Wyatt’s moment – Huskies centre gets winner in Game 1 of Canada West final

Wyatt Johnson (#26) celebrates scoring for the Huskies on Friday.

    What a difference a year makes for Wyatt Johnson when it comes to the Canada West Championship series.

    A year ago, the two-way centre was in his sophomore season with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team, and he was unable to play in the best-of-three Canada West final against the University of Alberta Golden Bears due to a concussion injury. The Golden Bears swept that year’s series 2-0 in Edmonton, Alta., and ultimately captured the U Sports national title.

    Now in his third season with the Huskies, Johnson was on the ice Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place as his squad opened the Canada West Championship series taking on the Golden Bears for a fourth year in a row.

Wyatt Johnson breaks into the offensive zone for the Huskies.

    The graduate of the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels and Spokane Chiefs made the biggest play in the Huskies 4-2 victory over their “forever rivals” in Game 1. With U of S holding a 2-1 edge in the second period, Johnson converted a picturesque passing for a power-play goal to give the Huskies a 3-1 advantage to the delight of the 2,583 spectators that jammed into the brand new rink.

    “It is unreal,” said Johnson about playing in this year’s Canada West final. “Obviously, last year was tough watching.

    “I played it in my first year, so I knew what to expect. It is awesome to be back.”

    The Huskies were working on a five-on-three power play when Johnson scored. Offensive defenceman and Huskies captain Jesse Forsberg started the play by slipping a pass to the right side of the Golden Bears net to Huskies winger Collin Shirley.

Taran Kozun makes one of his 24 saves in goal for the Huskies.

    Shirley quickly fed a backdoor pass to Johnson, who fired his goal into an empty cage.

    Johnson was pumped his team took Game 1, which means the Huskies will have a chance to wrap up the series in Game 2 on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place. If the Golden Bears force a series-deciding Game 3, it will be held on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Merlis.

    Following Friday’s win, Johnson was already looking focusing on what his team has to do to close out the series.

    “Every game, everybody rises in intensity,” said Johnson, who had five goals and 10 assists in 22 regular season games with the Huskies in the current campaign. “Every game as you get into playoffs, everybody starts bearing down on pucks more, and the intensity rises.

Brandon Magee scored the Golden Bears first goal.

    “We have to up our level, and I am sure they will over there too.”

    While the Huskies and Golden Bears know each other well, the 509^th overall meeting between the two squads on Friday started with a bit of a feeling out period.

    Just 2:32 into the opening frame, Huskies fiery left-winger Jaimen Yakubowski roofed home the game’s first goal short side over the left shoulder of Golden Bears star netminder Zach Sawchenko to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

    Huskies head coach Dave Adolph thought Yakubowski’s tally gave his side some early traction.

    “We were pretty uptight,” said Adolph. “The whole game was played kind of uptight, and the ice wasn’t great.

    “We thought in this brand new facility that things would be a little bit better, but the puck was bouncing everywhere on both teams. It was a little unnerving. I think that we scored the first goal and that might have been the difference in the night.

    “I think if they would have scored we would have been a little bit more nervous. Jaimen Yakubowski scores and it kind of just calms the sails a little bit.”

Huskies LW Jaimen Yakubowski is turned away on a scoring chance.

    Before the first period ended, the Golden Bears pulled even at 1-1, when right-winger Brandon Magee wired home a power-play goal from the top of the left faceoff circle.

    The Huskies hit another gear in the second period. At the 4:06 mark of the frame, Huskies fifth-year right-winger Parker Thomas slipped home a shot from the front of the U of A goal to put his squad up 2-1.

    Johnson’s power-play goal came just under three-and-a-half minutes later.

    “You never really separate yourself from this team, and I think they would probably say the same thing,” said Adolph. “I think we were opportunistic.

Parker Thomas had a goal on Friday for the Huskies.

    “We got a five-on-three power play and scored. You have to do that in a clutch game, and that might have been the difference on the night.”

    When it appeared the Huskies had total control of the game, the Golden Bears got themselves back into the contest, when fourth-year right-winger Jayden Hart scored on the power-play with 40.4 seconds remaining in the second period to cut the U of S edge to 3-2.

    The Huskies argued both the puck was knocked in with a high stick and star netminder Taran Kozun was interfered with to no avail.

    The hosts sealed the win with 4:02 remaining in the third period, when Huskies rookie defenceman Gordie Ballhorn sprung sophomore right-winger Carter Folk on a partial breakaway. Folk wired home a shot glove side to put the Huskies up 4-2.

Huskies G Taran Kozun,left, gets tangled with Golden Bears LW Trevor Cox.

    Kozun turned away 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Sawchenko stopped 21 shots to take the setback in goal for the Golden Bears.

    Friday’s encounter included a number of scrums and some chippy play, which is expected when the Huskies and Golden Bears face each other.

    Golden Bears top agitator Trevor Cox tried to do his thing, which included standing in front of Kozun and waving his stick in the air in the third period. The two got tangled together later on in the frame.

    Cox’s linemate, Cole Sanford, also tried to stir things up too.

    Adolph said his side always has to be aware that both Cox and Sanford are dynamic players, which adds to the challenge of countering the duo.

Huskies captain Jesse Forsberg, left, fights to get to a loose puck.

    “Not only are they a little pesky, but they are also highly skilled,” said Adolph. “If they can get you chasing them around a little bit, their skill will prevail.

    “I think that we were calm enough tonight to handle it. We have to do it again. It is a best of three.”

    When the teams hit the ice for Game 2 on Saturday, the Huskies will be trying to win the Canada West title for the first time since 2016, when they swept the Golden Bears 2-0 at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

    Johnson said the players on his team are aware of what they can accomplish with one more win.

    “Obviously, the excitement is huge,” Johnson. “We try and stay even keel, but everyone knows what is on the line tomorrow.

The Huskies celebrate their Game 1 victory on Friday.

    “We have to come a do a job.”

    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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Huskies, Willoughby kick aside funks heading into playoffs

Morgan Willoughby had the winning goal for the Huskies.

    Morgan Willoughby was pumped she kicked away a personal funk, while helping the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team beat some recent funks.

    Entering Saturday’s regular season clash against the defending Canada West and U Sports national champion University of Manitoba Bisons at Merlis Belsher Place, the fourth-year defender was still in search of her first goal of the season. The Huskies had also taken their lumps recently losing four out of their last five games heading into Saturday’s contest, which concluded the regular season for both sides.

    With the Huskies taking a 1-0 lead out of the first period, Willoughby got the puck in the offensive zone, skated up the right side wall and fired home a shot through a screen to put the host side up 2-0 at the 9:13 mark of the second period.

    Her goal ultimately held up as the winner as the Huskies skated away with a 2-1 victory before 532 spectators.

Morgan Willoughby guards the defensive zone.

    “I found that I have been getting a lot of offensive chances lately,” said Willoughby, who had a goal and three assists in 24 regular season games with the Huskies this season. “Even yesterday, everyone is like, “Oh, you are going to score Morgan. I know you are.”

    “I just kept it up. I knew it was coming soon, so it was a good time for it to happen.”

    Playing in her 90^th career regular season game with the Huskies, the assistant captain found some veteran poise that resulted in her goal.

    “What I did different that time was I was patient with the puck,” said Willoughby. “I walked around a girl and waited to shoot.

    “I didn’t just fire it without looking, just patience basically.”

    The Huskies got out to a bit of a slow start before hitting another gear with eight minutes remaining in the first period. 

Netminder Jessica Vance stands her ground in the Huskies goal.

    While working on a power play, they broke through on the scoreboard when rookie centre Kennedy Brown banged home a shot from the front of the Bisons goal with 3:36 remaining in the opening frame to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

    After Willoughby gave the Huskies a two-goal edge, Bisons fourth-year centre Jordyn Zacharias netted her 12^th goal of the season with her team working on a power play to cut the U of S lead to 2-1.

    While the Bisons got back into the game, they didn’t really build on any momentum from Zacharias’s goal. 

Emily Upgang moves the puck out of trouble in the defensive zone.

    U of M held a 9-5 edge in shots on goal in the third period, but the Huskies locked things down defensively, especially in the final 10 minutes of the third.

    The Bisons best chance to score came off a fire drill scramble in front of the U of S net with about a minute remaining in the frame, but the Huskies were able to clear the puck away.

    Willoughby was pleased with how her team played defensively.

    “I know just lately we have been struggling a bit on our D side of things,” said Willoughby. “It is always important (to remember) that D-zone is first.

    “You can be offensive unless we get out of our zone clean. Yeah, it is important.”

Erin Fargey stopped 27 shots in goal for the Bisons.

    Jessica Vance turned away 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies, who finished fourth in Canada West with a 16-10-1-1 record.

    Rookie Erin Fargey made her third start of the year in goal for the Bisons and turned away 27 shots in the setback. The Bisons, who are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, finished second in Canada West with a 20-5-2-1 record.

    “I think honestly, when we play with pace, we play our best,” said Willoughby. “We know that we are a quick team, and that is when things start working out well for us.”

    Willoughby liked how her team looked in both of their games this weekend. On Friday, they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Bisons at Merlis Belsher Place while holding a 32-15 edge in shots on goal.

    A stellar performance by Bisons star netminder Lauren Taraschuk prevented the Huskies from posting a victory that night.

Huskies C Chloe Smith checks Bisons D Erica Rieder.

    Having fallen to the Mount Royal University Cougars 6-1 in Calgary on Feb. 2 in their last game before playing the Bisons the past two nights, Willoughby said her team believed they would turn things around.

    “I think that we all had a positive mentality coming into this weekend,” said Willoughby. “We kind of had a downfall against Mount Royal last weekend, but we knew what we all expected out of each other.

    “I think we definitely performed, so it was awesome. I think we’re on a pretty good high right now going into playoffs. I think it is really important that we move from this weekend with the momentum that we have.

    “I think we will have a solid start to our playoff series.”

The Huskies celebrate their win on Saturday.

    The Huskies will host Mount Royal in a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series to start the post-season. Game 1 is set for this coming Friday at 7 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

    The Cougars finished fifth in Canada West with a 12-14-2 record and have won their last three straight games. The Huskies and Cougars split their four head-to-head games in the regular season.

    Willoughby said it was big for her team to start the post-season at home. The Huskies have a 10-3-1 record at Merlis Belsher Place this season.

    “Obviously, any home ice in playoffs is huge,” said Willoughby. “It is too bad that we aren’t guaranteed more than one round.

    “I think it will be a good push for us to start off playoffs in our home rink. We always play well here. It will be good.”

Huskies men’s team runs the table for first

Parker Thomas scored in his final U Sports game in Winnipeg.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team successfully ran the table to lock down first place in the Canada West Conference.

    On Saturday in Winnipeg, the Huskies blanked the host U of Manitoba Bisons 3-0 at the Wayne Fleming Arena in a clash that closed the regular season for both sides. The victory was the 10^th in a row for the Huskies, who improved to 25-3 to lock up the top spot in Canada West for the third time in four years.

    The Dogs will have home ice advantage throughout the Canada West playoffs.

    In the process of finishing first, the Huskies, who are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, set new team for wins in one regular season at 25 and standings points at 50.

    The Huskies old record for most wins in a regular season of 22 was posted on three occasions. The former mark of 22 victories was first established in the 1987-88 season, when the Huskies posted a record of 22 wins, five losses and one tie.

    The Dogs reached 22 wins again in the 1999-2000 regular season posting a record of 22 wins, three losses and three ties. The record was last equaled in the 2015-16 campaign when the Huskies posted a 22-6 record. That season marks the last time the Huskies won the Canada West title.

Carson Stadnyk scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    The old record for most points in the standings stood at 47, and it was set in the 1999-2000 campaign.

    The Huskies needed to finish on a hot run to secure first place over the defending Canada West and U Sports national champion U of Alberta Golden Bears.

    The Golden Bears, who are rated first in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, finished the regular season winning 13 straight games and had recorded points in their last 21 regular season games. They finished second in Canada West just one point behind the Huskies with a 24-3-1 record.

    In Saturday’s clash between the Huskies and Bisons, rookie forward Donovan Neuls scored in the first period to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Third-year forward Carson Stadnyk netted a goal in the second period to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

    The Huskies rounded out the scoring in the third period with a tally coming off the stick of fifth-year forward Parker Thomas. Thomas, who is from Winnipeg, was playing in his final career U Sports game in his hometown.

    Rookie Travis Child made 18 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies and his first career regular season U Sports shutout. Fifth-year netminder Byron Spriggs turned away 31 shots to take the setback in goal for the Bisons in his final career U Sports game.

    The Bisons finished seventh in Canada West with a 6-20-2 record and did not make the post-season.

Donovan Neuls scored for the Huskies on Saturday.

    While the Huskies set a new standard for their best regular season record ever, starting goaltender Taran Kozun set a new record for most individual goaltending wins in one regular season at 20, when the Huskies slipped past the Bisons 3-2 on Friday in Winnipeg.

    The sophomore for Nipawin, Sask., posted a 20-3 record, 1.81 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and five shutouts this season.

    The old record of 19 wins was posted by Jordon Cooke on two occasions in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 regular seasons.

    Due to finishing first, the Huskies have a bye into the semifinal round of the Canada West playoffs. They will host a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series starting with Game 1 on Feb. 22 at 7 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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Ticket price hike won’t help Huskies sell out new rink

    It appears the University of Saskatchewan Huskies hockey teams believe they have a ticket buying public that is dying to see their games like the WHL champion Swift Current Broncos.

    If you plan to see the Huskies hockey teams hit the ice for their inaugural campaign in their brand new rink in Merlis Belsher Place, be prepared to shell out more money.

    Last season in the final campaign at the ancient Rutherford Rink, you could see either Huskies hockey team play for $13 a seat for an adult ticket. Only 845 tickets could be sold for each game in the 88-year-old facility.

    Ticket prices will be more in the Huskies new rink, which will seat 3,437 spectators when it is fully completed. For the first season at Merlis Belsher Place, the seats in the end behind one of the nets won’t be in place.

    Under the current season ticket packages that are being sold for the new facility, the best per game value goes if you purchase a bundle for all men’s and women’s games for $400. For those 28 contests, you will be shelling out about $14.28 per seat per game.

    A regular season ticket to see either just the men’s games or the women’s games is worth $240. For 14 regular season dates, that works out to about $17.14 per seat.

    A VIP club seat to see all the games for either the men’s team or the women’s team is set at $365. For 14 regular season games, that works out to about $26.07 per seat.

    These new per seat prices are creeping up to mirror the pricing in rinks for major junior hockey. They will be on the high end compared to pricing against other hockey teams in U Sports.

    The Huskies new rink also has real luxury box seating and those start at $699 for the season.

    If there is a demand to see a team play, that team has all the power to increase ticket prices. Looking back at last season at the Rutherford Rink, the largest home attendance was listed at 505 for a 2-1 Huskies men’s playoff loss to the University of Calgary Dinos on February 23. The largest home attendance for a women’s game was 389 for a 2-1 Huskies home playoff victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on February 24.

    Both of those figures are well short of selling out Rutherford at $13 a seat for an adult ticket.

    If anyone says ticket sales are going well for the new rink, I would be very skeptical. I will take an “I will believe it when I see it” stance here.

    The realist wouldn’t envision attendances of under 500 per game at the Rutherford translating into crowds of over 3,000 per game with increased pricing at Merlis Belsher Place.

    In recent years at Rutherford, sellouts were limited to playoff games for the men’s hockey team, especially if they were hosting the Canada West Championship series.

    The largest listed crowd to see the Huskies women’s team at Rutherford was 791 spectators on March 1, 2014, when they dropped Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series 2-1 to the University of Regina Cougars in quadruple overtime.

Gritty forward Parker Thomas has been featured on Huskies hockey ads.

    It is believed the largest paid attendance for a female hockey game in Saskatchewan not including contests involving the Canadian national team program was when the Prince Albert Northern Bears drew an estimated 1,200 spectators to the Art Hauser Center in Prince Albert on April 1, 2017. That night, the Bears defeated the Hartney, Man., based Westman Wildcats 7-6 to lock up victory in a female midget AAA Western regional playdown series.

    It is a safe estimate to say at least three out of the eight clubs in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League outdraw the Huskies women’s hockey team and the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team for that matter on a regular basis.

    In another head scratcher move, the initial advertisements for season ticket packages featured Kaitlin Willoughby, who is the now graduated star captain of the Huskies women’s team. In sports marketing, you normally feature players that will be playing for your team in the upcoming season on advertisements unless you are going to have a night to honour a former player or retire their number.

    While covering games in the WHL playoffs, I discussed that with a number of people who worked for teams on that circuit, and they agreed with that observation.

Goalie Jessica Vance has been featured in Huskies hockey ads.

    For the last little while, advertisements for the Huskies hockey teams have often featured gritty forward Parker Thomas, who will enter his fifth season for the men’s team, and star netminder Jessica Vance, who will enter her third season of eligibility with the women’s team.

    There is opportunity for the Huskies to grow their ticket base for their hockey teams. I know I have come across a number of people that said they wouldn’t attend a Huskies hockey game until they moved out of Rutherford, because that facility had numerous deficiencies. To be honest, it is surprising that Rutherford hasn’t been condemned.

    I have come across a number of people who were upset when the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades fired Dean Brockman as head coach, when the Blades regular season wrapped up in March. It is possible those ticket buyers would be interested in going to see another high level hockey product.

    The staff in Huskie Athletics does employ a number of people who used to work on the WHL circuit including Michael Jenkins, Sean Gilchrist, Luke Anderson and Samantha Erhardt. Their presence will help the Huskies sell tickets.

Will the Huskies draw bigger crowds playing in a new rink?

    With that said, it should be noted decisions in universities are often made by committee involving various people in the institution, so that creates the possibility of speed bumps in trying to do anything.

    One thing that can’t be denied is U Sports hockey on the men’s and women’s side is a great product. With that said, even a great product is only worth what a market will pay to see it.

    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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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.

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Huskies will be underdogs at this year’s University Cup

Levi Cable, left, Taran Kozun and the Huskies are playing with house money.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team has nothing to lose and everything to gain at this year’s University Cup.

    The Huskies are usually viewed as one of the contenders at the U Sports national men’s hockey championship tournament when they get there. Last year, the Huskies advanced to the tournament’s championship game, where they fell 5-3 to the host University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

    This year is a little bit of a different story as the University Cup tournament returns to Fredericton, N.B., for a second consecutive time. The Dogs limp into the University Cup as a beat up team on the injury front.

    They will be without star netminder Jordon Cooke, who suffered a knee injury in a 6-4 playoff win over the University of Calgary Dinos on Feb. 22. Cooke went down after being crashed into in the Huskies goal.

    Cooke had been named the goalie-of-the-year for Canada West this season for a third straight year. He was the U Sports goaltender-of-the-year and a first team U Sports all-Canadian in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.

Jesse Forsberg has been key in controlling the back end for the Huskies.

    The absence of the Leduc, Alta., product is a huge one without even adding in the fact he is the Huskies second all-time career leader in regular season wins (59) and saves (2,358).

    Sophomore forward Wyatt Johnson is battling a concussion. First line forwards Michael Sofillas and Josh Roach have also been battling injuries, but there is a chance they could be in the lineup for the Huskies. Roach has a higher likelihood of returning than Sofillas.

    Centre Logan McVeigh returned to the Huskies for the Canada West championships series after missing three games with a broken jaw, which is an injury he is playing with.

    Besides the injuries, the Huskies head to nationals after being swept in the best-of-three Canada West title series by the University of Alberta Golden Bears 2-0 in Edmonton.

    The Huskies had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in Game 1 of that series played on March 2, before the Golden Bears rolled to a 5-2 victory. One night later in Game 2, the Golden Bears jumped out to a 5-0 lead before coasting to a 5-1 victory.

    Both of those emotionally charged contests attracted respective crowds of 2,896 and 2,963 to the Clare Drake Arena who likely wanted to see the Huskies lose as much as see the Golden Bears win on both of those nights.

Taran Kozun (#31) carries the load in goal for the Huskies.

    However, the “Madness of March” brings opportunity. In elite-eight single elimination tournaments like the University Cup, odds increase for underdog squads like the Huskies to produce upsets. The tournament kicks off with two quarter-final games on Thursday.

    The Huskies, who are seeded sixth, play in Friday’s second quarter-final game against the third seeded McGill University Redmen, who are the champions of the Ontario University Athletics conference.

    The Redmen posted a 22-4-2 record in the regular season and a 7-2 mark in the OUA playoffs. Centre Jerome Verrier topped the Redmen in regular season scoring with 12 goals and 29 assists. Second-year forward Christophe Lalonde topped the Redmen with 13 goals in the regular season, while also posting eight assists in 25 appearances.

    Defenceman Dominic Talbot-Tassi quarterbacked the Redmen’s offence on the back end topping all of the team’s rearguards in scoring with eight goals and 17 assists in the regular season.

Josh Roach has a good chance of returning from injury at nationals.

    Netminder Louis-Philip Guindon carries the load in goal as the start for the Redmen posting an 18-4-2 record, a 2.22 goals against average, a .917 save percentage and three shutouts.

    The Huskies posted a 20-7-1 record during the regular season and 2-3 mark in the Canada West playoffs.

    Roach led the Huskies in regular season scoring with 13 goals and 24 assists in 27 appearances. McVeigh was second in team scoring with seven goals and 22 assists in 27 appearances.

    Rookie Alex Forsberg had a strong season recording 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 regular season games. Older brother Jesse Forsberg was stellar on the back end leads all Huskies defencemen in scoring with five goals and 15 assists in 24 appearances.

    Alex Forsberg plays left wing on the Huskies grittiest line - which should likely be the team’s most noticeable line - with fifth-year veteran John Lawrence at centre and fourth-year veteran Parker Thomas at right wing.

    Taran Kozun will carry the load in goal for the Huskies in the absence of Cooke. In five regular season starts, Kozun posted a 4-0-1 record, a 2.00 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and one shutout. He was the WHL goaltender of the year in the 2014-15 campaign while playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

    The team is guided a stellar coaching staff led by longtime veteran head coach Dave Adolph who have pretty much seen everything.

The Huskies hope to celebrate a few magical goal moments at nationals.

    While the Huskies are beat up, they have enough depth to be a problem for any team they face. They still have the potential to be in one of the two semifinal games on Saturday playing the winner of quarter-final contest between the Golden Bears and the Acadia University Axemen and in Sunday’s gold medal game.

    The Huskies are playing with house money in this trip to nationals. It provides an opportunity to write a unique chapter in their storied history.

    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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Resilient Huskies rally past Dinos 6-4

Star goalie Cooke leaves Game 1 of playoff series with injury

Jordan Tkatch, second from left, celebrates a short-handed goal.

    For a moment, it looked pretty dark for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

    On Thursday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Dogs found themselves trailing the University of Calgary Dinos 3-0 at the 14:01 mark of the first period in Game 1 of a best-of-three Canada West semifinal playoff series. On the Dinos first goal, a scrum of players crashed into Huskies netminder Jordon Cooke, who was recently named a first team Canada West all-star for a third straight year.

    Cooke had to be helped to the dressing room after stopping 6-of-7 shots sent his way, and Leduc, Alta., product didn’t look to be in very good shape. He didn’t return to the game. It seemed like everything that could go wrong was going wrong for the U of S side.

Jordan Tkatch scored twice for the Huskies on Thursday night.

    After falling behind 3-0, the Huskies proceeded to catch fire, rolled off five straight goals to go ahead 5-3 and took the opening game of their playoff series with the Dinos 6-4. U of S will try to close out the series in Game 2 on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Rutherford.

    “Your starting goalie goes down and not much worse can happen,” said sophomore Huskies centre Jordan Tkatch, whose team is rated fifth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings. “We showed our character.

    “When we play our game, that is all that matters. When we play our game, we know what we can do, and it showed tonight.”

    Fifth-year defenceman Brayden Sherbinin scored the Dinos first goal at the 6:59 mark of the opening frame to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. Cooke was injured after Sherbinin’s goal went into the Huskies net.

Parker Thomas scored 23 seconds into the second to spark the Huskies.

    U of C’s edge increased to 3-0 when centre Chris Collins potted his first of two markers in the contest and right-winger Riley Sheen added a single.

    With 3:16 to play in the first period, Tkatch tipped home a point shot from Huskies captain Kendall McFaull to cut the Dinos edge to 3-1.

    Just 23 seconds into the second period, right-winger Parker Thomas potted the rebound from an Alex Forsberg shot to further trim U of C’s lead to 3-2. Just 57 seconds after Thomas’s goal, fifth-year right-winger Josh Roach scored for the Huskies to force a 3-3 tie.
    At that point, the Dinos, who are rated 10th in the U Sports Top 10 rankings, called timeout to try and halt the host side’s momentum.

    Tkatch said the Huskies hit another gear after Parker scored.

Goalie Jordon Cooke, centre, is helped off the ice after being injured.

    “Everyone talks about momentum in playoff hockey,” said Tkatch. “We didn’t stay too high.

    “We kept going. When we got the third goal, we thought we had the game in control, and we just kept it all the way through.”

    The Huskies surge kept going. At the 6:24 mark of the second, Huskies star offensive defenceman Jesse Forsberg worked a give and go in the centre ice zone to get sprung on a breakaway. He beat Dinos goaltender Matthew Greenfield on a deke to give the Huskies a 4-3 lead.

    At the 8:59 mark of the second, Tkatch scored his second of the contest blowing home a short-handed goal to the top left corner of the U of C net to give the Huskies a 5-3 lead.

Jesse Forsberg celebrates his second period goal for the Huskies.

    “It was a two-on-two and the puck kind of poked back, and I was the late trailer and picked it up,” said Tkatch. “I just walked the blue-line and I shot through a screen, and it happened to go in.”

    Greenfield was pulled from the game after Tkatch’s short-handed goal turning away 22-of-27 shots to ultimately take the setback in the Dinos net. Rookie Jordan Papirny stopped all nine shot fired his way playing the rest of the way in relief for the Dinos.

    Shortly after entering the game, Papirny stopped Tkatch on a breakaway.
    Tkatch admitted he would have liked to have scored a hat trick marker on that play.

    “Obviously, who wouldn’t want to score another one,” said Tkatch. “At the end of the day, you can’t let that hold you back.

    “You just have to keep going and just worry about the game. We got the “W,” and that is all that mattered.”

The Huskies and Dinos engage in a third period scrum.

    Collins scored his second of the contest at the 6:30 mark of the third to cut the Huskies lead to 5-4 to create some suspense for the rest of the contest. Left-winger Alex Forsberg scored an empty-net goal for the Huskies with 96 seconds to play to seal the final outcome.

    Huskies rookie netminder Taran Kozun was beaten on the first shot faced taking over in the U of S goal after Cooke’s departure. Kozun found his groove and had a solid rest of the game turning away 19-of-22 shots fired his way to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies.

    Cooke’s status for Friday and possibly the rest of the U Sports men’s hockey playoffs, which conclude on March 18, is uncertain.

Taran Kozun made 19 saves to back the Huskies to victory.

    Tkatch was proud that his Huskies rebounded after their disastrous start on Thursday.

    “You can take that part of the game and go one way, and our team decided to go the other way,” said Tkatch. “Koz (Kozun) went in and we probably left him dry for the couple first goals against.

    “I think it was after the second goal our team really turned around and showed our character.”

    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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    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.