Huskies navigate X-Men buzz saw, capture Uteck Bowl 36-19

U of S advances to Vanier Cup for second straight year

Ryker Frank had 134 yards rushing for the Huskies on Saturday.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team played to the adage that winning is the only thing that matters in playoff time.

On Saturday at StFX Stadium in Antigonish, N.S., the Huskies ran into a buzz saw in the host St. Francis Xavier University X-Men in the Uteck Bowl. The two sides were deadlocked at 6-6 at halftime and 13-13 after three quarters in the U Sports semifinal clash.

The Huskies hit their stride in the fourth quarter and ultimately pulled out a solid 36-19 victory before 2,173 spectators. With the win, the Huskies (10-1) advance to the U Sport championship game – the Vanier Cup.

In that contest, the Huskies will face the Universite Laval Rouge et Or. On Saturday, the Rouge et Or downed the host University of Western Ontario Mustangs 27-20 at Western Alumni Stadium in London, Ont., to claim the other U Sports semifinal – the Mitchell Bowl. The Rouge et Or improved to 10-1 overall with the win, while the Mustangs finished the 2022 campaign with a 10-1 mark.

For Rouge et Or head coach Glen Constantin, the Mitchell Bowl victory was his 201^st career head coaching win including both regular season and post-season. Constantin, who has guided the Rouge et Or to nine Vanier Cup titles, is the only head coach in U Sports history to post 200 or more career wins in the sport of football.

The Vanier Cup will be played this coming Saturday at Western Alumni Stadium in London, Ont. The game will start at 12 p.m. Saskatchewan time on that day and will be shown on CBC.

The X-Men finish the 2022 campaign with a 9-1 overall record. They also gained a measure of respect for the Atlantic University Sport’s football conference.

The last football champion from the AUS to make the Vanier Cup was the Saint Mary’s University Huskies in 2007. Playing without the services of injured star starting quarterback Erik Glavic, Saint Mary’s dropped a 28-14 decision in that year’s U Sports title game to the University of Manitoba Bisons at Rogers Stadium in Toronto.

Last year, the X-Men were smashed 61-6 by the eventual Vanier Cup champion Mustangs in the Mitchell Bowl played at Western Alumni Stadium. The result matched what had happened in recent years to AUS champions in U Sports semifinal bowl games.

Daniel Perry had a 26-yard TD catch for the Huskies.

In 2019, the Acadia University Axemen were blanked 38-0 at home by the Universite de Montreal Carabins in the Uteck Bowl. In 2018, the X-Men were shutout 63-0 on the road by the eventual Vanier Cup champion Rouge et Or in the Uteck Bowl.

In 2017, the Axemen were stampeded 81-3 in their home park by the eventual Vanier Cup champion Mustangs in the Uteck Bowl. The AUS champion avoided getting blown out in 2020 because the U Sports semifinal bowls and Vanier Cup were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

While U of S Huskies head coach Scott Flory and the rest of his coaching staff were preaching to their players to not take anyone lightly, there are times that becomes humanly hard to do. You can be sure the Huskies players were aware of how badly AUS champions had fared in recent U Sports semifinal bowl games.

As the first three quarters of Saturday’s game progressed, you could see the belief in the eyes of the X-Men players grow. The Huskies played OK through the first three quarters, but they did make some uncharacteristic mistakes that those watching the contest had to think an upset was possible or was going to happen.

Huskies kicker David Solie gave the visitors a 3-0 lead in the first quarter hitting a field goal from 32 yards out. X-Men kicker Ben Hadley responded with two field goals from 32 and 17 yards out respectively to give the hosts a 6-3 advantage. On the final play of the second quarter, Solie nailed a field goal from 36 yards out to even the score at 6-6.

The Huskies opened the third quarter with an impressive opening touchdown drive that covered 89 yards on 11 plays and ate the first six minutes and 10 seconds on the club to go ahead 13-6. The drive was capped by a two-yard touchdown run from star running back Ryker Frank.

With 2:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, X-Men quarterback Silas Fagnan ran in a major score from 19 yards out to force a 13-13 tie score.

The wheels began to fall off for the X-Men with 8:11 remaining in the fourth quarter as they elected to concede a safety due to bad field position to put the Huskies in front 15-13. The Huskies hit high gear at that point.

On their ensuing offensive series, star fifth-year quarterback Mason Nyhus hit second-year receiver Daniel Wiebe with a 41-yard pass and run touchdown that increased the Huskies advantage to 22-13. Wiebe’s touchdown catch completed a four-play, 75-yard drive that took only a minute and 45 seconds.

Mason Nyhus passed for 327 yards for the Huskies on Saturday.

Things got worse for the X-Men on their ensuing series, Fagnan was intercepted by Huskies second-year defensive back John Stoll, who returned the ball 26 yards for a touchdown to give the visitors a sound 29-13 edge.

The hosts did try to fight back. With 3:01 remaining in the fourth quarter, Fagnan connected with receiver Ben Harrington on a 38-yard touchdown pass. The X-Men tried to go for a two-point conversion, but Fagnan’s pass fell incomplete causing the score to sit at 29-19 in favour of the Huskies.

The X-Men then kicked off to the Huskies in regular fashion. The visitors rounded out the game’s scoring, when Nyhus hit fourth-year receiver Daniel Perry with a 26-yard touchdown pass to cement the 36-19 final in favour of the Huskies.

Nyhus had a stellar day statistically completing 30-of-38 passes for 327 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was named the offensive player of the game.

Frank ran the ball 20 times for 134 yards to go with his major score to be the contest’s top ground gainer. He also caught three passes for 16 yards.

Wiebe led all receivers with six catches for 117 yards to go with his major through the air.

Fagnan completed 17-of-36 passes for 258 yards and one touchdown, while throwing two interceptions. He ran the ball six times for 50 yards.

X-Men receiver Zachary Houde led his team with five catches for 98 yards.

Defensive back Finn Marcotte-Cribb had an interception for the Huskies. Jonathan Leggett, William (Charlie) Parks and Charlie Ringland all had sacks for the visitors. Katley Joseph and Nick Wiebe tied for the Huskies team lead in tackles at four.

Stoll was named the defensive player of the game posting two total tackles to go with his interception return for a touchdown.

Defensive back Liam Wilde led the X-Men with 8.5 total tackles. Defensive lineman Alex Fedchun had a quarterback sack for the host side.

Overall, the Huskies deserve full credit for pulling out the win against an inspired X-Men side. The visitors persevered past the mistakes they did make.

Charlie Ringland (#3) had a sack for the Huskies on Saturday.

In football playoffs, it is all about winning and playing another day. The Huskies are going back the Vanier Cup for a second straight year.

Last year, the Huskies fell 27-21 in the Vanier Cup to the Mustangs at Stade Telus – Universite Laval in Quebec City, Quebec. In 2021, the Huskies were making their first Vanier Cup appearance since 2006.

This year, the Huskies are looking to take care of unfinished business and win the Vanier Cup for the first time since 1998. The battle in the Uteck Bowl should sharpen the focus for the Huskies players for the last contest they can possibly play in for the 2022 campaign.

All the Huskies need to do is win one more game to become the champions of U Sports, and it won’t matter if that win is a work of art or not.

Business trip ✅#HuskiePride | 📸 Bryan Kennedy pic.twitter.com/BanlS0pswH

— Huskie Football (@skhuskies) November 19, 2022

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Huskies had great season but still get in their own way

Levi Cable, left, and Taran Kozun celebrate a Huskies win.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team had a great season in 2018-19, which will overshadow the hiccups at the end of the campaign.

    Still, it feels like some of the Huskies players in the generation after the era of Derek Hulak and the late Cody Smuk like to get in their own way a little too often. Under head coach Dave Adolph, the Huskies players in the current generation have improved on cutting down the self-inflicted wounds.

    Unfortunately, the self-inflicted errors seem to pop up at the worst times possible, and those times often involve games with their “forever rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

    The most recent round of Huskies having “oops” moments came at the David Johnston University Cup, which wrapped up Sunday in Lethbridge, Alta. The majority of the “oops” moments came in a semifinal game of the U Sports national championship tournament on Saturday between the Huskies and the Golden Bears, which was the 512^th overall meeting between the two sides.

Carter Folk (#13) threw a bad hit in a U Sports semifinal game.

   The first error came when Huskies sophomore right-winger Carter Folk nailed Golden Bears super pest Trevor Cox from behind into the boards at the Enmax Centre. Folk received a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct.
    While the Golden Bears didn’t score on the five-minute power play due to the Huskies outstanding penalty killing, Folk’s penalty helped swing the momentum of the game in U of A’s favour.

    The Huskies played strong in a scoreless first period and had a 16-13 advantage in shots on goal. After Folk’s penalty, the Golden Bears held an 18-5 advantage in shots on goal in the second period and a 32-17 advantage in that department over the final 40 minutes of the contest.

    Folk is a physical forward who plays on the edge, and sometimes goes over that edge. The replays of his hit on Cox looked bad.

    With the period about to end, it was a hit that didn’t need to be delivered. With Cox being an agitator, one was left to wonder if Folk couldn’t resist getting in an extra shot on a player that had been a thorn in the side of the Huskies.

    No matter what, it wasn’t a smart play.

Taran Kozun had a costly misadventure with the puck.

    After the teams played through a scoreless second, Golden Bears captain Riley Kieser gave his side a 1-0 lead at the 1:38 mark of the third period. That set the stage for another big Huskies gaff.

    At the 10:32 mark of the third, Huskies netminder Taran Kozun, who was named the U Sports goaltender of the year, was a little too casual when he decided to backwards pass the puck behind his own net.
    Kozun passed the puck right to Golden Bears left-winger Grayson Pawlenchuk, who quickly helped set up U Sports player of the year Luke Filip to put U of A up 2-0.

    Due to the fact the Huskies weren’t able to score in that semifinal game, it could be argued that Kozun’s error didn’t cost U of S the contest. It did create a huge hill to climb as only 9:28 remained in the third period.

    If the Huskies need to score once to force overtime, it tightens up the pressure on the Golden Bears defence and goaltending for the rest of the contest. A two-goal advantage at that juncture gave the Golden Bears comfortable control of the proceedings.

    You can bet Kozun felt awful about what happened. On an obvious error like that, you hope he remembers the importance of being alert at all points of the game in future seasons.

    Of course, there were the fireworks that happened inside of the final 31 seconds of the third period. After Pawlenchuk scored an empty-net goal to cement a 3-0 Golden Bears victory, frustrations boiled over and fists started to fly as a major scrum ensued.

Captain Jesse Forsberg was involved in some rough stuff in a U Sport semi.

    From that melee, Huskies fifth-year captain Jesse Forsberg and his younger brother in Huskies left-winger Alex Forsberg both received instigator minors, fighting majors and game misconducts.

    Huskies left-winger Collin Shirley and Golden Bears defenceman Graeme Craig each received roughing minors and 10-minute misconducts. Golden Bears defenceman Sawyer Lange received a fighting major and a game misconduct.
    Right before the game ended, Huskies fourth-year centre Kohl Bauml was booted for receiving a slashing major and a game misconduct.

    When you see these penalties on a game sheet, one starts to wonder if the Huskies crossed the line and how far reaching would the suspensions be?

    When you see the video, it looks like the common scrum and everything from it would quickly blow over.

    On Twitter, a number of Golden Bears supporters and a handful of members from the Edmonton sports media fired off harsh criticisms at Huskies players and the Huskies men’s hockey program.

Alex Forsberg engaged in some rough stuff too.

    It seems to be forgotten that members of the Golden Bears like to partake in pest work that is a bit underhanded like Cox, Cole Sanford and Brandon Magee, so the U of A side can’t be dismissed as perfect angels either.

    Actually in the cases of Jesse Forsberg and Bauml, they have always been viewed as favourites by the rink staff at the Huskies former home in the ancient Rutherford Rink and their new one in the magnificent Merlis Belsher Place. It is common for them to have almost daily short visits with rink staffers and take genuine interest in how everyone’s day is going.

    Going back to his WHL days with the Prince George Cougars, Seattle Thunderbirds and Moose Jaw Warriors, Forsberg developed a reputation that he could get rambunctious, let his emotions get the best of him and ultimately cost his team.
    During his five seasons with the Huskies, Forsberg improved a tonne when it came to playing an under control game. Under Adolph and his coaching staff, Forsberg became a star offensive-defenceman and became the player he should have been in the WHL, where he was type casted to be a tough guy.

    He developed to the point he could play in the NHL, but NHL executives tend to overlook 25-year-old players from U Sports.

    Following the loss to the Golden Bears, the Huskies moved on to play in Sunday’s bronze medal game without the two Forsbergs and Folk, who were all suspended. Bauml did suit up for the Huskies on Sunday.

Kohl Bauml lost his cool in a U Sports semifinal.

    U of S showed a lot more discipline giving up only three power-play chances to the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men. The Huskies dominated play holding a 49-16 edge in shots on goal, but came out on the wrong end of a 5-1 final score.

    Fifth-year hard working right-winger Parker Thomas had the Huskies lone goal in his final U Sports game coming inside of the final minute of the third period, when the X-Men were up 5-0. Thomas, Jesse Forsberg and Huskies left-winger Michael Sofillas all exhausted their U Sports eligibility with Sunday’s setback.

    On a side note, the Golden Bears fell in the national final 4-2 on Sunday to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.
    In the overall scheme of things, the Huskies 2018-19 season won’t be defined by what took place in their final two games at U Sports nationals. Ultimately, the only thing that will be remember from the David Johnston University Cup for the Huskies was the fact they finished fourth at that event.

    The 2018-19 campaign will be remembered for the fact the Huskies finished first in the Canada West Conference at 25-3 posting a new team record for regular season wins at 25 and standings points at 50.

Parker Thomas scored his final U Sports goal on Sunday.

    Kozun’s outstanding individual season will be a big highlight. In the regular season, the sophomore posted a 20-3 record, a 1.81 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and five shutouts. His win total was a new Huskies individual record for most victories in one regular season.
    The Huskies played with the heart and hustle that has been a trademark for the program.

    Going forward, their supporters have to hope they keep finding ways to play a little better to each situation they encounter and keep limiting the times they shoot themselves in the foot, especially when they play the Golden Bears.

    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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March's madness hits hockey Huskies

Despite "The Call," Canada West champs had a great season

Captain Kendall McFaull and goalie Jordon Cooke celebrate a win.

    For short time, “The Call” will be the dominant memory the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team and their supporters take away from the 2016 University Cup.

    “The Call” of course refers to the checking from behind penalty assessed to Huskies standout forward Levi Cable at the 16:27 mark of the third overtime period of a University Cup semifinal clash against the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men. On the ensuing power play, X-Men forward Michael Clarke laser beamed home the winning goal from the slot to the top corner on Huskies star goaltender Jordon Cooke with 2:25 to play in the third extra frame cementing a 2-1 result in favour of St. Francis Xavier.

    In that instant, the Huskies were knocked into Sunday’s bronze medal contest at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship tournament held in Halifax, N.S. U of S took a 2-1 lead in that contest against the St. Mary’s University Huskies before fatigue really set in to allow St. Mary’s to skate away with a 5-2 victory. The green and white Huskies were forced to return home to Saskatoon with a fourth place finish.

    Sunday’s result was overshadowed by the events that led to Saturday’s heartbreaker.

    Cable was called for hitting from behind on a play that was a borderline small shove in the back at best. The infraction happened near the boards, which could have made it look at other angles worse than it was. During the three overtime periods, the officials let a lot of other things go that were visibly more serious infractions of the rules.

Levi Cable was given a weak OT penalty in Saturday's CIS semifinal match.

    The call on Cable was soft compared to those other infractions, and with both teams showing signs of fatigue, it gave the X-Men an edge at a critical moment to win the game. When the Huskies lost, it felt like they got cheated.

    Locally in the immediate aftermath in Saskatoon, the social media lines blew up with Huskies supporters showing their displeasure with the officials. If some of the supporters were team members of staff, they would be looking at getting sizable fines comparable to those level against former WHL Regina Pats general manager Brent Parker, when he used to voice his critiques of officials.

    The Huskies players, coaches and support staff will no doubt have to each deal with their own emotions regarding how the tourney played out before moving on.

    U of S was making its 17^th appearance at the University Cup, but this marked the first time the Huskies played in the event under an elite-eight single elimination format. This was the second year the University Cup was played under that structure, which helps produce “March Madness” style drama.

    The Huskies felt the lowest of lows in the semifinal, but for a time, they seemed destined to experience only highs.

Parker Thomas was an OT hero for the Huskies at University Cup.

    They finished first in the Canada West conference with a 22-6 record and won all four of their games in the Canada West playoffs to capture a 17^th conference title according to information supplied by Michael P.J. Kennedy, who wrote two editions of a the history book on the Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams.

    Powering the run of the Huskies men’s hockey team was an emotional push to honour the memory of alumni Cody Smuk, who passed away of cancer in late June of 2015. Smuk was a hard-working, team first, glue guy who was endearing to the Huskies and the community of Saskatoon.

    His number was retired before a home game on Oct. 24, 2015. All season, the Huskies warmed up at home all wearing Smuk’s #24 jersey, and they continued that tradition at University Cup. When they won the Canada West title at the ancient Rutherford Rink on March 5, they brought out Smuk’s parents, father Marty and mother Darla, and his fiancée Stephanie Vause to be part of the on-ice team picture.

    In their first game at the University Cup, the Huskies experienced another big high. Huskies forward Parker Thomas showed a beauty set of hands popping home the winning goal at the 6:11 mark of a fourth overtime period to allow U of S to down the Carleton University Ravens 3-2 back on Thursday. The match was longest game in the history of the University Cup lasting 116 minutes and 11 seconds.

    After one game, the Huskies had to be thinking the event’s single elimination format was a sweet deal.

The Huskies lost Michael Sofillas due to injury.

    The experience of all those cumulative highs made Saturday’s outcome that much tougher to digest. Anyone involved with the Huskies had to think what happened in the loss to the X-Men wasn’t real.

There were also other things that went wrong in the semifinal loss. In the first period, the Huskies lost sophomore forward Michael Sofillas to a preventable injury.

    Sofillas was skating through the centre ice zone in front of the penalty box area, when a roughing infraction to X-Men forward Brad Cuzner was about to expire. Cuzner got out of the box and nailed Sofillas, who was lost for the rest of the tournament.

    Off-ice officials should have had player safety in mind and waited a couple of seconds for Sofillas to skate by. Instead, the U of S forward was blindside by someone who appeared to emerge out of a wall. Sofillas couldn’t defend himself, because he had no chance to see Cuzner was coming.

    The Huskies also saw their 1-0 lead disappear in the second period, when Cuzner burned them with a short-handed breakaway goal created by a nice chip pass by linemate Steven Kuhn. Those little things ultimately make the difference in a sudden death game.

    The third team, the officials, did have their struggles on Saturday, and if you are honest, fatigue started to catch up with them the longer overtime went. They are human too.

    In the third overtime period, that fatigue started to show up in a handful of botched off-side calls, which should have been simple to make. Fatigue likely played a factor in how the officials saw the infraction they gave to Cable.

    Bad calls are always going to be part of sports. Bad calls are also going to happen in critical moments of playoff games.

    These days, officials do more off-ice work than they ever have before with video, and the three-overtime semifinal contest involving the U of S was likely a big learning experience for them.

The Canada West title win will highlight the 2015-16 Huskies season.

    In the end, the Huskies have to live with what happened at the University Cup. Over time, the players, coaches, support staff and supporters will find ways to deal emotionally with the University Cup outcome.

    The X-Men didn’t have a championship ending to their University Cup experience either falling 3-1 in the final to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

    While the University Cup didn’t return to Saskatoon for the first time since 1983, the Huskies had one of their most memorable years in 2015-16. The biggest memories were created by the day-to-day journey of the season and the celebration of a Canada West title win at home over their forever rivals the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

    It was a season that started without any lofty expectations and truly did honour Smuk’s memory. A bad call in a sudden death semifinal game will ultimately not erase the good that was accomplished.

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