current Broncos, is a solid part on the back end, and he has the ability to quarterback the power play. Yorkton product Jake Kustra played seven games as a 15-year-old call up, and he appears able to provide a spark.
    Up front, 17-year-old rookie Wyatt Sloboshan potted 10 goals and 21 assists in 49 regular season game for his hometown WHL club. He has some sound potential heading into his 18-year-old campaign.

The Blades salute the Sasktel Centre faithful

    Left-winger Nick Zajac is heading into his overage campaign and should provide some good leadership next season showing young players the ins and outs of the league.
    With all that said, the Blades were still last in the entire 22-team WHL. They scored the third fewest goals at 195, gave up the most goals against at 309 and finished with nine straight losses.
    The returning players have to work on their games and get stronger and faster physically. Woods also has to keep finding ways to keep improving the overall talent level.
    The Blades still have a lot more work to do in order to become an elite WHL club. If they keep following the current rebuilding blueprint they have drawn up, they should get rewarded in the long run.

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

“Ammer” an answer for Blades

Blades goaltender Nik Amundrud focuses on the play coming up ice.

    As the Saskatoon Blades continue to retool and rebuild, the position they likely won't have to tinker with is in goal.
    When it comes to any level of hockey, the goaltending position always faces the most scrutiny and the most pressure. A team needs to be sold in net, if it has any hope of victory.
    The Blades appear to have two good ones in Nik Amundrud and Brock Hamm, who are both rookies in their 17-year-old seasons of eligibility. Amundrud joined the Blades shortly after the start of the regular season in trade with the Everett Silvertips, which saw star forward Nikita Scherbak leave the Bridge City. Hamm joined the Blades in January from the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan junior A ranks after a goaltending spot opened up when Trevor Martin was dealt to the Red Deer Rebels.
    Out of the two puckstoppers, Amundrud has the bigger sample size of work to grade as he has been with the Blades pretty much for the whole campaign. Over the course of the season, his improvement curve has been very good. Had he been on a club that is just sneaking into the playoffs that has a little bit of a scoring punch, he is at the point that he might be able to create an upset in the first round and turn some heads.
    As it is, the Melfort product should be given big credit for doing his part to give the Blades a chance to win on most nights. On the season, his 7-22-2 record, 3.94 goals against average and .895 save percentage aren't going to raise too many looks. The fact he has managed to post three shutout victories should.

Amundrud turns away a Wheat Kings' scoring chance.

    Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 165 pounds, Amundrud has developed a reputation for making acrobatic type saves. Playing on a team that is last in the WHL at 19-47-4, Amundrud has faced all sorts of quality scoring chances on a nightly basis.
    He has makes numerous tough stops game in and game out to keep the Blades alive in games. Eventually, the volume of good chances he faces does ended up catching up to him, which sees the opposition pot enough goals to skate away with victory.
    Being a rookie 17-year-old goaltender in the WHL is huge challenge for anyone to face at any point in time. Amundrud's challenge has been that much bigger.
    With the Blades working hard to rebuild their roster from hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup and from loading up for the 2011 post-season, Amundrud has seen a revolving door of players arrive and leave the team's dressing room. At times, he would see the person he became a best friend with get deal off to another city.
    Thanks to all these moves, Amundrud has had various players playing out in front of him, who are all at different points in their respective learning curves. On the young squad, he has arguably had the most consistent effort.
    Under an optimal situation, a rookie 17-year-old or 16-year-old goaltender will enter the WHL and be an apprentice backup to an established veteran who helps show the youngster the ropes. During the second half of the season, Amundrud hasn't had that luxury.
    He has been paired with another talented youngster in Hamm. In half a season, Hamm has posted a 6-7 record with a 3.61 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.
    Before joining the Blades, Hamm was able to build up confidence posting a 2.72 goals against average and a .918 save percentage in 21 starts in Humboldt in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, where he had a 9-10 record.
    Amundrud faced a situation that could have broken his confidence. He wasn't going to have any easy nights. If he struggled, the Blades would have no chance to win.

Nik Amundrud gets set in the Blades' goal.

    The fact his confidence wasn't shattered shows he has good character. On Saturday at the SaskTel Centre, Amundrud was putting up another 33-save gem against the Brandon Wheat Kings, who lead the WHL with a 51-11-4-3 record. The Wheaties are so deep this year that everyone one of their forward lines and defensive pairings is good.
    Still, the tilt before 6,718 spectators went into the third period locked in a 1-1 tie. Brandon potted two goals in the third to pull out a 3-1 victory.
    The Blades are making smart player moves, and it is fair to say their roster next season will be better than it was this season. Goaltending is always a tough thing to judge and Hamm may be the guy that ultimately carries the load or two other netminders might be brought in to take out the current incumbents.
    What Amundrud has done has been impressive. He has given them a chance to win and be in almost every game he has started. With the experience he has gained, you have to believe he will be even better in his sophomore season.
    As other parts of the team are tinkered with, it is nice to know you have someone to rely on in goal.

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

Frustration mounts for Huskies

Kandace Cook (#21) tries to bury a shot for the Huskies.

   The frustration and disappointment spread out all around for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's hockey team.
   The defending Canada West champs saw their losing skid extend to six games dropping both games of a series last weekend against the University of Manitoba Bisons at the ancient Rutherford Rink. The setback that moved the slide to six proved to be the most disappointing, which saw the Bison pull out a 4-3 overtime victory on Saturday night.
   Following that loss, the Huskies' players tried their best to still appear upbeat, but the emotions of being sombre pretty much took over. Having sat first overall in the Canada West Conference going into the Christmas break, they were stunned and speechless to have fallen to 11-8-3 to sit fifth overall in the conference. It was obvious to tell the group as a whole isn't used to an extended losing stretch.
   On Friday, the Huskies had a few defensive zone breakdowns and fell 5-2 to the Bisons. Chelsey Sundby and Lauren Zary had singles for the Huskies, while Cassidy Hendricks turned away 22 of 26 shots taking the loss in goal.
   Alana Serhan had a hat trick for the Bisons, while Lauryn Keen and Kayleigh Wiens had singles. Rachel Dyck made 17 stops to pick up the win in goal.
   On Saturday night, the Huskies played their best game since returning from the break and led 2-1 after the first period thanks to a pair of goals by Zary, while Cassandra Taylor had the reply for the Bisons. The edge held up going into the second intermission.
   In the third, the Bisons went ahead 3-2 thanks to tallies by Serhan and Maggie Litchfield-Medd. Marley Ervine potted the equalizer for the Huskies to force a 3-3 tie and send the contest to overtime.
   Just 65 seconds into the extra session, Alanna Sharman scored the winner for the Bisons, who improved to 16-5-1 to sit second overall in Canada West. Dyck made 20 saves to pick up the win in goal for Manitoba.
Rookie Jerrica Waltz made her first career start in goal for the Huskies and made 29 stops taking the loss for her side.

Marley Ervine drives a shot on goal for the Huskies.

   In Saturday's match, both side basically manufactured their goals by driving hard to the net and potting gritty type tallies. The Bisons also blocked a huge number of Huskies shots, especially in the third, to add to the frustration for the host squad.
   The Huskies played technically better for longer stretches on Saturday than they had during any other of their outings during the skid. In the end, it wasn't enough to break back into the win column.
   U of S has been hurt by injuries in attempting to break their skid. On the weekend, the Huskies returned defender Hanna McGillivray, who missed three games due to a concussion. Forward Rachel Johnson is walking around Rutherford sporting a serious knee brace. She suffered that injury in the Huskies 1-0 home loss to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Jan. 16.
   Rookie forward Chelsea Wilson left the team due to family reasons having last played in the Huskies 5-2 road loss to the U of Calgary Dinos in Calgary on Jan. 10. Johnson had five goals and four assists in 19 games, while Wilson had a goal and seven assists in 18 games. In a Canada West Conference where goals have come at a premium, losing that offensive production is a blow to the Green and White.
   Had the Huskies split with each of their first three weekend series since the break, they would be in the thick of possibly challenging for first overall in the conference. The overtime loss to the Bisons allowed the Huskies to officially lock up a playoff berth, but they would need to win most of their final six games to have a chance to host an opening round playoff series.
   They now head on the road for five straight games. The first two of those contests will be this coming Friday and Saturday in Edmonton against the Canada West leading U of Alberta Pandas (16-6). The Pandas lead the Bisons by two points in the standings due to a 15-12 edge in regulation wins.
   The Huskies will head into those clashes with the Pandas as underdogs. In the glass half full analogy, the Dogs also have nothing to lose and everything to gain in those clashes.

Unfamiliar territory for Huskies men's hockey team

Josh Roach rushes up ice for the Huskies.

   The U of S Huskies men's hockey team ended up with a distinction they would have loved to have avoided.
   After dropping two games to the University of Manitoba Bisons in Winnipeg on the weekend, the Huskies fell to 10-14-2. With two games to play in the regular season, the Huskies will finish with a losing record for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, when they posted an 11-14-3 mark. The Huskies had gone 18 straight seasons without posting a losing record, which had to be commended for being impressive.
   Thanks to having a roster that contained 12 first year players, the Huskies were unable to extend that run to an 19^th straight campaign.
   On Friday, the Huskies dropped a 2-1 decision to the Bisons in double overtime. Craig McCallum gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead early in the first period. In the closing seconds of the second period, the Bisons tied things up with goal from Jordan DePape.
   The game advanced through a four-on-four overtime session still tied 1-1. In the final seconds of a three-on-three overtime session, Taylor Dickin potted the winner for the Bisons.
   Ryan Holfeld made 44 stops taking the extra time loss in goal for the Huskies. Byron Springs made 30 saves picking up the win in goal for the Bisons.
   Manitoba drilled Saskatchewan 6-2 on Saturday night. Aaron Lewadniuk, Brett Dudar, Jory Coates, Jesse Paradis, Joel Schreyer and DePape netted singles for the Bisons. Springs made 27 stops to earn the win in goal helping the Bisons improve to 14-12.
   Josh Roach and Michael Sofillas had singles for the Huskies. Jordon Cooke turned away 11 of 15 shots taking the loss in goal. Holfeld turned away 11 of 13 shots in relief.
   The Huskies locked up a berth in the Canada West playoffs, when the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds blanked the U of Regina Cougars 1-0 on Saturday night in Vancouver. U of S is also locked into finishing sixth overall in the conference, which means the Huskies won't host a home playoff series this year. Playoff home games are normally a fixture at the Rutherford Rink.
   The Dogs host their final two home contests of the 2014-15 campaign this coming Thursday and Friday at Rutherford against the U of Alberta Golden Bears to close out the regular season for both clubs. Game time is 7 p.m. both nights. The Golden Bears have locked up first overall in Canada West currently sporting a 22-3-1 mark.
   Those games will also mark the 85^th anniversary of the Huskies playing at the Rutherford Rink.

Dogs help battle cancer

The Play For The Cure table at the Rutherford Rink.

   The Huskies hockey teams are both involved in fundraising games to help battle cancer.
   The women's team held their seventh annual Play For The Cure game on Friday. This year the proceeds went to Choc 'la Cure in honour of Cody Smuk, who is an alumnus of the men's hockey team and is battling cancer. The women's team also wore jerseys donated by the family of second-year forward Kennedy Harris. They were worn in memory of Harris's grandmother, Yvette Marie Hyatt, who passed away of cancer.
   The jerseys were auctioned off through a silent auction, and a number of items were available through a raffle on a table set up in the concession area at the Rutherford Rink. The silent auction raised over $2,500.
   Smuk wasn't able to be at Friday's game, because he was in hospital undergoing chemotherapy treatments. Smuk's parents, Marty and Darla, and fiancée, Stephanie Vause, were in attendance.
   This coming Thursday and Friday, the men's team will be raising funds for their former team member in their final home games of the season against the Golden Bears. Funds are being raised for "Marty's Men," which is the Relay for Life team for Smuk. His nickname is "Marty."
   Smuk helped the Huskies win silver at last year's University Cup national championship tournament. His cancer diagnosis came a couple of months later.

Blades on a roll

Nik Amundrud, left, and Josh Uhrich celebrate Uhrich's goal.

   The young Saskatoon Blades might be giving local WHL fans a glimpse of the future.
   On Sunday night, the Blades rolled off their fifth straight win blanking the Prince Albert Raiders 3-0 before 4,136 spectators at the Sasktel Centre. Currently the run is the longest winning streak the Bridge City Bunch has had during a rebuilding 2014-15 season.
   Goaltender Nik Amundrud made 24 saves to earn his second shutout of the season. Overage captain Brett Stovin potted his 19^th of the season on a breakaway in the first period. Garrett Armour and Josh Uhrich added singles in the third.
   Nick McBride turned away 35 shots suffering the loss in goal for the Raiders (19-27-1).
   The Blades are going with a young roster for the rest of the season that contains just two overagers and four players in their 19-year-old seasons. They still sit second last in the entire WHL, but have improved to 14-29-2-1.
   Work ethic has not been a problem for the Blades this season, and head coach and general manager Bob Woods and rest of the team's coaches have to be happy to see some wins are finally happening as a result of the hard work.
   The Blades have also played an open and aggressive style of offensive game during the winning stretch, which has resulted in 23 goals being scored over those five victories. The success has been earned.
   For most of the season, opposing teams could believe they would be pushed by the Blades but would eventually get a character-building victory. With what the Blades have been able to accomplish, opposing teams can't just expect that victory will eventually come in a head-to-head encounter. Saskatoon has to be viewed as a worrisome opponent.
   The Blades will try to extend their winning streak on Wednesday, when they travel to Prince Albert to face the Raiders.

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